Experience Verification Policy

All audit and work experience submitted on an IAQG Authentication application is subject to independent verification via the Experience Verification Process. To support this verification process, applicants must provide the names, email addresses, and phone numbers of verifying persons, known as “contacts.”

A contact is an objective individual who can attest to the work experience or audit experience listed in an IAQG Authentication application. A contact is typically a supervisor or someone in a position of authority who worked with the applicant at the time of their association with the listed organization and can attest to the applicant’s work experience and/or audit experience details. (See Typical Contacts for Audit Experience below for further guidance.)

IAQG Authentication requires applicants to abide by the following rules regarding experience verification contacts:

The contact provided MUST be specific and appropriate to the listed company and/or audit activity.
Applicants may NOT use another current IAQG Authentication applicant as a contact.
Applicants may NOT use themselves as a contact, even if self-employed.
Applicants may NOT use the same contact for all parts of their application.
1. The overall application MUST have at least two distinct people as contacts who can serve as objective parties to fully attest to the listed experience.
2. Applicants may NOT provide alternative contact details for the same person to imply that it is a second person.
The email address(es) and phone number(s) provided MUST be only for the named person. Applicants may NOT direct someone else to attest on a listed person’s behalf.
1. When providing an alternative email/phone for a contact, this means an alternative for the same person, NOT an alternative person.
2. The email address should, whenever possible, be tied to the name of the listed person, not a generic/catch-all alias.
Any experience that cannot be independently verified by an authorized contact following the rules above shall be EXCLUDED from the IAQG Authentication application.

It is not necessary that the contact still works for the company listed in the application or performs the same role/function they did at the time, provided they are willing to complete the contact verification process. (For example, applicants may provide a personal email address for the contact if their prior work email address no longer exists.)

Prior to providing a contact’s information in an application, the applicant MUST seek the contact’s express prior consent and explain they will be asked to complete a verification process by email. Failing to seek prior consent from contacts could result in application rejection. IAQG Authentication may, at its sole discretion, allow applicants to amend their application for a limited number of times to correct errors/typos in provided contact information, but this is not intended as a way to bypass the need for the applicant to seek express prior consent from each contact prior to entering their information in the application.

If it is determined that the applicants aimed to deceive or mislead IAQG Authentication via the experience verification process, this will result in permanent suspension from the IAQG Training & Authentication system, including permanent suspension of any existing authentications and ineligibility to submit any future applications.

Typical Contacts for Experience Verification

Audit Scenario	Typical Contact
Third-Party Audit	Responsible manager or authority at the associated Certification Body office
Second-Party Supplier Audit	Responsible manager or authority at the authorizing/mandating company (on whose behalf the audit was conducted)
Second-Party Audit conducted by outside party (i.e., consultant)	Customer representative or other responsible authority at the company being audited. (Consultants must not use themselves as a contact.)

For audits conducted as a team member as part of a larger audit team, applicants must also provide the responsible Lead Auditor as a contact.