Career Center: How we all can bring

transparency to SAP Job Market?

Posted by Balaji Parsewar 8 Dec, 2012
When a SAP consultant with fake experience joins an organization, exactly

what happens? Is there

something that goes wrong? If you think seriously, you will find out different obligations of the same, moral
as well as financial also. According to me following things takes place which are really harmful to entire SAP
Eco-system:
When a consultant with 3 years fake experience makes way to the organization, somebody with
genuine experience of 1 to 3 years experience gets deprived from his rights. Its immoral in
nature.
In an organization when less skilled fake experience consultant gets more salary than existing skilled
consultant, it creates frustration among existing skilled resources which is the most damaging factor
to skill matrix of an organization.
Organization shell out more money for less skilled person who deserves to be less which is nothing
but financial loss.
The most significant part of entire story is when it comes to delivery; customer which is most crucial
asset for any organization gets suffered due to fake skills of that consultant.
It pollutes entire SAP Eco-system.

Hence I always thinks about this, how we can all bring transparency to SAP Job Market by eradicating nexus of
fake experience. I know its very bold topic to discuss but it is mandatory to discuss. Organizations

which

are driven by values & ethics will only sustain.

Lets start with analysis as well as solution of this evil:
1) Priority for SAP certified consultants at the time of recruitment SAP certification is today one of the toughest program in IT sector which ensures high quality
of training standards & rigorous testing methodologies. SAP certification ensures a candidates
exposure through all the necessary aspects of that particular specialization & giving edge to that
candidate.
SAP can ask all his implementation partners to give priority to the professionals having SAP

certified tag. If certified guys start getting priority, professional will do certification more
vigorously avoiding fake institutes & fake certificates which leads to more transparency in SAP
job market.
2) Rationalization of SAP certification cost
I had a dialogue with many persons who put fake experience on their CV. When I asked that person, why you
do this things, this is wrong. He answered my question in a simple sentence, I cant afford certification
hence I am doing this. What that person answered, its fact. A person with normal financial background cannot

Generated by Jive on 2015-11-25+01:00

1

Career Center: How we all can bring transparency to SAP Job Market?

afford SAP certification cost. In Indian context, SAP certification costs more than INR 350 thousands for ILT
program. Amount is huge when you consider it Indian context & its per capita income & GDP etc. A person
with high aptitude & attitude & willing to work hard only adopts evil way of fake experience only because of
affordability issue.
We can reduce the costs make it more affordable to more number of professionals who are willing to pursue
their SAP career or SAP can adopt GRE/GMAT pattern where higher the percentage of scores ensures
eligible for higher percentage of scholarships. GRE/GMAT pattern will ensures financial assistance will goes to
them who deserves to be the best.
3) Education Loan facility for SAP Certification
SAP can tie ups with private sector & government banks & ask them to provide loans for certification to
the needy professionals. Today not a single PSU bank & very few private banks will provide loan for SAP
certification. This creates a financial logjam for a professional who want to pursue their SAP certification. This
concern must be addressed by SAP on top priority in order to ensure finance should not turn an obstacle for a
capable candidate.
4) Skills Registry
This can be something which is difficult to implement but ultimately hit bulls eye.
This exercise requires better coordination between SAP & its implementation partners. The idea I am
presenting is in its crude format. It can be implemented in a prefect manner after a detailed thought process
over it.
SAP can build a portal which will be having database of its entire professional along with their skill
sets.
Each professional will be having unique number which he will carry throughout his professional life.
SAP can ask to all his implementation partners to register all its SAP employees with this
portal with their skills & number of years experience, his joining date, relieving date etc.
The database will be maintained by implementation partners only & SAP consultants will have only
display access to check correctness of data.
It will be advisable for all SAP professional to mention unique registry number on their CV so that
employer can access all details regarding skills & experience.
SAP professionals registered by non-partner organization like SAP customers can be registered
under different groups which will consist of end users, core team members, power users.

5) Fresher drive for certified consultants

SAP can ask all his implementation partners to conduct freshers drive for certified consultants
who do not have any professional experience in SAP consulting. This is win-win proposition for
both the candidates as well as employers. Employer can save on salaries offered as they are
hiring freshers & candidate is getting an opportunity to work with an implementation partner.

Generated by Jive on 2015-11-25+01:00

2

Career Center: How we all can bring transparency to SAP Job Market?
This is one of the option candidate will get rather than affixing fake experience along with his
profile.
In a knowledge based industry like IT/Software, real strength of an organization is not in its balance sheet
or net profit or cash in hand but quality

of manpower it have & it will generate in future.

An IT organization will only sustain in the long run by ensuring continuous supply of talented & best fit
professionals.
This nexus of fake experience & certification is polluting entire IT industry. I will term it as moral

hazard

to SAP Eco-system. Great companies will not sustain merely on profits it making but these profits must be
accompanied by values

& ethics of transparency & accountability. Even in past we see several

examples of profit-making business entities turns into bankrupt units in the absence of ethics & values &
corporate governance.
I hope you enjoyed reading this blog. Please do share your feedback on the same. If you really like the blog,
please do not forget to hit like & ratings button.
Regards,
Balaji
1824 Views Tags: sap_certification, transparency, fake_experience, sap_job_market

ANIL KUMAR
24 Jan, 2013 11:06 AM
Hi Balaji
You are 100% right.Cost and affordability is the big concern for the genuine candidates.
But why dont the recruiters provide the financial assistance.Firstly,If a fake candidate is shortlisted by
the company,then it is the recruiter's risk.However,if that candidate is indulged for such kind of fraudulant
practices,then the equation is very clear that he already put his career in risk and loves to be in danger end.The
candidates also never think of security,the reason is IT is a huge industry and he is dared to survive anyware
else.
It is burning issue in nowadays of IT industry and the company's should follow better selection procedures and
I think the recruiters should have a dialogue with the candidates regarding the SAP Training and certification if
they feels that the candidate is capable.
Thanks and regards
Anil Kumar
Harish Krishnan

Generated by Jive on 2015-11-25+01:00

3

Career Center: How we all can bring transparency to SAP Job Market?

14 Jan, 2013 3:17 PM

Re: 4) Skill registry
Well, I don't know - we are making an assumption here, that somehow companies (made up of people at the
end of the day) are somehow more ethical and moral than well,people. If people can pad their CVs with fake
experience/qualifications, what prevents implementation partners from inflating the number of skills they have
in the Skill registry? There is another blog where it has been about SIs replacing experienced and skilled
professionals with less experienced, junior consultants to drive up their profit margins.Clearly, going from there,
to padding the skill registry is not such a great step.
Nevertheless, a genuine problem, and I appreciate your efforts to come up with some ideas on solving this
problem. I am however, very much afraid that a fundamental moral elasticity has crept in to the mindset of a lot
of people, and unless this is addressed, (how?), there will be no lasting solution.
ROHIT KESBHAT
11 Jan, 2013 8:29 AM
hello Bala,
I think SAP freshers certify should get priority over the fake experience people.
If the trend is go like this then people really scared for taking any course. But one think is cleared without
mangers this is not happen i think all this people involve for increasing fake people in industry. They just
making their community and its challenge for hard worker and fresher. I also got suggestion for showing fake
exp for taking job in industry but i doesn't want to do like this fake carrier. Hope thing will change and industry
make rule like partner certify only hiring..!!
Thanks,
Rohit
Balaji Parsewar in response to Barbara Asabre on page 4
11 Jan, 2013 6:38 AM
Dear Barbara,
Thanks for asking. Please go ahead with the same.
Regards,
Balaji Parsewar
Barbara Asabre
10 Jan, 2013 9:31 PM
Dear Balaji,
I am drafting a comment for posting on SAP Community Forum which has a bearing on this article, particularly
the section on Skills Registry. Would you mind if I post the URL of your article in the forum? I will cite your
name and the URL. Please let me know what you think.

Generated by Jive on 2015-11-25+01:00

4

Career Center: How we all can bring transparency to SAP Job Market?

Best wishes,
Barbara Asabre
SP RO in response to Ravi Sankar Venna on page 5
18 Dec, 2012 5:41 AM
Ravi, i would say 100%

Balaji Parsewar in response to Ravi Sankar Venna on page 5

18 Dec, 2012 5:27 AM
Hi Ravi,
What you said is fact & nobody will deny it.
Though we all recognize the issue, we do not have solution for the same.
I have tried to address the issue through my blog & tried to provide solution for the same.
Looking forward for your valuable inputs on the same.
I hope this thought process might result into something good which is beneficial for entire SAP Eco-system.
Regards,
Balaji
Ravi Sankar Venna
15 Dec, 2012 10:49 AM
Hi Balaji,
Definitely not less than 90% CVs in the market are either fake or exaggerated. Thats it. End of the story. My
allegations look painful, but this is the true situation. This is across the board from Junior Consultant to Top
position. I have seen number of falsified consultants. It is very unfortunately not only for SAP, but across IT
industry. This is a big disease, I am doubt if they can ever be eradicated, unless the strict controls fro the
employers or recruiters. My personal doubt is this 90% is every going to increased only in the future. God only
should help the industry.
Regards,
Ravi
Balaji Parsewar in response to Venkat Reddy on page 6
11 Dec, 2012 10:17 AM
Thanks Venkat for all the good words.
In my point no. 3, I have mentioned regarding education loan or financial assistance for certification cost.

Generated by Jive on 2015-11-25+01:00

5

Career Center: How we all can bring transparency to SAP Job Market?

If that could be achieved, it will be very helpful for all SAP aspirants.
It will solve cost problems.
Regards,
Balaji
Venkat Reddy in response to Balaji Parsewar on page 6
11 Dec, 2012 9:14 AM
Hi,
I completely agree with Balaji.
I have some thing here to add as a small comparison.
Suppose some one is sick and he wants to go to doctor and there are two doctors.
1. Qualified doctor with only 2 years of experience
2. Unqualified doctor with 10 years of experience

In this situation whom you will consider?

In my case probably I would always prefer to go to Qualified one, as it will certainly give me confidence, as he
is been certified by some great people and the qualified guy knows what exactly he is doing and why.
When it comes to our health we are very particular, then why not millions of pounds worth SAP??
The other thing author is discussing about the affordable fee in Indian Context, I can say even in U.K, fee is
pinching high, and it is about 350 which is very high. But then see how much an average contractor earns per
day. It is about 350 to 500, and to get that I think you need to spend this much, more over quality comes with
filtration more.
I think SAP Should make it mandatory for the companies to hire only certified guys, else it will not support such
institutions who are not going with there terms.
However topic is interesting and very bold and Yes it is very essential to talk about it.
Regards,
Venkat
Balaji Parsewar in response to SP RO on page 7
10 Dec, 2012 5:09 AM
Hello Mr. PPIO,
Thanks for your comments.

Generated by Jive on 2015-11-25+01:00

6

Career Center: How we all can bring transparency to SAP Job Market?

There is no alternative to knowledge & skills you posses. But here the question is what are the best possible
ways to eliminate evil of fake experience.
Certification may be one of the solution. By reducing cost of certification & asking implementation partners to
hire certified freshers we can discourage those guys who gets attracted towards affixing fake experience to
their profile for getting a job.
Regards,
Balaji
SP RO
9 Dec, 2012 10:34 PM
dear,
Honestly I do not understand the idea of your post...
I remember several projects when certified consultants did their work not very professionally and
other guys (people whore not certified) spent time to fix all those mistakes.

I also believe that some non-certified sappers are able to do much more than some certified consultants.
Almost every CV may have some sort of fake experience it is just a question how to identify this
term.
From my point of view an experienced employer / recruiter is always able to feel if something is wrong
meeting / talking / asking a candidate.
I completely do not agree with your 1) Priority for SAP certified consultants at the time of
recruitment -
regards,

Generated by Jive on 2015-11-25+01:00

7