Hiring top talents is an investment in business. Unfortunately, many individuals falsify their educational background on paper – making leaders wonder if they really are potentials.
One of the biggest lies comes from Marilee Jones, the dean of admissions from 1997 to 2007 at the world’s renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She claimed to possess three higher degrees while in reality, she had none. According to an official release, Jones has been lying for 28 years during her tenure and was caught when the school learned through an anonymous tip in 2007 that Jones had puffed up her own credentials. After a thorough investigation, she was forced to quit.
See also: Liar for Hire? Top Ten Lies spotted on Faked CVs.
Some people purposefully fake or buy degrees from unaccredited institutions for a very simple reason of getting hired, due to the fact that many employers strictly require candidates to hold job-related degrees or majors. In particular, about 5 to 7 jobseekers possess a fake degree while 10 to 15 percent have degrees from unaccredited universities, a report said.
In this case, having such people in your organisation could be risky for business especially if you hold a motto of integrity and honesty. You might also lose trust from clients which eventually decrease company performance. Therefore, it is crucial for you to know how to spot a fake diploma. Here are the tricks.
Traditionally, spotting fake diploma is the same as spotting counterfeit money. You have to know the features and characteristics of fake diploma. If you see or feel some of the following features in a diploma, you can tell that it is fake.
Aside from the traditional trick, a background check will help you not to be fooled by a candidate. If you think the name of the institution is questionable and/or the candidate’s academic credentials seem too advanced for their position, you should do a double-check of their degrees.
Background screening should be done by partnering with a licensed private investigator. Commonly, the investigators will ask for at least the highest degree completed by your candidates, the last name of the applicant, the school they attend, dates of attendance, fields of study, degree earned (if any), and date of graduation or last attendance. The background screening provider should offer a compliant process to verify if a school has been credited – then they will proceed to find out at diploma mills.
As an employer, you should also educate yourself about the names of fake institutions. You can look up diploma mill online and familiarise yourself with the most popular ones. In short, you have to make sure that the person you hire is not a phoney who will bring harm to company reputation. Thus, investing time to acknowledge yourself with diploma frauds is a must.
Read also: SPY at Work! How to Detect One?
