School credentials usually refer to academic or educational qualifications, like degrees or diplomas that have been earned and awarded by completing a course of study in school. These can be a secondary school degree, diploma college degree, bachelor’s degree, or a doctorate degree.
Most employers find assessing an applicant’s school credentials straining when hiring for vacant positions. This isn’t supposed to be the case since this is the first stage of knowing how qualified applicants are. A lot is at stake every time a new person is hired into an organization.
As a business owner, here is why it is essential to check one’s school credentials before hiring.
- Applicant Knowledge
School credentials provide proof of how knowledgeable a person is in their discipline or for a job role. It also helps determine if they have the required knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the job role. You can simply enlist the help of recruiters, like hirescholars.com, to perform the work of analyzing school credentials of applicants to avoid any form of regret and get the best person fit for the job role.
- Evaluate Professional Competency
The competency of an employee is essential for business growth. School credentials can help in determining this. It’s an eye opener to what such a person is capable of doing, including their limitations. Knowing all these can help you determine areas to improve on or skills that need refining.
- Increased Productivity
Hiring someone with school credentials that best fit the business is a good thing. It leads to an increase in employee efficiency and productivity. The growth of the business increases when there are good hires. This will ultimately increase business profit.
- Confirm Educational Background
Checking applicants’ school credentials can help employers confirm educational background claims in their resumes during the interview. It is vital to verify such claims before hiring because certain roles may require particular educational backgrounds. If applicants don’t possess the educational experience they claim to have, it can deeply injure your company’s credibility, not to mention the damage it can cause to your business’s sales and profits.
- Time Management
Time management and planning are vital for the development of any business. Having an employee with poor performance can hinder this since the time spent training such a person could have been focused on other productive things. This is why it’s important to do a thorough examination of the applicant’s credentials to determine how skilled they actually are.
- Professional Evidence
School credentials provide evidence of work ethic, drive, and persistence, which can be used to determine how driven, resilient, and innovative the applicant you are considering for the job. This helps predict how such a person will perform in the role. It can also show if the bearer is good enough to perform professional duties.
- Customer Relationship
Some certificates and credentials can assure you that the person you are hiring has a solid or at least some sort of customer relationship background. It is vital to hire employees who are customer satisfaction conscious, especially if you’re in the service industry.
Such a person has honed their skills when it comes to respecting customers and co-workers alike. Good customer relationship helps keep old customers and bring potential customers in. Good customer service helps keep your business ahead of its competitors.
- Making A Salary Offer
Worrying about the salary range of the person you are hiring is uncalled for since you can quickly determine how much a person is worth from the content of their school credentials.
The higher the educational attainment usually means more refined skills and abilities, which are associated with higher pay and more benefits. Employees are paid according to their level of educational and skills, which you can find in the credentials.
- Team Building
Checking the school credentials of the person you are hiring can also help you know how much of a team player they are. The business’s productivity level may be at risk if you employ applicants who aren’t team players. Employing strong team players will contribute to the business’s overall strength and growth.
- Mental Gratification
Mental gratification is experienced once a thorough screening is done on the school credentials of the person you are hiring. It allows you to make an informed decision and hire the right hands for your company. This will give you absolute peace of mind and security.
How To Verify School Credentials
Now that you know why you must check an applicant’s school credentials before hiring them, you may be wondering how you can go about it?
Some job seekers can tender school credentials that look very convincing but are false. The certificates might have been forged, or gotten through dubious means or from an unaccredited institution.
Here is how to verify the credibility of an applicant’s school credentials:
- Check The School On The Internet
Seek information on the Internet to ascertain facts about the school, like going through the school’s website to seek specific information concerning the applicant’s supposed educational attainment. Doing so can provide you with enough information to determine if the school is accredited, has any credibility, or actually exists.
- Contact The School
The school registrar or secretary should be able to confirm the dates of attendance and graduation. Some colleges may even offer to send a verification transcript to an employer for proper degree confirmation.
- Proof Of School’s Accreditation
Schools accredited by proper and legitimate agencies must have undergone a thorough review of qualitative educational programs. The applicant can, therefore, provide proof of their school’s accreditation to ascertain credential claims.
Conclusion
Hiring the right person for your business is possible if the proper time and effort are put into gauging, assessing, and analyzing the school credentials presented by the applicant. Looking into applicants’ credentials before hiring can reveal red flags, protect your company’s integrity, prevent you from hiring the wrong person for the job, protect your business from employees with false certificates, and save you the cost of rehiring. Follow the tips mentioned above and you’ll surely be on your way to achieving more successes.