Cv fraud cos up screeing at senior level

1. CV Fraud: Cos Up Screening at
Senior Level
Executive search firms say cases of resume discrepancy have gone up
due to the rising volume of hiring in sectors such as ecommerce

2. Contd..
A few months ago, a US-based mid-sized IT company approached
background screening firm AuthBridge to do a check on its India CEO who
had joined the firm six months earlier. The person claimed to have graduated
from IIM Ahmedabad and IIT (BHU), but his colleagues felt that he lacked
managerial abilities and command over English language expected from
somebody of his pedigree.They were right. AuthBridge found out that the
CEO had presented seven different resumes in his previous stints and on
various portals. And he had not graduated from the two premium institutes
he mentioned in his resume, said Ajay Trehan, founder and CEO of
AuthBridge.
Discrepancies in previous work experience and resume fraud, which are
largely considered juniorand mid-level occurrences, are increasingly getting
noticed at senior levels, with firms such as AuthBridge, audit major EY and
executive headhunter EMA Partners reporting several such cases.

3. Contd..
“Though technology is making it more and more difficult for people to fudge,
sometimes we're coming across white lies or active misrepresentation at senior
levels,“ said K Sudarshan, managing partner at EMA Partners India and regional vice
president for Asia at EMA Partners International. “For instance, a candidate who
has done a one-week certificate course from IIM Ahmedabad or any such premier
institute just might mention that she has gone to IIM-A, conveniently not
mentioning that the tenure of the course was one week and not a full-time post-
graduate programme. Sometimes it is misrepresentation of titles or amplifying
one's contribution in the company,“ he said.
Over the past two years, AuthBridge has caught leaders passing off a two-month
programme in IIM Calcutta as a full-time MBA, and hiding a two-year employment
gap to save face from a US-India venture gone awry due to financial fraud.
It conducted about 250 leadership screenings over the past year and 20 of them
had discrepancies. This prompted the firm to launch AuthLead, the first dedicated
background check and verification product for CXO and senior-level hires, this year.

4. Contd..
AuthBridge, which conducts background screening for cab aggregator Ola and works
closely with industry bodies Nasscom and Assocham, claims that its panel of former law
enforcement officers, including a top ex-official of the Central Bureau of Investigation, gives
it a commanding presence in this industry.
HireRight, another employee background check firm, said that about 22% of the screenings
it conducted in India between AprilJune contained a lie or inaccuracy.It said resume fraud
in India during the quarter was up 38% compared to the quarter ended March.
EY's fraud investigation and dispute services team is primarily focused on evaluating the
integrity of companies and their senior management on behalf of their investors. “The
investment community has grown wary of being un knowingly involved in legal battles
concerning promoters, board members and senior management.There has, therefore, been
a heightened demand for our expertise to determine the ethical quotient of certain
individuals who may have likely misrepresented their position initially,“ said Kanika Bhutani,
director, fraud investigation and dispute services, EY India.

5. Contd..
Bhutani said her team in certain instances found personnel to have falsified certain
aspects of their professional history based on which the organisation that com
missioned the inquiry could react appropriately.
Executive search firms such as Longhouse Consulting and Kelly Services say cases of
resume discrepancy have gone up due to the rising volume of hiring in sectors such
as ecommerce.
A senior executive at a big consumer Internet firm was recently asked to leave after
it was found that he fudged his credentials. “He was a compulsive liar and the
background that he gave was strewn with anomalies,“ said Anshuman Das,
managing partner at Long house Consulting.
Kamal Karanth, managing director at Kelly Services and Kelly OCG India, said
resume discrepancy is mostly related to tenure in a company. Sometimes a
candidate might have worked just a few months in an organisation, but they merge
the tenure with the previous or latter employers to show they don't change jobs
frequently.

6. Contd..
Jobs portal TimesJobs has introduced a feature of an embedded LinkedIn profile
alongside the job details of candidates after some details were not considered
accurate in some cases by recruiters.
Most companies ET spoke with said they have their own checks and balances to
keep suspicious candidates out.
Ashu Malhotra, human resources head at online fashion retailer Jabong, said that
most hiring at the senior level in the firm happens through reference, and only
after in-depth interviews and antecedent verifications.
Sameer Wadhawan, vice president for human resources and services, India & South
West Asia at Coca-Cola India, said the cola major has a compulsory background
check. “These days we rely a lot on external consultants, search firms, etc., who are
playing an increasingly important role,“ he said. Coca-Cola does a sequential
interviewing by 5-6 different people, who then do a debriefing on the candidate,
before hiring.

7. Contd..
Edward Hickey, managing director for APAC at HireRight, feels companies need to do extensive
screening for senior hires.
“The more senior the role is, the more detrimental the effects a bad hire can have to an
organisation, especially since the fallout associated with it can go public. Consequences include
reputational damage and financial concerns such as fraud and falling share prices. The impact on
the company's bottom line can be crippling,“ Hickey said.
Sanjiv Sachar, consultant at search firm Egon Zehnder, said companies are spending more time with
potential candidates after incidents of resume discrepancy started coming to light.“They are seeking
more reference checks and want to know more about the candidates' leadership styles,“ he said.
An Eye On You
AUTHBRIDGE HAS launched AuthLead, a dedicated product to nail discrepancies at the senior level
OF THE 250 LEADERSHIP screenings conducted by AuthLead, 20 were found to have discrepancies
22% OF THE SCREENINGS conducted by HireRight in India from April 2015 to June 2015 contained a
lie or inaccuracy
RESUME FRAUD WAS UP IN India by 38% compared to Q1 of 2015:

8. For details and bookings contact:-
Parveen Kumar Chadha… THINK TANK
(Founder and C.E.O of Saxbee Consultants & Other-Mother
marketingandcommunicationconsultants.com)
Email :-saxbeeconsultants@gmail.com
Mobile No. +91-9818308353
Address:-First Floor G-20(A), Kirti Nagar, New Delhi India Postal Code-110015