Comments on: Diploma Mills 101 http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/ Recruiting News, Recruiting Events, Recruiting Community, Social Recruiting Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:35:23 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Lester S. Rosen http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/comment-page-1/#comment-9262 Lester S. Rosen Tue, 16 Dec 2008 05:02:39 +0000 http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/#comment-9262 Just happened to see this post. Readers may be interested in knowing that there has been allot of progress made in the screening industry on spotting diploma mills. No system is perfect since they are a bit of a moving target, but a good screening firm will check every school against a database of schools that have been accredited by recognized accreditation agencies. Where it gets complicated is that he fake schools have of course created fake accreditation agencies so do not be fooled by the web site. Make sure your screening firm has a process to only report schools that are accredited, and if not accredited, a process to research the school and to indicate if it’s for real. The topic of verification of education is covered is some detail in the Safe Hiring Manual. Just happened to see this post. Readers may be interested in knowing that there has been allot of progress made in the screening industry on spotting diploma mills. No system is perfect since they are a bit of a moving target, but a good screening firm will check every school against a database of schools that have been accredited by recognized accreditation agencies. Where it gets complicated is that he fake schools have of course created fake accreditation agencies so do not be fooled by the web site. Make sure your screening firm has a process to only report schools that are accredited, and if not accredited, a process to research the school and to indicate if it’s for real. The topic of verification of education is covered is some detail in the Safe Hiring Manual.

]]> By: Dan Brown http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/comment-page-1/#comment-4508 Dan Brown Mon, 16 Jul 2007 07:19:00 +0000 http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/#comment-4508 That's really something, I mean we are talking about forgery and maybe even fraud here. <a href='http://www.nd-center.com'>Fake diplomas</a> and other type of such documents are to be treated as novelty items and under no circumstances be used as real papers. That’s really something, I mean we are talking about forgery and maybe even fraud here. Fake diplomas and other type of such documents are to be treated as novelty items and under no circumstances be used as real papers.

]]> By: Karen Mattonen C.A.C., C.S.P http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/comment-page-1/#comment-4507 Karen Mattonen C.A.C., C.S.P Thu, 21 Dec 2006 09:53:00 +0000 http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/#comment-4507 Hiya Joe, actually not the only State; In Tiffin Ohio for example a Police Chief just had his trial date set for lying on his resume and application regarding his Education, rank, position, duties and responsibilities. Fostoria Police Chief John McGuire's credentials, which include a degree from Concordia University, a Virgin Islands online school which provides degrees to people based on coursework and 'life experiences,' or work background was being questioned by a police union. This is considered falsification and he is facing Time and of course quite a heavy Penalty - Other States that I am aware of that have some legal programs in place are Washington, Il, MS, NJ, North Dakota and Oregon currently have laws that prohibit the Use or Sales of Bogus Degrees. KY is drafting a bill - Other states that I believe that Prohibit it as well are Texas, NV, ND, MI, IN, ME ID, CA allows the schools to operate, but don't allow us residents to attend.. Hmm go figure that one out. (CA is cracking down though) Many States are more focused on putting the businesses out of commission than punishing the user The reason that many States are making this a crime (misdemeanor) is because the these individuals can ultimately be hired into roles where they can harm another. Consider it as our government playing a consumer protection role. The only thing that concerns me is that we have 50 States with 50 different laws, which makes it more difficult on the Recruiter and Personnel to determine the accuracy or legitimacy of these candidates. Hiya Joe,
actually not the only State; In Tiffin Ohio for example a Police Chief just had his trial date set for lying on his resume and application regarding his Education, rank, position, duties and responsibilities. Fostoria Police Chief John McGuire’s credentials, which include a degree from Concordia University, a Virgin Islands online school which provides degrees to people based on coursework and ‘life experiences,’ or work background was being questioned by a police union.

This is considered falsification and he is facing Time and of course quite a heavy Penalty –

Other States that I am aware of that have some legal programs in place are Washington, Il, MS, NJ, North Dakota and Oregon currently have laws that prohibit the Use or Sales of Bogus Degrees. KY is drafting a bill – Other states that I believe that Prohibit it as well are Texas, NV, ND, MI, IN, ME

ID, CA allows the schools to operate, but don’t allow us residents to attend.. Hmm go figure that one out. (CA is cracking down though)

Many States are more focused on putting the businesses out of commission than punishing the user

The reason that many States are making this a crime (misdemeanor) is because the these individuals can ultimately be hired into roles where they can harm another. Consider it as our government playing a consumer protection role.

The only thing that concerns me is that we have 50 States with 50 different laws, which makes it more difficult on the Recruiter and Personnel to determine the accuracy or legitimacy of these candidates.

]]> By: Joseph Scalercio http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/comment-page-1/#comment-4506 Joseph Scalercio Thu, 21 Dec 2006 01:28:00 +0000 http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/#comment-4506 Before I got into recruiting, I earned a master's degree in Education Technology, and did a lot of research in emerging education systems such as online learning. I learned a lot about diploma mills, and where they came from. Then when I moved into physician recruiting, I encountered a Caribbean medical school that was granting credit for life experience, to the extent that it was waiving a year of med school. Scary. Other pitfalls include schools that claim they do not require accreditation due to religious or ethnic reasons- in other words they do not recognize the authority of the U.S. to accredit them. Big warning flag. If anyone wants a benchmark to help navigate through this convoluted educational system of ours, I recommend the state of Oregon. They have passed a law which gives the Dept. of Education the right to declare certain schools illegal for presentation as credentials for a job. The list of these schools is on their web site. To my knowledge this is the only law of its kind. I invite anyone with further info on this to reply. The site for them is http://www.osac.state.or.us/oda/diploma_mill.html Hope this helps. Joe Before I got into recruiting, I earned a master’s degree in Education Technology, and did a lot of research in emerging education systems such as online learning. I learned a lot about diploma mills, and where they came from. Then when I moved into physician recruiting, I encountered a Caribbean medical school that was granting credit for life experience, to the extent that it was waiving a year of med school. Scary. Other pitfalls include schools that claim they do not require accreditation due to religious or ethnic reasons- in other words they do not recognize the authority of the U.S. to accredit them. Big warning flag.

If anyone wants a benchmark to help navigate through this convoluted educational system of ours, I recommend the state of Oregon. They have passed a law which gives the Dept. of Education the right to declare certain schools illegal for presentation as credentials for a job. The list of these schools is on their web site. To my knowledge this is the only law of its kind. I invite anyone with further info on this to reply. The site for them is http://www.osac.state.or.us/oda/diploma_mill.html

Hope this helps.
Joe

]]> By: Karen Mattonen C.A.C., C.S.P http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/comment-page-1/#comment-4505 Karen Mattonen C.A.C., C.S.P Wed, 20 Dec 2006 03:22:00 +0000 http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/#comment-4505 Great article was recently interviewing a candidate, and he mentioned that the university that he went to gave him credit and he earned his degree through his life experience. Wow, he did have a lot of life experience (job hopper, not age) That was interesting, checked out the school - what an impressive website, brilliant curriculum as well. Yes, they had an accreditation - very impressive sounding accreditation as well. Only thing was that the accreditation Association was not recognized by the US Department of Education OR the Council for Higher Education Accreditation Gee, was that hard to explain to the candidate - sorry bloke, your school lacks the legitimate accreditation accepted and acknowledged and is unfortunately not ensured to be valid by companies or academia. List of Non-recognized Accreditation Agencies www.credentialwatch.org/non/agencies.shtml http://www.degree.net/guides/accreditation_faqs.html- this explains the importance of accreditation Great article
was recently interviewing a candidate, and he mentioned that the university that he went to gave him credit and he earned his degree through his life experience. Wow, he did have a lot of life experience (job hopper, not age)

That was interesting, checked out the school – what an impressive website, brilliant curriculum as well. Yes, they had an accreditation – very impressive sounding accreditation as well. Only thing was that the accreditation Association was not recognized by the US Department of Education OR the Council for Higher Education Accreditation

Gee, was that hard to explain to the candidate – sorry bloke, your school lacks the legitimate accreditation accepted and acknowledged and is unfortunately not ensured to be valid by companies or academia.

List of Non-recognized Accreditation Agencies
http://www.credentialwatch.org/non/agencies.shtml

http://www.degree.net/guides/accreditation_faqs.html- this explains the importance of accreditation

]]> By: Steven Levy http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/comment-page-1/#comment-4502 Steven Levy Tue, 19 Dec 2006 07:08:00 +0000 http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/#comment-4502 Mike- This sounds all familiar - people read books and come across a word that is unknown to them...and they just hum over it rather than look up the definition. Or they read articles online with links...and never check the links. As it relates to recruiting, well this is where professionalism kicks in. Plain and simple - no excuses. So does my Ph.D. from the School of Hard Knocks count?? Mike-

This sounds all familiar – people read books and come across a word that is unknown to them…and they just hum over it rather than look up the definition. Or they read articles online with links…and never check the links.

As it relates to recruiting, well this is where professionalism kicks in. Plain and simple – no excuses.

So does my Ph.D. from the School of Hard Knocks count??

]]> By: Mia Grant http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/comment-page-1/#comment-4504 Mia Grant Tue, 19 Dec 2006 02:49:00 +0000 http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/#comment-4504 Dr. Kannisto, I agree with you whole-heartedly. I had a situation when I was a new recruiter. My assistant scheduled a pre-screen interview for a candidate who was educated outside the U.S. A few moments before the interview began I noticed that her education was listed as 'University in India.' I called my assistant in and asked what that meant. She thought it read 'University of India.' Since the candidate was in the lobby I met with her. I reviewed her resume with her and I questioned her regarding the 'University in India.' She was very evasive and would not provide the name. She then indicated she had graduated H.S. in the U.S., but I pressed a little further. It turned out this was a correspondence course in India! She did not provide the name of that school/company either. That was a lesson that has stayed with me. I learned that I must review resumes carefully to avoid wasting both my and the candidates time. Dr. Kannisto,

I agree with you whole-heartedly. I had a situation when I was a new recruiter. My assistant scheduled a pre-screen interview for a candidate who was educated outside the U.S. A few moments before the interview began I noticed that her education was listed as ‘University in India.’ I called my assistant in and asked what that meant. She thought it read ‘University of India.’ Since the candidate was in the lobby I met with her. I reviewed her resume with her and I questioned her regarding the ‘University in India.’ She was very evasive and would not provide the name. She then indicated she had graduated H.S. in the U.S., but I pressed a little further. It turned out this was a correspondence course in India! She did not provide the name of that school/company either.

That was a lesson that has stayed with me. I learned that I must review resumes carefully to avoid wasting both my and the candidates time.

]]> By: Lisa Calicchio http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/comment-page-1/#comment-4503 Lisa Calicchio Tue, 19 Dec 2006 01:04:00 +0000 http://www.ere.net/2006/12/19/diploma-mills-101/#comment-4503 Michael, How wonderful to see your name and picture in print! What an interesting and insightful article on one of the many pitfalls we staffing professionals have to try and 'guard' against, for our clients and our enterprises! Thanks for highlighting your recent experience and giving us all some more watch-outs to add to the ever-growing list! Lisa Calicchio Michael,

How wonderful to see your name and picture in print! What an interesting and insightful article on one of the many pitfalls we staffing professionals have to try and ‘guard’ against, for our clients and our enterprises! Thanks for highlighting your recent experience and giving us all some more watch-outs to add to the ever-growing list!

Lisa Calicchio

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