More than a fifth of APAC candidates submit inaccurate information

While hiring, make sure to look out for discrepancies.

According to a recent report by HireRight, more than one in five (21.5%) background checks conducted on job candidates in the Asia Pacific region in 2016 found inaccuracies in information supplied by candidates - almost three times higher than the discrepancy rate globally (9.7%). This finding was based on the results of background checks performed by HireRight in the APAC region last year.

Discrepancies are marked when information provided by candidates does not match records of their previous places of employment, education or other relevant organisations and databases; this includes a disparity in dates of education or employment, qualifications attained, graduation dates, positions held and job responsibilities.

As more employers in APAC integrate background screening into their talent acquisition process, and more high-profile cases of CV fraud in APAC are reported in the media, candidates in the region are becoming more aware of background screening and its impact – resulting in a lower discrepancy rate compared to the previous year (29%).

According to HireRight’s data, Hong Kong, India, Philippines and Singapore have experienced the largest decrease in APAC candidate discrepancy rates over the last 2 years.

In Singapore, the discrepancy rate dropped from 28.4% in 2015, to 24.7% in 2016.

Digging deeper, HireRight found that professional license discrepancies represented the highest rate in 2016. In particular, one in four (25%) candidates inaccurately reported license information in 2016 – twice as many as in 2015 (13.8%).

Conversely, the biggest decrease in discrepancies among Singapore candidates was education qualifications, with the rate in 2016 (18.3%) less than half that of 2015 (40.9%).

Across the straits in Malaysia, the discrepancy rate dropped slightly, from 24.3% in 2015, to 24.2% in 2016.

Over in Hong Kong, there was also a significant reduction in discrepancies - from 26.9% in 2015, to 21.3% in 2016.

Similar to Singapore, professional licenses represented the highest Hong Kong discrepancy rate in 2016, with 27.3% making inaccurate claims. Hong Kong also saw a significant reduction in education history discrepancies (25.2%) as compared to 2015 (34.8%).

Lead photo / 123RFInfographic / HireRight