 "Firms go deeper in background verification for hiring at senior levels")
Background verification is now getting deeper with more number of checks being done at the senior levels. From looking at social media for any extreme political affiliations to checking their ethical positions in large deals, companies are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the right candidate is hired.
Reshmi Khurana, managing director, Kroll India said that more number of their clients is eager to go several layers in depth for top management hires. “Not just during hiring, but clients are also looking at the partners in the firm where they are investing,” she added.
Khurana recalled a case, where they were advising an international fund of funds that was considering investing in a GP, where they were asked to conduct reputation focused background checks on all the key principals of the GP.
During our research they were unable to verify the Ivy-league degree of one of the principals. When they requested a copy of the degrees of the principal and when they provided the copy to the University, it was found that it was a fake degree.
“The client discussed this major ethical lapse with the GPs and was able to ring-fence the erring principal out of the investment that they were making in the GP fund,” she said.
Various reports on background screening have revealed that there has been an increase in discrepancy levels among verticals and designations.
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Joseph Devasia, Managing Director-India at Antal International said that while it is assumed that discrepancy levels at very senior levels will be low, the cases in these segments are high.
He added that it is not just basic verification of past degrees and work experience, companies also look at the other interviews which a candidate has given and cross-verify the information that they may have given there as well.
With more companies going global, experts said that compliance to international norms has also necessitated the need to comply with these norms.
Ajay Trehan, CEO, AuthBridge said that verification needs to go beyond the regular background check process and ensures that the senior and top executive hiring is clean and compliant to various global AML and other regulatory standards like FCPA, UK Bribery Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act among others.
There have also been cases where further enquiries are done to ascertain if the candidate could also be a threat to business expansion. When a prospective hire for a construction company had posted some strong opinions about a political party which had earlier opposed the setting up of their plant in the past, they had to seek more details.
While the candidate was not rejected, he was called and asked to explain his political leanings before they could take his appointment process forward.
Further, it is not just seniors, but even juniors who worked under them are part of the background check interviews conducted before an individual is hired at senior level.
Khurana said that companies do not just go by the views of one person in an organisation. She explained that in a case, they were retained by the head of HR of an Indian conglomerate to investigate the background and reputation of a senior executive who was being hired to lead a business unit.
The client had received a complaint from his trusted confidant regarding the subject, alleging that the subject was fired from his previous employment due to poor performance. However, investigation by Kroll suggested that he was a high performer and liked by his former colleagues.
They had found that the individual left the previous company shortly after the new head of APAC joined (subject’s new boss) because he was undertaking a restructuring and the subject disagreed with him regarding several business decisions related to India that he was taking. Their client continued with hiring the subject, as a result of our report.
Some sectors are more aware, while others are still catching up.
Trehan said that while the BFSI, Insurance, Retail & IT/ITES sectors are wider in their scope of verification (in selection of checks), this sector is hungry for faster checks and in sifting out those with criminal records or suspect backgrounds.