More employees in Asia Pacific lying about their job history, First Advantage says

First Advantage, a Symphony Technology Group (STG) company and a provider of screening analytics and identity solutions, has released First Advantage Employment Screening Trends Report: Asia Pacific, Q1 2014, which has found that almost one in five of all Asia Pacific employees have not been completely truthful about their employment history and other details.

According to First Advantage, which conducts around 23 million global background checks annually, the challenges of hiring the right candidate have increased as regional legislation surrounding anti-corruption, data privacy and consumer protection is changing. The regular updating of the legalities in different countries complicates the background screening process, making it extremely difficult for employers to perform proper background checks on their candidates. 

“Through this trends report, First Advantage seeks to help employers in Asia Pacific identify the current employment background verification trends and understand how they can optimise their screening programmes,” said Matthew Glasner, Managing Director of South APAC at First Advantage. 

“We are seeing a significant increase in discrepancies in region and this further highlights the importance of using state-of-the-art screening practices available to ensure companies know who they are hiring, thereby mitigating the business loss associated with a wrong hire.”

Key findings from the report include:

• The total number of checks done per case in the APAC region has gone up from four checks on average in Q1 2013 to five checks in Q1 2014, indicating that there is more awareness among companies about background screening services. Employers are also demanding better output. 
• About a quarter (26%) of employers in the Asia Pacific region are now conducting more than six checks and above. They are 11 times more likely to uncover a discrepancy as compared to those who conduct only two checks (3%) or five checks (9%). 
• The report shows that there is an overall increase in discrepancy rates (5.8%) compared to Q1 2013. 
• Nearly one in five (18.9%) of the discrepancies in the Asia-Pacific region are related to education of employees.
• Employment history discrepancies top the list at 54.6% of all discrepancies. This constitutes an increase of 5.6% in Q1 2014 over Q1 2013, when employment discrepancies made up close to 50% of all discrepancies in the Asia-Pacific region. 
• Employers in Australia and New Zealand are the most interested in employee screening with 23.38% of respondents reporting they do it in Q1 2014, a significant increase from Q1 2013 when they stood at just 12.96% of respondents from this region. This is followed by Singapore, which had 18.78% of respondents reporting they screen in Q1 2014. 

First Advantage also notes that there is now a growing trend toward “infinity screening,” in which screening programmes are extended to include contractors and vendors, and existing employees are periodically rescreened. Infinity screening has led to fewer discrepancies in employee information where is practised, the company said.

*The report is based on data drawn from 300,000 employment background verifications and reference checks conducted by First Advantage in APAC from January to March 2014. The screening results represent a cross-section of the company’s clients located in Japan, Korea, mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. 

Ten percent of job candidates in Asia Pacific lie: First Advantage

First Advantage, a background verification company, has revealed that more than 10% of resumes received from Asia Pacific candidates contain some form of discrepancy. The problem is worse in Australia where 12% of all candidates were found to have major discrepancies in their CVs. A higher number of Australian candidates were found to have alerts on criminal and employment checks as compared to the other countries, the company said.

First Advantage advises companies to perform screening not just for industry compliance, to ensure competency, and to protect themselves against physical, legal and financial risk, but also for brand reputation. According to the company:

• One in 11 candidates misrepresents their last job title/designation 
• One in 14 shows a variance in the reasons for leaving a past job. Examples include an applicant who indicated he resigned due to “personal reasons” but when background checks were conducted, it was found that a candidate was asked to leave for “poor performance.”
• One in 25 searches identified a lower previous salary than listed on the application, with First Advantage saying that the discrepancies could be an effort by a candidate to obtain a higher salary offer from the new employer.

To manage people risks and strengthen organisations background screening processes, First Advantage offers the following guidelines:

Verify at the source
Establish strong relationships with various entities including education institutions and employers. Evaluate your internal resources to follow a strict pre-approved process, conduct the verifications in a consistent manner from person to person, and document the attempts and results.

Adhere to compliance and local privacy lawsBackground screening involves collection and transmission of personal information across borders. Checks are subject to data protection and privacy laws of many countries. These laws are dynamic and subject to changes. Develop a mechanism to be abreast of latest laws in your candidates’ source country.

Determine the number/type of checks to conductAsia Pacific employers conducting six or more checks are 11 times more likely to uncover a discrepancy as compared to those who conduct two checks. Decide what screening components make the most sense based on the position being filled. Determine what data restrictions or limitations and employment screening guidelines are in effect within the country being searched.

Get a 'one-world' viewUse advanced online technologies to help juggle multiple language differences, time zones, local restrictions, country guidelines on data privacy and manage multiple logins, passwords and reports for separate websites. Some screening providers unify all screening activities under one login and password. A screening provider with more branch offices and employees around the world will better understand local cultures, resources and regulations, minimising risk.