IT firms in pact to banish fake CVs

Most firms who provide fake experience certificates, salary slips are in Hyderabad.

IT services firm Wipro Technologies has taken a strategic step which if implemented in full can spell the death knell to people trying to enter the IT job market using fake CVs.

The company, in partnership with two other 'top-5 domestic IT services companies', has launched a mission wherein all three will share the names and profile of the fraudsters in their respective companies once they are caught.

"Wipro is taking the lead and has roped in other industry partners in the initiative aimed at curtailing the trend of faking of CVs which affect the IT industry in a big way. Our mission will be to ensure that once identified, these candidates don't get employed elsewhere in the IT sector," said Pradeep Bahirwani, VP, Strategic Sourcing, Wipro Technologies.

People faking CVs to get into IT companies in India is not unknown. However, when they are caught, most of them quit their jobs whereas punitive measures like withholding the salary due, withholding other benefits due to the candidates and police cases linger on.

On the other hand, since this happens in silos and there is no mechanism for a proper coordination between the IT industry, the people who fake resumes manage to get employment somewhere else.

In 2005-06, MindTree terminated the services of 80 of the 1,000 employees it recruited during the year after it found that they had furnished false information in their CVs.

Last year, Wipro fired close to a hundred employees while Satyam Computers sacked around five hundred employees over one year after they found that the employees concerned had given incorrect information about their work experience.

"We are also talking to other companies to share their database among ourselves so that we can exchange the information regarding such people in future," Bahirwani said.

Industry sources say that about 15 per cent of the resumes in the market are fabricated. This is further fuelled by the mushrooming of fictitious organisations who provide fake experience certificates to job seekers in the IT sector.

"Most of these companies who provide fake experience certificates, salary slips and even fake educational certificates are located in Hyderabad, while there are quite a few of them in Bangalore and many other cities as well," said Deepankar Sanwalkar who heads the Forensic Dept of KPMG.

Meanwhile, Wipro is ensuring that all its future recruits will be registered with the National Skills Registry (NSR) set up by the industry body Nasscom.

"We have taken the lead in promoting NSR and today our rate of NSR compliance is 90 per cent. We are taking ongoing steps to ensure that all new job seekers to the company, are registered with the NSR," said Bahirwani.

In the half year-ended September 30, 2007, Wipro Technologies had added 9,660 employees, compared to 7,437 during the same period last fiscal.