6 Tips to get Employee background verification right

Employee background verification has slowly become a new norm before hiring a new employee. ISO 27001 has made background verification mandatory for all the employees - be it freshers or experienced ones.



If you want to work with any big or medium level companies anytime in your career, you can’t avoid going through it.

And, a failed background verification may cost you the opportunity, even if you have cleared the interview.

In this article, we make you aware of some very common mistakes that candidates commit during their career and ultimately fail the background check at the time of interviewing for their dream job.

If you want to avoid getting into such a situation, you are at a right place. Let’s begin!

Now guys, the first thing that we need to know is - What are the things the employers try to check during  background verification?

See, the purpose of conducting this whole exercise is to establish that a candidate is genuine and actually is what they claim to be. After all, the security of their employees, assets and information is very important. And, this process also boosts the confidence in their stakeholders and clients.

For this, they check your -

i.) Work History
ii.) Education records
iii.) Legal Records
iv.) Address
v.) Credit Score

To get the job, it is very important that you pass each of these checks.

So, the first tip that I have got for you is -

i.) Always quit the job on a good note - We are more likely to ditch an employer at the beginning of our career because we don’t think that an initial job can have any impact on us. But, this is where you have to be most careful. Whenever you go to find a new job, they may want to speak to your previous employers. And, if you have ditched an employer, don’t expect them to give a positive feedback about you. So, my suggestion is never burn those bridges. Always exit from a company on a good note.

You need to understand this specially if you are a fresher.

ii.) Keep your references informed - Most of times, your new employers will seek your permission before contacting your references or the previous employers. It is a good idea to keep them informed that they are going to get such a call. This allows them to stay prepared with a feedback about you. If they are not prepared, they may miss the call or may not find the right words to say about you at that moment.

A very basic thing but can really help you in getting a positive feedback from an old boss or reference.

iii.) Be responsible on Social Media - Now this is something very important that I’m going to tell you. Read carefully.

Your social media profile is a reflection of your actual personality. Any verification agency or employer can see your social media profile easily. So, manage your privacy settings carefully.

Be very careful of the type of photographs or posts that you publish. What you “Like” and “Share” also says a lot about you. In fact, the type of posts you allow yourself to be tagged in is also a big indicator of your personality.

Another important thing while posting on Social media is, avoid, any kind of abusive language, don’t be a part to any posts that radicalize people or are in anyway against the society.

Even if you have made any kind of mistakes in your social media posts in the past, go back and correct them. You never know, someone may call you for an interview tomorrow and these type of things may put them off.

Your social media profile is a reflection of your actual personality.

Now see, whenever you apply for a job you give them your resume and many a times you also fill an application form. It is very important that whatever information you provide in both these documents is correct. If you think you can get away with providing fake information in your resume. Think again. It is something that’ll definitely get caught.

Always speak the truth – Don’t portray yourself to be someone that you are not.

iv.) Don’t fake your degree - A lot of people fake their degrees and certificates. But, the moment they are caught, they are thrown out. You may not be aware but let me tell you, there’s something called as National Academics Repository which is a centralized database holding digital copies of your education records. The database may not be very strong at the moment, but the way digitization is taking place, this is something not tough to do in coming years. One click and authorized people will have all the information about your educational background. Be careful before you tell a lie.
National Academics Repository is going to be a very effective tool.

v.) Don’t fake your work experience -Similarly, don’t fake your work experience. It is very easy to find it these days. The new employers always go back you your old employers to verify the authenticity of your document. Moreover, there also exists a database of Blacklisted companies in the country who were in the business of giving fake work experience certificates. If any one of these companies appear on your resume, you may not get the job even after doing well in your interview.

vi.) Don’t fake your skills - Infact, don’t fake your skills also because

a.) This is easy to catch during the interview.
b.) Something called as NSR – National Skills Registry also exists which holds the information about your skills. At the moment, there are some 200 companies registered with this body and approximately 22 lac candidates are also registered here. The database is getting stronger day by day and is going to be a very important tool to be used in background verification.

NSR – National Skills Registry is another centralized database to ascertain your genuineness.

What if I have a problem in my profile?

If there’s a problem in your profile, here’s the solution:

Be upfront in your application

If you already know that there’s something in your profile which may get caught during verification process and trouble you, be upfront in your application and inform the interviewer about the problem in advance.

This will give you an opportunity to explain your side of the story to them so that they see it in the right light.

Of course you’ll do this only when you are happy with your interview and you think, they plan to go ahead with you.

Documentary proof – Have digital copies.

Have a proper record of all your official documents about education and work experience. This will ensure that you don’t mess up with the dates. Also, having digital copies would ensure that you are able to produce them, as soon as they are asked for.