The Truth about Bob
After sorting through hundreds of resumes, you found the perfect employee: Bob. Bob graduated with his Master's with a 3.8 GPA, and then went on to work for eight years at a top tier firm in your industry. He was also an active philanthropist in the community.
After the first interview, everyone in the office adored him. You hired him, and he was still a universally liked employee. He even sent the secretary flowers on her birthday.
Too bad Bob was stealing from day one. After you began the investigation, you also discovered that he never actually graduated from that great school on his resume, only worked at that top-tier firm for eight months and was fired...for embezzlement.
Resume Fraud on the Rise
If you knew that 30-40 percent of your employees lied on their resume, would it change the way you feel about your company? What if you knew that you hired these people...and that they lied to you during the interview? Unfortunately, this is an unsettling reality for companies across the country.
Without a background screening program in place, it is a near- statistical certainty that a company will hire someone who falsified their resume, has a criminal record or has insufficient skills or knowledge to perform their job.
Why? Applicants have worked to hide these elements of their past, and they know the ins and outs of the hiring process thanks to books and blogs on everything from resume writing to mastering the behavioral interview. The proliferation of falsifications is astounding:
30-40 percent of all applicants lie on their resume
10-15 percent of all applicants have a criminal record
52 percent of resumes have discrepancies [Source: 2005 study by the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Information courtesy of CNN Money.]
Top Ten List
Most applicants falsify the same sections of their resumes and applications. If you know what to focus on, you may be able to spot the red herring. The following common resume falsifications are in order from the most common to the least.
1. Dates of Employment
No one wants to admit they were unemployed, much less that they were employed for a substantial period of time. Often, applicants will elongate their employment at several jobs to cover these gaps.
2. Job Title
This is the quickest way to update your insufficient qualifications to fit the position. Applicants often upgrade their positions to the one above their own. If you wonder why, ask yourself: how much pay difference is there between a manager and a V.P.?
3. Degrees Earned
In this case, the lie is often close to the truth. The applicant may have completed (or nearly completed) the necessary credit hours but failed to finish the requirements to graduate. Occasionally applicants will upgrade their education in the same way that others upgrade their positions-they'll say they earned a Master's when they received a Bachelor's or a Ph.D. when they have a Master's.
4. Educational Background
In occupations where the prestige of your university can give you an edge, applicants will often say they attended their first-choice institution, e.g. Harvard, when in reality they attended the community college near their home.
5. Past Employers
In much the same way that applicants will upgrade their schools, they will also upgrade their past employers. Another approach that is increasingly appealing in a global marketplace is to say that they worked for a company that doesn't exist or is no longer in business.
6. Compensation
The most difficult question an applicant will have to answer is:
How much are you worth? Of course, it's never phrased that way, but that's the meat of the compensation issue. If they say their last employer paid them $60,000, it's much easier for them to ask for $65,000.
7. Reason for Leaving
If an applicant was fired, that's a fact he or she wants to hide. During the application process, they may cite a mass layoff as the reason for leaving rather than an individual layoff caused by poor performance review.
8. Past Accomplishments
In this case, applicants may say they single-handedly managed a $1 million account when they were part of a team or they managed a team of 50 when, in reality, it was a team of five. Applicants want you to believe that they can handle the responsibility you're giving them; even of they don't really have the experience you require.
9. Skills
This refers to hard skills, such as programming languages, foreign languages or accreditations. For example, an artist who is looking for a career change may say they know all the designer packages necessary for a graphic designer position when they have only seen the programs or played with them once or twice. On the other hand, they may have the knowledge to do the job but lack the documentation to prove it.
10. Past Supervisor
Applicants will falsify the name and position of their past employer for many reasons. Some applicants also give the name of a friend or co-worker and prep them for your call. Either way, this is a sign that they probably don't want you to contact their actual boss.
Combating Application Falsifications
So, what can you do when nearly one-third of your applicants distort, embellish or create their work history and personal qualifications? When only 15 percent of all resumes are ever given a thorough read-through, applicants can lie and get away with it. You must be diligent to find the best employee for your firm, and that means performing background checks. Although pre-employment screening doesn't guarantee that you've hired an exemplary employee, it does give you a more reliable and accurate picture of a candidate's background before the job offer.
