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In an increasingly competitive jobs market rife with candidate
fraud, digital badges are the breakthrough that allows companies to immediately
verify candidate qualifications and avoid the costs, inconvenience, and
business risk of unqualified hires. Digital badges also enable genuine job
applicants to benefit from instant credibility and avoid losing out on career
opportunities to unqualified fraudsters, whose numbers are currently on the
rise.
Job Applications in a World of Increasing Competition
With
the technical skills gap widening, salaries in the IT field are growing as
companies struggle to find the qualified talent they need. Consequentially, the
rise in IT wages has produced a more competitive IT job market, as increasing
numbers of recession-hit candidates apply for IT positions with the promise of interesting,
in-demand work, a competitive salary, and the enhanced job security of the IT
domain.
The
allure of such positions is leading many candidates to push the boundaries of
truth on their CVs, studies reveal, with numerous applicants being outright untruthful
about their qualifications. Companies, meanwhile, in the rush to hire seemingly
qualified IT staff, are making the mistake of rushing through the candidate
selection process and not verifying candidate qualifications, ending up with a
potentially bad hire.
Why Qualifications Matter: Calculating the Cost of an Unqualified
Hire
The
effects of a bad hire are difficult, but not impossible, to quantify. According
to a survey by AXELOS, a UK-based global best practice solution provider, in
the past three years, nearly 40% of UK companies have spent more than £10,000
re-hiring staff after employing someone who was not properly qualified, with
nearly 10% having spent over 4 times that amount.
But
the financial impact spreads far beyond the calculable recruitment expenditure.
There are many hidden costs, such as the increased management and colleague
time trying to coach the incumbent up to speed, and costs incurred through
on-the-job mistakes. There are also missed opportunity costs as the business
stagnates through a lack of technological innovation, in addition to the untold
negative impacts on the business’s reputation – cited by 26% of the HR managers
surveyed by AXELOS as the most significant risk posed by underqualified staff.
The
estimated fully-loaded costs of an unqualified hire can add up to a staggering
sum.
Qualification Checks as a Hiring Priority
With
candidate fraud on the rise and its costs so high, vetting potential employees needs
to be a mandatory step in the recruitment process. And yet, the AXELOS study
shows that before employing someone new, nearly half (48%) of UK-based HR
professionals do not always check whether applicants’ qualifications are valid.
This is a recipe for potentially wasting resources on the wrong hire. The candidate
qualification check is a must-have.
Common Problems with Validating Qualifications
There
are many reasons why qualifications are not checked correctly, if at all, even
when the process is advocated.
Firstly,
how do you check qualifications? Many firms will ask a candidate to email in a
scanned copy of their certificates – but these can be easily falsified, even
without IT skills. Asking the candidate to bring in their credentials in person
is better, but still doesn’t guarantee their validity. Proper verification
traditionally requires time and resources.
Secondly,
who is responsible for checking qualifications? The hiring manager? Recruiter?
HR administrator? The onboarding team? The external recruitment agency? While it’s
in everyone’s interest, qualification checking frequently gets passed around
with no one owning the issue.
Thirdly,
qualification checks are usually the last step in the recruitment cycle and, as
time-consuming administrative tasks, too often get pushed to the bottom of the
to-do list and forgotten about, as more urgent needs take priority.
The
answer to all these problems may be easier than you think – Digital Badges.
Digital Badges – Validation Made Easy
The
use of digital certification badges is a massive boost for background checks,
enabling employers to:
- instantly and securely authenticate a prospective employee’s
skills and competencies.
- minimize potential risk to the business of hiring unqualified
personnel.
- reduce the HR administrative and ownership burden.
- make faster, more confident and, above all, more valid hiring
decisions.
Digital Badges Are Essential for Employers and Candidates Now More Than
Ever.
Data gathered by the UK’s Office for National
Statistics reveal that, in just the last three years, 14% of 138,000 HR
managers and directors have dealt with at least five instances of employees not
holding the qualifications they claimed. That’s nearly 100,000 employees,
working in Britain, having lied to get jobs they were not qualified to do. To
prevent future deceptions, companies must leverage the ingenuity of digital badges today.
Digital
badges, such as those offered for free with Oracle Certification, are also a
boon for genuinely qualified job seekers, allowing them to:
- Demonstrate qualifications on CVs as well as social media.
- Increase the likelihood of securing a job offer over an
unqualified candidate.
- Show professionalism and concern for the employer, by minimizing
their time to vet the job application.
- Signify
their readiness to perform by possessing the skills required for the role.
- Differentiate themselves from the competition in the job market.
- Get hired faster.
Digital badges are the perfect solution for
qualification checks, helping companies to avoid the pitfalls, perils, and
price of unqualified hires, while boosting the job and career prospects of
honest, certified professionals.
If you are a candidate, earn your Oracle
Certified digital badge.
If you are an employer hiring Oracle
professionals, request a digital badge as confirmation of skills and knowledge.
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