Do Education Background Checks Detect Fake Degrees?

An education background check confirms the job applicant’s educational institutions, including high school, vocation school, college, or university. It also gives the years attended, whether they graduated or not, and specific degrees earned. It’s important to note that education verification does not verify licenses. You’ll need to confirm those with a professional license verification.

Employers can contact educational institutions themselves or use a third-party education verification service to request transcript information. This process can be tedious since some schools only release transcripts to the student. As a result, The National Student Clearinghouse is an essential resource that your third-party service can use during the hiring process to verify enrollment and graduation.

First, you want to make sure your candidate is qualified to do the job. If you have taken the time to specify a degree needed, you obviously want to make sure they have the education and skills required to perform well in the position. Sometimes you are confirming a job applicant has a bachelor’s degree, but other times, you need education verification that the candidate has a specific degree or even a master’s degree to be sure they have the appropriate background in the field.

Secondly, you want an employee that possesses honesty and integrity. They may think it is a small thing to twist the truth on a resumé, but it speaks to their character. Some people feel justified in changing their major or degree to match their work experience. For example, a history major might feel it looks better to have a marketing degree to support their career in sales. While they may be truthful about the institution they attended, they may not be about the specific degree obtained.

Another reason you want to confirm the degree is the unfortunate popularity of diploma mills. These are companies you can pay for a diploma without actually earning it. They tout “life experience” in exchange for a degree. Diploma mills are not legitimate and not recognized by the Council on Higher Education or the U.S. Department of Education. The Federal Trade Commission has information about fake degrees and signs of a scam.

These diploma mills can be hard to detect since they provide all the necessary paperwork, transcripts, and references, and many people even have them listed on their LinkedIn profiles. There have been instances of high-level executives who have lied about earning MBAs and other degrees and were forced to step down when discovered. That is not only an embarrassment for them but also for the company that hired them. An education background check would alert you to this type of fraud before you get too deep into the hiring process.