SAP fraudOne of the most pervasive problems with SAP or any other ERP project is the sheer amount of fraud. SAP fraud is so rampant with substantial financial effects, it would be seen as organized crime in any other industry. I have previously written about SAP consulting screening methods and required skills, but one key method filters through the con artists: simple experience verification.

Few Staffing Firms Do Any Type of Skills or Experience Verification

Many organizations that employ SAP periodically need experienced consultants to assist with specialized requests, requirements, and new functionality– or to occasionally backfill employees. Because contract staffing is not a key portion of their business, they turn to staffing firms or recruiters. Unfortunately, too many of the staffing firms and recruiters have only one interest: collecting a paycheck. Few of these recruiters care about how they get that payday, so it is up to you as the customer to ensure you are not getting ripped off.

These staffing firms have no incentive to carefully screen candidates: no background checks, no former project verification, nothing. A recruiter’s goal is to get candidates through the interview and have your organization hand over the cash. The cheaper the resource they can find (i.e. read “fake”), the fatter their margin if they can convince you to use them.

The consulting fraud in the SAP arena (and all of the business application space) is widespread and out of control. For more background and information on some of my experiences with this, you may wish to see some of the following posts:

If you are not already convinced of the negative impacts of SAP fraud, take a look at an actual timeline of consulting horror stories at a real company, where an internal employee periodically posts (http://sapmesideways.blogspot.com/). Although the employee at that company does not say they are dealing with frauds, con artists, fakes or “SAP freshers,” I have witnessed this scenario so many times that if that company checked these “con”sultant’s backgrounds, I guarantee they would find a high percentage of SAP fakes or “freshers.”

Protecting Your Organization from the SAP Fakes and SAP Frauds

You can do at least one small thing to protect yourself. After a staffing or recruiting firm has submitted a candidate demand, they include references from the last three projects listed on that consultant’s resume. The only references I accept are client resources, still at those organizations, and on an email address that is clearly from that organization. If they cannot provide these references, my immediate assumption is they are a fake. If the staffing firm doesn’t get the message that you will not accept fakes, then do not do business with them ever.

Think about that a minute: Even if you miss out on someone who has the actual experience you are looking for, do you really want to pay those kinds of rates for someone who was so uninspiring that no one even remembers them? What about their consulting skills? Were they a bump on a log that hid in the background and made little or no contribution to the direction or success of the SAP project?

Step by Step to Find the Real SAP Consultants

If you decide to use a staffing or recruiting firm, make a hard requirement that they only provide candidates who can provide an email reference still employed at each of that consultant’s last three clients. This is basic employment verification, but few if any of the staffing firms do this unless you insist it is a requirement. Nothing less than a direct verification from someone who is still at that organization will work. I have heard many stories about how they have some other reference, or the person left and is now working at “XYZ” company instead. Would you accept that from a permanent employee candidate?

The next step after receiving the three prior project references still at those companies (on the company email address/domain) is to copy that portion of the resume listing that consultant’s experience at that company into an email message to their reference. Send the message with a notice they used this information on their resume to indicate their experience. Ask them if they can verify that the candidate’s experience is consistent with what is listed. If they cannot or will not, then that is the end of the screening for that person. I do not bother to waste any time with a phone screen until that verification step is complete.

What are some of your thoughts or suggestions for screening out the con artists?