Trends
“The global market for pre-employment screening
is worth $6-7bn; India accounts for barely 1% but
as Chiranjit Banerjee, till recently director, South
India, Quest Screening Services says, “It
is growing at a furious pace as most IT and ITES
jobs are being created here.”
Quest Research is an Asian company dealing with
background screening and has recently screened 800
employees of an IT major in India. And surprisingly,
20 software engineers have been sacked after it
was found that they had lied about educational and
professional qualifications as well as experience.
Disturbingly, this is no one-off anecdotal instance.”
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- Economic
Times, New Delhi, 2004 |
“A spurt in employment opportunities
generated by the booming IT-enabled services and
business process outsourcing (ITES/BPO) sector has
spun off an ancillary industry — companies
screening the background of prospective employees.
Between 5% and 10% of the candidates for a BPO/ITES
job make false claims in their applications, according
to industry sources. Overstatement of credentials
and previous background by applicants has led to
BPO firms seeking help from external professional
service screening agencies to conduct identity verification,
pre-employment status, past criminal records, and
other background checks.
The availability of fake qualifications/certificates
and its rampant usage is resulting in BPO firms
putting in place stringent procedures while hiring
prospective employees. A large part of the demand
for screening services, some firms state, has been
driven by the regulatory requirements of customers
in the US.
According to Quest Research’s managing director
(compliance), Scott Graham, the firm conducts between
5,000 and 10,000 background checks a month, which
are generally concentrated around cities with a
huge volume of recruitment. “BPO firms providing
financial services find themselves far more vulnerable
when it comes to recruiting the wrong candidates,”
Mr. Graham said. “
| - Economic Times,
March 2004 |
“THEY have checked everything about me.
Nothing has been missed. They have enquired about
me at my school, college, computer institute, the
institution where I did my post-graduate diploma,
and of course my professors in the US and my previous
employers," says Sriram, who has just been
hired by one of the big five consulting firms, in
the US.
That's an experience that employees in India are
increasingly set to encounter — especially
in the IT sector. Background checks have been done
before - but never as extensively or exhaustively
as they are being done now”
| - Hindu Business Line,
January 10, 2004 |
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