Résumé Lies: Don’t Get Burned!

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By Blake DuBose and Mike DuBose

It’s at the forefront of many employers’ minds: the issue of job applicants lying on résumés or applications. The subject gained worldwide attention in May 2012, following reports that Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson claimed to have degrees in accounting and computer science when he actually only had the accounting degree. USA Today and the Wall Street Journal reported that Thompson and five board members left the firm after the misrepresentation was revealed, and the incident cost Thompson about $25 million in potential compensation.

Our companies recently learned the dangers of résumé fraud firsthand. Although one of our mottos is to “hire tough and slow,” we had a bad apple slip through the cracks. The candidate scored well on our battery of tests, impressed several screeners at three separate interviews on different days, had exceptional communication skills, and reported strong experience matching the job requirements. She was really sharp and seemed like a great catch. Expecting everything to pan out, we offered her the job on the condition that she passed a background check. To our amazement, she lacked the college degree she claimed to have earned! When given the chance to explain, she failed to do so, and we rescinded the employment offer.

Human resource experts we interviewed for this column agreed that inaccurate or embellished employment applications are some of the most serious problems they face today. In fact, a Society of Human Resource Managers survey found that roughly half of résumés and job applications contain falsifications. Difficult times exacerbate the problem, as some applicants will do whatever it takes to compete when jobs are scarce.

“I wish we could take everyone at their word, but that just isn’t the society we live in these days. Résumé fraud is increasing, and once a person puts a fabrication on their résumé and gets a job partially based on that information, they often cannot risk removing it in the future,” said John Lawrence of General Information Services, Inc. (GIS), a South Carolina-based company that performed background checks on more than four million individuals in 2011.

To further complicate matters, many businesses (fearing lawsuits) won’t release information about former employees other than positions occupied, salary ranges, and dates of employment. Increasingly, organizations are declining to share true reasons for dismissal or comment on former employees’ performance issues, which can allow troublemakers to stay under the radar and carry their problems to other workplaces.

With such factors to consider, screening applicants can be very time-consuming. Some employers foolishly rush to hire and then spend time and resources fixing their mistakes or defending their actions in court. In fact, Craig Valentine of TriNet, a co-employer that contracts with 6,000 other businesses (including ours), reported that “the cost of a bad hiring decision that results in a termination can exceed $100,000.”

Employers face additional consequences for hiring carelessly, including lawsuits for negligence. For example, if you employ a person with a documented record of violence and he or she harms another employee, customer, or vendor, your business may be held liable even if you did not know about the problem. Court decisions have established this concept of “duty of care,” and with the US Bureau of Justice Statistics reporting two million violent crimes in the workplace each year, it’s a responsibility you cannot afford to ignore.

So how can organizations best protect themselves? Résumés and/or interviews are an important first step, but never hired based on them alone. Ensure that finalists complete formal employment applications before hiring. Attorney Reggie Gay of the McNair Law Firm suggested, “The application should contain language along the lines of ‘all information is truthful and complete and any falsification, misrepresentation, or omission of information may result in denial of employment or immediate termination, regardless of when or how the information is discovered’ and should be signed by the applicant. If you subsequently discover the applicant provided false information, you can generally rescind the offer.”

Several human resource publications also suggest that all businesses conduct background checks on job candidates and staff (with the subjects’ written permission). Lawrence agreed, saying, “The best solution for HR professionals in today’s employment environment is to partner with an accredited background screening firm. Even something as seemingly accidental as an incorrect date on a résumé can occasionally be an intentional effort to keep certain information from being discovered. Skipping a background check on any employee (be they minimum wage or the CEO), can be extremely damaging down the road if it is revealed that a simple, low-cost background check could have helped the hiring company avoid a messy situation.”

A background check through GIS can be completed in an average of one to three days, depending on how in-depth the inquiring companies want to go, according to Lawrence. There are many companies in the market that conduct background checks, some of which are more thorough than others. Lawrence warned that some background check providers will only attempt limited calls to complete verifications or references and may rely too heavily on automation, which can be less likely to spot and analyze discrepancies in applicant data than a human being. Ideally, quality screening firms and employers should both make reference checks.

In addition to their listed contacts, the best sources of information about prospective new employees are casual conversations with their current or former supervisors and coworkers (of course, applicants will only list references on their résumés who they know will give them favorable reviews). If we know people within the candidate’s previous places of employment, we make it a point to contact them to obtain an even better idea of whether the person would be a good fit for our companies’ culture. You may also want to ask candidates with work histories to give you copies of their employee performance reviews.

Although some businesses are using Internet search engines and social networking sites like Facebook to gather further information on candidates, this can lead to candidate misidentification, breaches of privacy rights and websites’ terms of use, and violations of new laws regulating the use of social media searches in employment decisions, so we do not recommend this option.

Finally, we strongly suggest that all employers carefully review the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, which regulates how employers can legally assess candidates’ backgrounds. You can find an excellent, easy-to-understand review of the law and frequently asked questions at www.privacyrights.org. Some parts of the law really surprised us!

The bottom line:When hiring, be very careful and do not rush decisions. For the best, most complete picture, dig deep!

You can reach Blake and Mike at [email protected].