One in five APAC job applicants submitted false information

More than one in five background checks conducted on job candidates in APAC in 2016 identified inaccuracies in the information supplied by candidates. While the discrepancy rate has decreased from the previous year, it still remains almost three times higher than the global discrepancy rate of 9.7%.

This disparity between APAC and global discrepancy rates may be attributable to the regional difference in maturity of employers’ screening programs. Background screening has long been adopted as a best practice by employers in western countries, while background screening is only more recently gaining traction in APAC, with multi-national corporations spearheading this growth.

In fact, the number of candidates screened by HireRight in APAC has grown by 42% from 2015 to 2016. As more APAC employers actively integrate background screening into their talent acquisition processes—and as more high-profile cases of CV fraud in APAC are reported in the media,—APAC candidates gradually appear to be becoming more aware of background screening and its impact, resulting in improved candidate accuracy when submitting job applications. According to HireRight’s data, Hong Kong, India, Philippines and Singapore have experienced the largest decrease in APAC candidate discrepancy rates over the last two years.

Hong Kong

More than one in five background checks conducted in Hong Kong in 2016 contained discrepancies. However, Hong Kong has seen a significant reduction in discrepancies compared to 2015, and now sits right around the APAC average discrepancy rate of 21.5%.

Professional licenses are checks designed to confirm that a particular license is held in good standing and has not lapsed or expired, applied to a range of professional occupations, including accountants, engineers, lawyers, auditors and doctors. These represented the highest Hong Kong discrepancy rates in 2016, with more than one in four candidates making inaccurate claims. That said, Hong Kong saw a significant reduction in education history discrepancies compared to 2015. Hong Kong candidates were most accurate when declaring their employment histories, with only a 10.9% discrepancy rate in 2016.

The use of background screening in talent acquisition processes is evidently picking up momentum in the APAC region as more companies recognise the importance of implementing such employment checks to make better-informed hiring decisions. Increased awareness concerning the consequences of CV fraud is likely deterring candidates from misrepresenting their employment histories. Consequently, it is increasingly important that companies conduct regular assessments of their hiring strategy, including their background screening processes, to help ensure they manage people risk as effectively as possible.