Indian IT:  MNC’s Crack Down On False Certificates
By Rani Sharma

There have been IT booms and IT dooms happening all over India. More booms now, but it was not always this way.  Getting an IT Job in an MNC was a gamble 3 years back. Some made but many did not. But what happens when they lacked qualifications to make the cut?

For instance, one Mr.Sidharth  who graduated with flying colors, and  got through the campus recruitment, found to his dismay  that he was not being given the offer letter because of the September 11 terrorist attack in USA. The day of the IT doom in India. After 2 years of loitering around, he did a course in Oracle DBA by paying hefty amounts to an unscrupulous institution. This institution gave him a certification with two years of relevant experience (but fake) when all he did was to cram up the theory for the certification. So incompetent students with fake certificates started getting plush jobs in MNC’s. Some were very successful - Mr.Sidharth even made it as a team leader for a project.

It is only very lately the MNC''s got wind of the situation and companies like INFOSYS, ORACLE, IBM started researching their new recruits background thoroughly .They were surprised by the results in the 2+year category. The culprits were then blacklisted from their companies.  Now,   NASSCOM has taken over the responsibility of such unscrupulous misdoings by putting such candidate's names in their black lists, which means that these people will never work for an Indian company again. They have sent circulars to all the software companies to deal with such fraudulent candidates.
 
But in Call Centers the scenario is completely.  Different, because the companies need the people badly. So companies like the DELL Call Center which caters to Customer Service does not even bother to check the graduation certificates. It is just a formality. The selected candidates are told to bring photocopies of certificates on the induction day which is easily manipulated by our clever Indians. Why are the companies turning a blind eye towards such people?   Market forces will allow such imbalances in the short term, but long term it is in the interest of both the MNC’s and workers to get more formal educational qualifications.

Now if someone could investigate the increase in name changes at our IT hubs.  Nothing can and will stop the talented Indian IT giants taking over the world. Definitely not a few bad apples.

( Sucheta Dalal, one of the most respected journalists in India, wrote the following in one of her columns last year.  The full article can be found at her website www.suchetadalal.com.

“So far, neither the verification of employee credentials nor the reference checks have worked very well despite the money spent on these functions. Nasscom says a shocking 30 to 35 per cent of bio-datas in the IT and BPO business are inflated. Although employee credentials are not completely fabricated, they are hugely doctored.  For instance, students of lesser-known professional colleges and management schools have happily claimed to be from the IITs or IIMs. Many have forged certificates to establish these false claims and land better salaries.” )