Why conducting a background is important?
In every business, employees are undeniably one of the most valuable assets. In Indonesia, small and large businesses thrive by relying upon the mass supply of human resources where background checks and due diligence are the most efficient and cost-effective to prevent fraud and mitigate risk.
Through a background check or pre-employment screening process, all potential applicants are carefully screened to validate their credibility. Background checks will deter any applicants who want to submit forged or fabricated documents or credentials. Moreover, a thorough screening process is essentials to find any embellishment and inaccurate information.
Although background checks and due diligence investigations are not regulated by the Indonesian labor and employment law, the screening practice can still be done safely with proper consent or full acknowledgment of the applicants.
As most checks are very situational, depending on the job position, requirements, and company's policy, checks such as education, employment, and criminal are deemed to be mandatory by most companies. Here are some of the most popular checks used by businesses in Indonesia:
Education Check
Employment Check
Identification Check
Criminal Check
Reference Check
Education Check
Verifying applicants' educational background is a basic requirement in most companies. This check is rather popular due to its effectiveness in discovering a forged diploma, fake GPA, misinformation of major or degree title, and graduation status. Whether the applicants studied in Indonesia or abroad, an education check can quickly identify false information. Since a lot of fresh graduates have no professional experience, their education credibility is vital for hiring managers.
Employment Check
The employment check is to find out the applicants' employment history. This check is mostly used if professional work experience is required. This check will dig in applicants' previous working history in detail by verifying their working period, job title, job performance, awards, misdemeanor, and reasons for leaving. Employment history in applicants' CVs is where embellishment can be found the most. Applicants tend to exaggerate their achievements or job responsibility to make their CV look outstanding.
Identification Check
Identification Card (ID) check is used to authenticate applicants' ID cards where most of their basic information, such as full name, date of birth, registered address, and ID numbers can be found. This basic information is crucial because the applicant could easily commit fraud and run away if he/she manage to get the job with a forged ID. In most cases, it is rather difficult for law enforcement to track down the culprit if the information obtained since hiring is fake.
Criminal Check
For most recruitment processes, a criminal check is mandatory due to the nature of its importance. The goal here is to discover any domestic crime committed by applicants. Verification is usually conducted directly to the local police station. There are several types of common crimes that we want to avoid from applicants, such as theft, child abuse, sex offenders, and drug-related crimes.
Reference Check
As most job applications require applicants to share professional references from previous jobs, at least in Indonesia, this particular standard can become the primary source of misinformation. The main reason for this issue is because applicants could plot, collude, or prepare a scheme with the references to deceive or fool the employers. With reference checks conducted by professional screeners, they could interrogate and uncover many insightful details from the referee. Moreover, it is essential to cross-check whether the references are qualified to testify for the applicants.
There are still many other useful checks, such as address checks, litigation checks, media checks, professional certifications check, and bankruptcy checks that can be utilized to improve human resource due diligence further.
Advantages of conducting a background check in Indonesia
1. Save hiring cost and time
2. Reduce employees turnover rate
3. Protect company reputation
4. Mitigate the risk of fraud
5. Safeguard company's assets
If you ever need assistance to conduct a background check in Indonesia, you may consider T2 Intelligence as your most trusted screening partner. Our service will enable your HR to screen applicants in the APAC region, Europe, and the United States. For more information, feel free to contact us.