Identity Verification Must Evolve
When COVID-19 induced companies to the remote work mode, most of us thought it to be a temporary phase. Now we see that remote hiring is here to stay, since 70 per cent of talent acquisition professionals expect this trend, and remote working, to continue. With changes come challenges. In this context, the challenges are hiring and onboarding remotely, while ensuring that the people you have hired are the same people that they claim themselves to be. When you interact with someone face-to-face, a certain level of trust is established. But when you don’t get to see them in person, you miss the subtle cues such as body language and voice inflexions. Video interviews are a weak substitute.
Good Measures
We tend to believe that people don’t lie about their identities. However, A Sterling survey of HR professionals conducted early last year found that nearly one in five organisations has experienced candidate or employee identity fraud, and the threat keeps growing. How do you know that your applicant has submitted un-tampered identity documents?
How do you make sure that they present the same original documents during the initial identity verification, during the background check, and while joining? Are your HR professionals equipped with the right tools and training?
An employer needs to do multiple pre-employment checks —identity document verification, criminal background checks, and employment history — before a new employee is hired. Employers must ensure that they are hiring someone who has the right to work in the region in which they are hired. Identity verification is the foundation of the employee screening process. If the candidate’s identity details are inaccurate, the time taken for background checks will increase. This can be costly to the company. Even worse, the organisation might end up hiring the wrong person and fall victim to identity fraud.
Tech - enabledIdentity Verification
Identity verification safeguards your employees and your brand reputation. In the world of a virtual workforce, remote hiring enables employers to tap into a richer talent pool beyond barriers, at a lesser cost. However, employers must ensure that the candidates have presented accurate information. This is essential to ensure that your valuable employees get to work with ethically strong colleagues and the corporate environment remains bonded with integrity.
Identity verification eases background screening, improves efficiency. Using automated methods during the initial candidate screening phase improves hiring efficiency. If the identity verification is not performed properly, the background check may become incomplete, or it may generate incorrect results.
Smartphone-based digital solutions can enable employers to capture data directly from government-issued identity documents for identity verification and pre-employment screening. Candidates simply have to take a photograph of their identity document, followed by a selfie, and once submitted, employers can crosscheck the submitted information against government databases or other trusted third-party sources.
Verifying a candidate’s data against various official records — tax, telecom, and bank records, government license numbers, ID cards — gives you the confidence that the candidate’s data is accurate. This can improve accuracy, reduce costly delays, and ensure the accuracy of the data submitted.
