Recruiters on guard against 'fake CVs'

'Fake CVs', which had become the bane of the IT, ITeS and other related industries during the early part of the decade, are beginning to rear their head again, but in a different avatar. While, earlier it was the false qualifications that haunted recruiters, it is now the false claims on experience.

The booming IT and related sectors, in constant need for people with skills to meet client needs, are the worst affected by the menace. It is the big chasm between the supply and demand that is responsible for the situation.

With firms in a hurry to meet their demand for manpower, they cannot afford to take sufficient time on each recruit and verify the antecedents of each of them.

The onus then falls on the recruiters to ensure that the recruits of right antecedents are secured. The Executive Recruiters Association (ERA), the association of the Indian recruitment industry, is working to ensure that the members of the association strictly follow a code of ethics.

Wipro finding black sheep among its newly recruited flock had sent shockwaves through the firm and industry. They had provided false information in their CVs and these were detected during verification, and remedial action taken, though it took time.

Said Kris Lakshmikanth, secretary of ERA and CEO, The Head Hunters India Ltd said: "Every industry has a small lot of not so right people and the recruiting industry is no exception. ERA has been striving hard to set right this malady." But a lot more needs to be done, he added.

ERA members, numbering 84, who are mostly large recruiting firms in the organised sector, have partnered to create an industry platform to improve ethics and standards to remove the hurdles in the growth of the industry, said Anjan Datta of the recruitment firm Career Graph.

But, it is huge demand which far outstrips supply which is a major hurdle.