r2i forum

Posted: **Thu Jul 22, 2010 7:01 pm**

Hi

Background check for R2I employees

I will be returning to India end of next week. I was wondering how the background checks are conducted in India. My experience in US has been very simple. Provide last 2-3 months pay stubs of your current job, your I797 and 3-5 references. But it seems in India things are different. They tend to ask the experience letter, pay stubs and references for all previous jobs. Is this what some of you have experienced. Please share your experiences so that I can contact my previous employers and arrange for documents

I have had these jobs

1. Employer A 1999 - 2001 (In India): Have the experience letter. No Pay stubs. Can arrange for References.

2. Employer B 2003 - 2006 (In US): Do not have the experience letter. Do have pay stubs. References available.

2. Employer C 2006 ? To date (In US): Will get experience letter. Have all pay stubs. References available.

My Problem is with Employer B who was an IT consultant. I moved on to a full time position with Employer C. Employer B created a lot of problems for me when it came to paying my dues and I had to threaten legal action i. e. I left the job with bad terms. Since it was a consultant role, I had very good relations with the client and can provide references.

Few of my questions that I need clarification

Is experience letter required for all your previous jobs? Does reference from client suffice for consulting gigs?

Will the background check involve calling the actual employer (referring to employer B). I am afraid he might do some harm to me.

Do we need to have paystubs for all our previous employment?

Any insights will be extremely helpful and appreciated.

Thanks

Posted: **Fri Jul 23, 2010 4:13 am**

I would assume that they would only ask for reference from your previous job. I am assuming that Employer B was not your client but just a Desi Consulting firm. If that's the case, then see if you can get an experience letter from your client.

I've had the same issue with one of my previous employer(Desi) and got a letter from my then manager (client site), that I was working for the client thru the Desi Company as a Consultant. This was for applying for GC.

Btw, I don't even have last month pay stubs :). As long it's deposited in the bank, I could care less. Would show W-2's in case they need proof of employment.

Posted: **Fri Jul 23, 2010 8:44 am**

It's similar to here. You fill up a form listing job title , period ,etc and they need your SSN (yes your SSN ). They use an outside firm to conduct a typical background check in the U.S like every U.S employer. This is the standard procedure among large companies.

Posted: **Fri Jul 23, 2010 2:53 pm**

Following is my response based on info provided by one of my friend who is in Senior Management with a big MNC.
They have fired many guys in recent past who failed background checks, this includes PM/PL/Solution-Architects etc

>>Is experience letter required for all your previous jobs? Does reference from client suffice for consulting gigs?

Experience letter/s may be useful but as u know anybody with blank letterheads can forge one so cos may need a proof that you got paid
from your employer. Your Form 16 (provided by Indian Employers) or P60/P45(provided by UK employers ) or similar doc from US employers should suffice.

In short Experience letter or Appoinment letters may not suffice.

>>Will the background check involve calling the actual employer (referring to employer B). I am afraid he might do some harm to me.

Normally they(or the hired agency) interact with HR of previous employers and just want to know whether you actually worked there and don't focus too much on +ve/-ve feedback.

>>Do we need to have paystubs for all our previous employment?

In absence of Form 16, P45/P60(or US equivalent) etc, you may be asked to provide bank statements to support Paystubs which you provide.

There are cases wherein guys produced Appointment/Experience Letters, pay stubs etc but no form-16(or US/UK equivalent) and claimed that they got paid in cash as they worked as Consultants. In such cases candidates were asked to either prove that they actually got paid/worked or leave.

This can happen even after a candidate has completed few months with his/her new employer.

In my case, I have misplaced experience letter from my 1st employer but do have other docs like offer letter/annual-increment-letters/paystubs/form 16/PF account detail etc.
If required, I can get a copy of my experience letter from my 1st employer anytime but wanted to avoid a trip to Mumbai just for this hence spoke to my friend few weeks back to find out what exactly is required by employers in India.

HTH

Posted: **Fri Jul 23, 2010 7:02 pm**

Do the employers check the experience right from the start of the career apart from the present employment.

I m in my present employment for the last 10 years, will they check with my previous employer which was 10 yrs ago.

In UK if i apply for a job, they would check references only for the last 3 or 5 years. What happens in my case then....

S

Posted: **Fri Jul 23, 2010 7:34 pm**

It varies from company to company.
My current employer in UK had just asked for form P45/P60 from previous employer and nothing about Indian employment as I had already completed 5+ years in UK.

For certain jobs in UK, u r expected to have 'security clearance' which means background checks for 10+ yrs or even right from the start of the career depending upon type of security clearance required.

In India, if required HR may perform background checks from the start of the career or if they suspect they might ask about a specific past-employer.

In any case its better to have u r papers in order.

Posted: **Sat Jul 24, 2010 1:58 am**

Thanks all for your replies. It helps.

In US, in addition to your academic and professional background check, a criminal background check is also done. I had to give the addresses and zip codes of all my stays in US to my current employer. Apparently they contact the area police of your current and prior residences to check for any cases like DUI, drug related, domestic violence issues etc. A friends friend had an job offer which was retracted due to DUI. He had got this offer after 8 months of search and during the peak of unemployment in US. Such is life.

Posted: **Sat Jul 24, 2010 3:00 am**

How would the hiring company know that the applicant didnt committed fraud or some other HR policy voilation in previous company and was asked to resign. Experience letters are meant for this particular use too and every company have a field for "reasons to leave the company" for every company you included in the form as part of the experience.

OP: Experience letters serves some other functions as I have mentioned above but you can tell HR unfront that you will not be able to procure one from a previous company but will be able to provide reference check for the conduct and pay stubs for proof of gainful occupation. That should work I am sure.

Posted: **Sat Jul 24, 2010 3:34 am**

fantoosh;308797My current employer in UK had just asked for form P45/P60 from previous employer and nothing about Indian employment as I had already completed 5+ years in UK.

P45/60 is about taxation and payroll.

Posted: **Sat Jul 24, 2010 6:40 am**

sbukit1;308446Hi

Background check for R2I employees

I will be returning to India end of next week. I was wondering how the background checks are conducted in India. My experience in US has been very simple. Provide last 2-3 months pay stubs of your current job, your I797 and 3-5 references. But it seems in India things are different. They tend to ask the experience letter, pay stubs and references for all previous jobs. Is this what some of you have experienced. Please share your experiences so that I can contact my previous employers and arrange for documents

I have had these jobs

1. Employer A 1999 - 2001 (In India): Have the experience letter. No Pay stubs. Can arrange for References.

2. Employer B 2003 - 2006 (In US): Do not have the experience letter. Do have pay stubs. References available.

2. Employer C 2006 – To date (In US): Will get experience letter. Have all pay stubs. References available.

My Problem is with Employer B who was an IT consultant. I moved on to a full time position with Employer C. Employer B created a lot of problems for me when it came to paying my dues and I had to threaten legal action i. e. I left the job with bad terms. Since it was a consultant role, I had very good relations with the client and can provide references.

Few of my questions that I need clarification

Is experience letter required for all your previous jobs? Does reference from client suffice for consulting gigs?
Will the background check involve calling the actual employer (referring to employer B). I am afraid he might do some harm to me.
Do we need to have paystubs for all our previous employment?

Any insights will be extremely helpful and appreciated.

Thanks

Make sure your resume reflects this correctly. If there's any break, that's acceptable. Do not try to "pad" a few months here and there if there was any break in employment. For 2003-2006, clearly mention the body shopper as your employer. You can mention that you worked at client site (XYz) during this period as contractor. For 2006-2010, you can mention XYZ was your employer. Even months and join dates matter when you are asked to fill up your details during joining. IF you are not sure, say not sure instead of some random date.

In your case, your skillset/experience in last 5 years need to be properly highlighted without any exaggeration.

Experience letter are not required for U.S experience. Reference will certainly help. Make sure to have all W-2 which will reflect your stay in U.S. PAy stubs do not really matter.

And like i mentioned above, a complete background check is done (incuding degree and academic credentials) using SSN for the period of your U.S work experience.

This is standard in all MNC and also large indian IT companies.

Repeat.. DO NOT FUDGE EVEN MINOR DETAILS..

I did lot of recruitments for Larry E's company in B'lore and atleast 10% used to get fired after joining due to failure of background check. (Which takes 2-3 months to complete due to the large # of these checks).