2006

Our CEO Eyal Ben Cohen recently appered in The Telegraph after speaking to fellow students and lecturers helped to shape an idea which he felt would corner a gap in the market for analysis of the mountain of CVs received by employers with a vacancy to fill.  When Eyal Ben-Cohen took his MBA at Cranfield University School of Management, he did more than study the principles behind creating a successful company - he created one himself.

The result was Verifile, an online CV vetting company which has scooped first prize in the postgraduate category of the annual Awards for Business and Management Students, run by the Association of Business Schools and sponsored by SAP, the world's largest business applications company.  Verifile, which uses an innovative system to combat CV fraud by detecting lies and inaccuracies on job applications, beat submissions from business schools all over the UK. As well as the prestige of the award, Eyal, 34, received a cheque for £2,000.

When Eyal Ben-Cohen decided to study his MBA at Cranfield University he used the opportunity to craft a successful business plan of his own. he states '"I wanted to do a course which gave me greater exposure to the international business world. I felt that my entrepreneurial skills were good and I had dealt with international companies in my previous jobs. But I also felt I needed to come to a different country and meet people from around the world, to learn from their experiences; and also to develop my personal skills more"

Does he have any advice for anyone thinking of doing an MBA? "I certainly made the right choice with Cranfield, but it varies from individual to individual. There are a lot of factors to consider, and cost is only one of them.  "Some people want to do one just to have letters after their name or to work in a big company. But I would say if you want to meet people who have had solid work experience, and you have the same aspirations as I have, then come to Cranfield."

'Subject to satisfactory references ' is the final hurdle for most candidates who already have an offer in the pipeline but with applicants able to put forward their own selection of referees is their any value in pursuing what should is very often a done deal?

Is te termnology 'subject to satisfactory references' an outdated one? Our CEO Eyal Ben Cohen comments "Employers won’t learn the really ‘good stuff’ from verification letters but there is a value in verifying the basic factual elements – roughly two-thirds of CVs contain inaccuracies these range from the major to the minor from PAs that dress themselves up to MD status to minor CV gaps that can be easily explained."  

Eyal Ben-Cohen, founder of Verifile, the CV verification and background screening service says that employers need to change their expectations of employee references.

“Employers won’t learn the really ‘good stuff’ from verification letters but there is a value in verifying the basic factual elements – roughly two-thirds of CVs contain inaccuracies these range from the major to the minor from PAs that dress themselves up to MD status to minor CV gaps that can be easily explained.”But being in receipt of the facts, says Eyal Ben Cohen makes it easier to make an assessment. “Would you employ a Financial Accountant for example after you’d discovered inaccuracies in their CV, if they failed to provide evidence of attention to detail and accuracy at this level, what’s the quality of their work going to be like?” reference or no reference if a person can do the job employers should be happy and he says this is what the recruitment process should be built around not verification of factual data.

The Times reported how our CEO Eyal Ben-Cohen, the 34 year-old entrpreneur who runs Verifile,checks the CVs of its customers prospective employees, is striking fear in the heart of CV fraudsters. Around a quarter of all applicants lie on their CVs, figures show, including high-powered executives such as David Edmondson, head of RadioShack. He was forced to step down after it emerged that he had inflated his academic qualifications. Chief Executive of Equitable Life, Charles Thomson, confessed that he had written the reference himself.

Eyal came to the UK from Israel to study for his MBA at Cranfield University and had the idea for the company three days before he boarded the plane to come over. He then developed it during his course, with the support of the university and now Verifile checks the qualifications of job applicants by obtaining references directly from the source and not being satisfied with a mere certificate. The company also check criminal and financial records, and advise on when it is legal for a company to conduct such checks, as many were unwittingly breaking the law by overzealously conducting checks.