An act of fraud does not help in career building

(September 7, 2005 - Deccan Herald)

Subroto Bagchi
Co-founder & COO, MindTree

He has a passably good degree in Engineering. He came to seek a job at MindTree. Our entry-level technical test is not for the faint hearted. Then comes the interview process. He actually made it right through all that and was told to join in. He started his work in right earnest and we found him to be as good as any other person in the organization. Then the worst happened.

After 9/11, many of our clients require that we do a thorough verification check of people who work on their projects. Some even specify their own agency that is qualified to handle such verifications. These agencies not only look at the authenticity of academic history, they verify past record of employment and possible brush with the law.

In the case of our man, it turned out, the innocent looking experience certificates were forged. It took the concerned manager under fifteen minutes to confront the matter – the crest fallen young man conceded to the charge and was relieved from his duties immediately.

But this wasn't an isolated case. Last year, in MindTree alone, we had five such cases where people were asked to leave. I understand that in larger Indian companies where the intake is significantly more, the size of the problem is even greater. But if found out, the consequences are as severe.

It begins like this. Hordes of young engineers arrive in large cities. Many have their degrees but do not really have the basic competency. Some lack the aptitude. They do not want to admit that. There are hordes of training schools that promise to re-skill them and provide them with "live projects" and so-called "on-job-experience". These schools are of questionable reputation. Either there, or through a network of similarly situated peers, people fabricate the experience certificates and in some cases, even payslips. There is also the case where an engineer does not get a job for a year or two – as a result, the person feels shy about taking entry level tests as a "fresher". They feel that a long gap between graduation and finding a job can be detrimental – it is here that the fake experience certificate begins to show up. The question is, to what good use?

Concealing information that one knows could be detrimental to one's employment or providing incorrect information during or after employment is a serious breach of integrity. Unfortunately, aspiring candidates and often their parents trivialize this issue and take chances.

What will happen to the five we sacked last year? Well, they should have moved on with their own lives – hopefully reformed. In case, their employment is ever verified with us, we will let the enquirer know that we had asked them to leave.

Nothing more , nothing less. Today, the industry does not have the process by which employment fraud is tracked after a person is sacked. But know that there is a serious initiative afloat to create a national depository.

So, if you are a young engineer in search of work, stay clean. Do not listen to peers or elders who egg you on to get an "experience certificate". If this means that you have difficulty landing the right job, so be it. Chances are, there is an issue with your current skill level or your basic aptitude. Please do yourself the best favor you can – check your own aptitude and come to terms with it.

Just as everyone is not meant to write poetry or fly a plane or fight a war, every one is not meant to be a software engineer. Neither is becoming a software engineer the most important thing in life. You do not have to become one by hook or by crook.

Getting through is one thing, living it is quite another.

No one gets a job in TCS, Infosys, Wipro or MindTree because you know someone. You get a job only because you have the skill and the aptitude and there is an assumption that you are not faking information.

If someone has the skill and the aptitude and a clean record, believe me, there is no reason why he or she cannot get a job.

The IT industry is starved of people and the demand far outstrips supply of what we think, is passable material. More and more companies are today accepting the fact that the situation is tight enough for us to look at not "ready to use" talent but trainable talent. Given that fact - there is no need for desperation for anyone who has the mettle.

If someone does not have the mettle, seek out the many great professions that await you for which you do not have to start your only life with a little tag of fraud attached to your name.