North India shows highest discrepancy in education checks: AuthBridge Research

AuthBridge Research Services, the largest Indian employee background verification firm, said on Tuesday that north India shows the highest discrepancy in education checks while south India shows the highest discrepancy in address checks.

Seven out of 100 candidates lie and misinform during a job application with candidates between 35 to 45 years having the highest discrepancy rate, according to the 5th edition of its Annual Trend Report on Employee Background Screening.

The identity check discrepancy ratio for small and medium enterprises is six times higher than multinational corporations. Small and medium enterprises are 50 per cent more likely to hire a wrong candidate than multinational corporations, said the AuthBridge report.

The findings span over a range of checks conducted on candidates across the country to paint an elaborate picture for employers to draw appropriate conclusions from in order to build effective risk mitigation strategies.

One of the most startling findings came in an on-demand economy where 35 out of every 1,000 candidates screened had lied or misinterpreted credentials. Even more disturbing finding was that 33 out of every 1,000 candidates screened had criminal or civil litigation record against them.

Under the on-demand economy, the top four cities showing the highest discrepancy trends include Chandigarh at 7.8 per cent, Pune at 7.5 per cent, New Delhi at 4.9 per cent and Mumbai at 3.6 per cent.

The age-wise analysis shows high discrepancies across the range of 30 to 45 years probably indicating higher incentive for candidates in this age-group to fudge credentials for better job opportunities.

At 14.69 per cent and 13.57 per cent respectively, private insurance and retail top the list of sectors with the highest discrepancy ratios. At the same time, Chandigarh and Pune top the list of cities with the highest discrepancy ratios.

The AuthBridge Annual Trend Report covers the top 15 industries to gather insights around discrepancy trends in the information shared by candidates during the verification process.