How to Verify a Candidate's Work History and Education

Trust, but confirm. How a serious agency makes sure a résumé is true.

A résumé is a claim, not a fact, and the gap between the two is where many hiring mistakes begin. Verifying that a candidate's stated work history and education are real is a basic part of responsible screening, and the way it is done separates a careful process from a credulous one.

Employment verification confirms that the jobs on a résumé actually happened as described, the employers, the roles, the dates. This matters for the obvious reason that people sometimes embellish, and for a subtler one: gaps, overlaps, or discrepancies in a work history can be worth understanding before a hire, not after. Historically this was done by phone calls and letters; a modern process uses multiple methods to confirm past employment efficiently and reliably. The goal is not suspicion for its own sake but simple confirmation that the professional history you are relying on is genuine.

Education and degree verification does the same for academic credentials, which matters most when a role depends on them, a governess hired in part for a relevant degree, for instance. A thorough check can confirm degrees and attendance across the great majority of accredited institutions, verify professional certifications, and detect the occasional fabricated credential. With access to records covering nearly all post-secondary institutions in the country, a real verification can confirm not just that someone attended but that they earned what they claim.

The reason this layer matters as much as the criminal check is that competence and honesty are both at stake. A candidate who misrepresents their experience or invents a credential has told you something important about both their qualifications and their integrity, and it is far better to learn it during screening than during employment. Even when nothing is amiss, verification simply confirms that the foundation of your decision is solid.

For a family hiring on its own, this is one of the harder parts to do well, knowing how to reach former employers, how to confirm a degree, how to read a discrepancy, which is part of why it sits within a professional screening. When work history and education are verified properly, you are choosing from real records rather than hopeful claims, and that confidence is worth the effort it takes to establish. That conviction is the heart of how Nannies + more…® works.