Curious About Background Checks in Indian IT? Let's Discuss How Companies Like McAfee Handle Them

I would like to know the following:

1. How do Indian IT companies conduct background checks?

2. Does McAfee perform background verification of employees even if it is not mentioned in the appointment letter?

3. Suppose a candidate has worked with more than two companies previously, and the new company (say McAfee) asks for "Relieving letter only from the previous employer." How will the new company verify all the previous employments?

4. In the above case, does the new company ask the previous employer for the documents that the candidate submitted at the time of joining the previous company?

Hi,

The background check or the reference check in such bigger companies would usually be handled by third parties. They might not ask the previous company about the documents, but yes, they would definitely check your employment status in that organization. That would comprise of your work experience, your CTC, your designation. It can vary by company to company, and even the results will be announced to your immediate manager and your HR advisors. Based on the severity of the results they might have arrived upon, usually in IT companies, it will be of 3 severities: yellow, orange, and red/green.

If a person gets a complete red, then he might have to leave the company. If he gets a green, then he has cleared his background check without any discrepancies. But if he is getting yellow or orange, then it would be your manager who comes into the picture. If he is satisfied with your performance, he can retain you; otherwise, it's a complete matter of your manager's discretion.

Hope this helps you.

~Roopa

If a company doesn't ask for a relieving letter from all previous employers but only from the last employer, how will the new employer check all the employer's records? Let's say an employee worked with employers A, B, and C before joining D. If employer D requests a relieving letter from only employer C and not from A & B, then how can D verify the employee's employment with A and B?

The CV mentions the details of previous employment. Hence, even if you don't provide documents of past employments except the last one, the company can still do a reference check with all past employments.

Therefore, it is strongly advised not to provide false information.

What if the first company is closed and the employee does not have any information about that company's whereabouts?

Hi,

The third party will verify the details by calling and sending the soft copy of documents to the previous organizations.

Regards,
Rachna

Also, the third party will get educational qualifications verified either by personally visiting the universities or colleges. They also keep the database for freshers.

Doing 'background check' has acquired a mandatory compliance status in companies that are certified or in the process of being certified to ISO 27001. This certification is a result of a third-party audit, driving companies to implement the standard and enforce compliance seriously and with purpose.

Control A.8.1.2, which is part of A.8 "Human Resources Security," describes background check compliance as follows:

Screening:

Background verification checks on all candidates for employment, contractors, and third-party users shall be carried out in accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and ethics, proportional to business requirements, the classification of information to be accessed, and perceived risks.

A.8.1 is the control objective, stating the objective as follows:

"To ensure that employees, contractors, and third-party users understand their responsibilities, are suitable for the roles they are considered for, and to reduce the risk of theft, fraud, or misuse of facilities."

More than 300 companies in India, mostly in IT and IT-dependent sectors, are certified to the ISO 27001 Standard or its earlier version, the BS 7799 Part 2. The Standard is currently being implemented in at least 50 companies in India.

In light of compliance with the ISO 27001 Standard, HR Managers have assumed an important role in implementing and maintaining Information Security as a business requirement today.

Govind Srinivasan

ISO 27001 Lead Auditor & Lead Tutor

Practice Head - Business Process Consulting

Paramount Dataware Pvt. Ltd.

23-B, 11th Avenue, Ashok Nagar

Chennai 600083

[http://www.paramountworld.com](http://www.paramountworld.com)

Work: 044 2471 3493 / 24741436

Let me reaffirm what Govind has already said.

Background check is one of the 127 controls of ISO 27001. In a similar vein, CTPAT and its related standard ISO 28001 also lay stress on the same.

The ideal check is to track an individual right from his place of nativity, school, neighborhood, university, all employments, and so on. Otherwise, how can one say for sure that a particular employee is not booked for an offense in any of the districts of India?

Let me narrate a real incident in the US. A fighter plane with strategic cargo crashed in an alpine area. A plane weighs around 28 tonnes, and the investigators were able to retrieve 27.5 tonnes of the cargo spread geographically over an arduous terrain. They could conduct this exercise for only 3-4 months in a year.

Next, they tracked down all the people who knew this man right up to kindergarten times just to verify that the said pilot was not affiliated with any terrorist organization.

Most of you would be aware that subversives/spies lie dormant for years and then strike.

So the final judge is the organization as to what the risks are and how to combat them.

But don't trust those superficial verifications of outsourced staff like housekeeping/security... Nobody is interested in even finding out about their background, though this is a serious breach.

Surya

I just want the information that if the last-to-last company is closed (5 years ago), how would a third-party vendor verify employees' credentials?

IT companies have varied information requirements. Education credentials, criminal and civil records are properly checked. They are not very concerned with the lower previous employment. At the managerial level, they conduct background checks before the second interview. Currently, they are working hard to get the certificates attested as well. Different companies have different requirements.

I have been conducting employment screening for the past 18 years. I have my own firm, Parakletos Worldwide Intelligence Network, in New Delhi.

D. Anand
Parakletos Worldwide Intelligence Network
9899294184

Hi,

Even if the first employed company is closed, below-mentioned options could be considered:

- The concerned employee could get the contact of an authorized signatory, preferably the person who has signed the relieving/experience letters.
- The employer could verify the documents like appointment letters, the first salary, and the last three salary slips to validate the information given by the employee.
- During the background check, a third party/employer will get to know whether the mentioned organization was existing in the mentioned location or not.
- When an organization and its whereabouts are not traceable, he could not be blamed for that.

Regards,
GVS.

Hi,

Suppose a person working for company A wants to leave the company and applies to company B. How does company B go about conducting the reference check? If the person mentions their immediate boss as the reference, would contacting the boss from company A not alert them that the candidate is planning to leave?

How should company B proceed with the reference check in this scenario? If the candidate provides references from friends or colleagues, they may only provide positive feedback. In such cases, what is the usefulness or validity of conducting the reference check?

Who, then, should ideally be listed as a reference?

Cheers,
Saket

Can anyone tell what the background verification procedure is and how stringent it is at Open Solutions Software Services Pvt Ltd. in Gurgaon.

Suppose the first company is closed. How will it be verified? If somebody does not show the first company, will a third party ask the current company about the old one? For example, if someone previously used Company A and then moves to Company B without showing Company A, will a third party inquire about the details from Company B?

Hi,

Suppose one has worked for 3 different software companies like A, B, and C. Presently working for C. The last, to last company in this case, company A (Please note that company A was a small one) has closed its business operations and does not exist in the market. Now, can anyone tell me how the background verification will be done by the 3rd party verification company for the company A, which has closed down its operations? Guys, especially HR people, please help me out as I already got an offer from two big MNC companies.

Thanks

I have worked in companies like Comp-A, Comp-B, Comp-C, and now want to join Comp-D. However, the issue is that I have only worked in Comp-C for 2-3 months. For Comp-D, I wish to conceal this short employment at Comp-C for some positive reason. In the other two companies, I have each worked for 4+ years. Could someone please advise if there might be any problems if I omit the 2-3 months of employment in Comp-C? Would this omission cause any issues during a background check? Will they discover during the background check that I worked in Company-C for only 2-3 months?

I have been newly recruited in a company as a fresher. However, I have made a slight mistake in my submitted resume. My CGPI marks in one semester of graduation are 7.96, but due to a typing mistake, I have written it as 7.99. Although I have correctly stated the final aggregate. What should I do? Please help.

There would not be any problem as long as there weren't any issues at Company C. Moreover, it's at your discretion to hide the same or remove it from your profile, so don't worry. Also, on the other hand, some companies do verify the gap period, so be alert on that note.

Inquiry About Project Details During Background Checks

Whether project details are inquired about during a background check? The company I was working for before doesn't have that project or project mates in their records. What should I do now?

I have 15 years of IT experience and have been with my current company for 10 years. I am now transitioning to a new company, and they are planning to conduct a background verification. I have heard that if an individual has been with a company for 10 years, there may be no need to verify previous employers. Is this information accurate?

Thanks,
Nandha

Please suggest how the performance rating given in a previous company impacts background verification. One of my colleagues received a poor rating because he did not agree to stay back after resigning for a critical project. He had worked at the company for around 5.5 years.

My background verification has failed due to a red mark in my pre-employment check, even though I have genuine experience. My old company was not registered and has closed down. The verification agency conducted a physical verification, but nobody from the neighborhood could confirm my employment, as it was over five years ago.

We used to receive our salary by cheque, and I have a bank statement to prove that. How can I prove my employment? Please help.

Regards,

Hi,

I would like to know, how will the background check be conducted for employees of Wipro, IBM, and TCS? Will the companies conduct the background check before releasing the offer letter, or will they perform it after the employees have joined the company? Could you please provide me with this information?

Thank you.

Hi Roopam,

Can you please let us know how these third parties verify the educational certifications? Can we verify the same? Is there any website or database where we can check whether the certifications shown by the candidate are valid or not?

Hello All,

I want to know, do VMWARE Bangalore and Wells Fargo conduct background checks? If yes, will they also verify the education credentials? If so, how do they handle background checks in a government university with millions of previous students where reaching out for verification might be challenging? Especially in a scenario where the university is located in a northern state and contacting them directly does not yield responses. How do these companies manage background checks in such large university settings?

Please respond as soon as possible.

Thanks in Advance.