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August 14, 2024

Why graduate verification is crucial for hiring

Trust Marketplace branded graphic with a woman graduate and an icon that says Verified

When you hire someone, you want to be sure they have the right skills, training, and knowledge for the job. While employment history can provide insights, verifying education credentials is crucial, especially for new graduates or industries requiring specific qualifications.

Verifying education credentials could be a time-consuming exercise for organisations, but an automated Graduate Verification Check solution can instantly reduce the effort.  

In this blog, we cover key aspects of graduate verification services and explain how Xref's Graduate Verification Service can improve the efficiency of your hiring process.

Why verify education?

Hiring the right candidate goes beyond just looking at their resume. Verifying education ensures that the candidate has the necessary qualifications and skills required for the job. Here are some key reasons why it's essential to verify education.

Ensuring skills and compliance

For positions of trust or in regulated industries like healthcare or finance, education verification is essential to confirm candidates can perform their duties competently and legitimately.

International qualifications

Qualifications can vary widely between countries and institutions. Verifying education ensures candidates meet the necessary standards.

What is graduate verification?

Organisations either do not conduct verifications and rely on the interview process or request copies of certificates, the latter of which requires manual work. 

Graduate verification confirms a candidate's educational background. This step is vital to ensuring that the credentials provided are accurate and legitimate. 

Graduate Verification checks, also known as education background checks, confirm a candidate’s attendance, qualifications, and accreditation from high schools, universities, colleges, or vocational institutions.

Graduate Verification Service (GVS) on Xref’s Trust Marketplace

Verifying educational credentials traditionally involves contacting the universities where candidates claim to have studied. This manual process can be time-consuming and complex, requiring formal requests and waiting for responses. 

The challenge is even greater with international credentials, as it involves language barriers, different educational standards, and various verification procedures. In today's global job market, where candidates often have degrees from multiple countries, this process can be slow and prone to mistakes, making it hard for organisations to confirm the authenticity of qualifications.

Xref offers a Graduate Verification Service that automates the verification process. Recruiters can access instant Graduate Qualification Verifications from participating education providers/institutions.

Xref has access to over 50,000 educational institutions globally in more than 195 countries for verifications required from non-participating providers outside Australia and New Zealand. 

Graduate verification results can be obtained in as little as a day. Recruiters receive a notification and a detailed report indicating whether there is a “match,” “partial match,” or “no match” based on the information provided by the candidate.

No such central database existed before the Qualification Verification Checks service, resulting in slow and expensive graduate qualification checks. In many cases, traditional methods of verification have not been reliable and access to institutions around the world is a challenge. 

Additionally, Xref’s Graduate Verification Service is easy to set up and has a convenient pay-as-you-go model.

What information does a qualification check reveal?

Qualification checks provide a detailed look into a candidate's educational background. These checks reveal essential information that helps verify the authenticity of the candidate’s qualifications. Here’s what you can expect from Xref’s Qualification Check.

Institution and qualification

The check will confirm the educational institute attended, degree attained, dates of attendance and graduation, and any honours or awards received.

Work experience confirmation

The check may also confirm required work experience hours, grade point average (GPA), and other relevant educational records.

Why is qualification verification important for hires? 

Understanding the importance of graduate verification is crucial for making informed hiring decisions. Verifying a candidate's education ensures that they possess the qualifications they claim, which helps maintain the integrity and credibility of your hiring process. Here are some reasons why it's important to verify education.

Truthfulness

Candidates may not be completely honest about their education. Verifying education ensures future or existing employees have the required qualifications and the right candidates for the right roles..

Compliance and liability

In regulated industries, verification is necessary to comply with legal requirements and avoid legal liability for hiring unqualified individuals.

Compensation

Education verification can also be a factor in determining compensation, especially in government, trade, or education sectors.

Is Xref’s Graduate Verification Check automated?

Manual verification processes make it difficult to verify a candidate's claims accurately. For example, obtaining details like the year of course completion and results from multiple institutions can be challenging through manual requests. 

With Xref’s Graduate Verification Service, there's no need to go to individual institutions or multiple check providers. Employers can verify graduate checks in seconds. 

The importance of background checks and reference surveys

Background and screening checks play a vital role in establishing trust and reliability in various contexts. Companies that conduct reference checks along with other verification checks have an ideal process for candidate due diligence. 

In hiring

Verification checks and reference surveys are essential for confirming the information candidates provide during interviews. Qualification Verification Checks allow employers to efficiently vet numerous candidates simultaneously, saving valuable time and resources.

Risk mitigation

These checks help protect businesses from potential risks and fraud by ensuring the accuracy of the information provided by candidates.

Conclusion

Verifying a candidate’s education is a crucial step in the hiring process. It provides peace of mind that the candidate has the qualifications they claim and helps ensure compliance, integrity, and accuracy in hiring decisions. 

In addition to our best-in-class talent survey solutions, Xref is proud to make qualification verification easy for customers. 

Click here to contact us if you’d like more information on how our Graduate Verification Service can work for you.

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