Human Resource practitioners of various companies were urged to be vigilant when recruiting new employees.

They need to demand a proper authorised stamped transcript and an authentic copy of their higher education certification such as Bachelor’s Degree.

This was one of the key highlights presented by the Bank South Pacific Fiji Branch, general manager Corporate Services and chief financial officer Rajeshwar Singh during the BSP Life 2021 Fiji Human Resources Institute FHRI Annual Convention.

The two day convention was held at Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa on Denarau Island in Nadi. It ended on Saturday.

In his presentation, he spoke on the theme “Be a winning corporate culture”.

He emphasised on the importance of trust, transparency and accountability.

Case studies

He urged HR practitioners to upgrade their skills in order to identify fake and genuine transcript certificates.

“There are a lot of applications out there that some people use to change their transcript certificates.”

Mr Singh said they had come across two situations where they received fake transcripts from their applicants.

“We have received some applications from students who have applied for jobs.

“We normally go through a vetting process, once they have been shortlisted then we put them to an aptitude test.

“While we are vetting before selecting the finalists from the aptitudes, we happen to pick up on these two applicants their academic transcripts and degree, it didn’t look authentic.”

He said reached out to the respective university for them to verify the certificate.

“The university revealed to us that the person was a registered University student since 2018. The applicant was currently on financial hold and he has only done two out of twenty four units.

“That person was not a graduate and they told us that the degree in front of us was fake and the transcript is fake too.

“We took the case very seriously.”

Another case, Mr Singh highlighted was when another job applicant’s certificate from a professional institute was forged with a name written.

“The membership number was at the bottom.

“I took the number and gave it to the institute. They checked and the membership number belonged to another person and it was not deregistered. So the job applicant forged the certificate and put his name.”

Furthermore, Mr Singh urges that HR practitioners need to be vigilant and demand a proper authorised stamped transcript and a copy of a degree from job applicants.

“They should also have relationships with professional institutions so at least they can share information.

“It is a matter of looking at it and identify- ing which ones are genuine and which ones are not.”

He said whatever ways people dealt with those kinds of things, they would get caught.

“People need to be aware not to do these things,” he added.

Hailing from Delta Town in Nausori, Mr Singh has spent 28 years in the private and semi-private sectors.

He has a wealth of experience whilst work- ing in Fiji and around the Pacific island nations.