When you go to a job interview, the recruiter may ask you to show them your diploma for their records. Some hiring managers will ask for a sealed transcript of records. Others might directly contact the schools or colleges you went to verify your degree. In some cases, employers hire third-party screening services to make inquiries into applicants’ backgrounds. These services will ask for your diploma from the school.
Verification of education is an important background check component when you apply for a job. It helps companies find the right talent, although it does take some extra effort to check every candidate’s college degree. However, the employer can also get to know you better this way.
Why Verify Education?
Verifying someone’s education is typically done to see whether the person actually graduated and, more frequently, to confirm the dates of attendance of the academic institution in question. The candidate’s school’s office of records can carry this procedure out in most cases. In others, a background screening service will charge a fee to do this. With so much information available from a conventional screening, it’s possible to wonder why a company or recruiter will want to verify education. Education background checks are necessary for a few reasons.
The Right Skills and Education
The main one is to confirm you have the skills and education needed to successfully perform the job you’ve applied for. Moreover, an impressive degree of higher education demonstrates that you’re consistent enough to pursue your goals. Employers find perseverance to be a very important trait. In fact, few traits are more valuable than perseverance when it comes to teamwork skills and the ability to meet deadlines, complete tasks, and fulfill company objectives.
Misrepresentation
According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, 88% of holders of a bachelor’s and post-graduate degrees have jobs. The employment rate for those with just a high school degree is about half of that. It’s no surprise that education verification has become a critical component of a background screening, which more and more companies are considering integrating into their recruitment process.
A candidate will often be asked for a degree in today’s competitive job market. This might be the case even if they’re applying for an entry-level position. To improve their prospects, some candidates will embellish or lie about their qualifications. What’s more, many aren’t even afraid of getting caught. They’re opportunistic, and they’ll take their chances. If it’s discovered that they lied, they might get fired while also risking poor performance at their job when lying about their credentials.
Fake Degrees
Diploma mills are so profitable that they’re becoming an industry within the education segment. These companies sell certificates, diplomas, and degrees without requiring any academic effort on the part of the “student.” Obviously, these documents are not legitimate because diploma mills have no accreditation academic institutions.
Some diploma mills are more sophisticated than others, asking customers to submit a thesis to look original. Unfortunately, some people don’t realize the degree from a diploma mill will not be recognized as legitimate by an employer. Degrees from diploma mills can be difficult to distinguish from degrees from accredited institutions. However, companies are becoming more aware that a diploma may look authentic until a background check fails to verify it.
