Les Rosen’s
Corner
A monthly column
By Lester Rosen,
Attorney at Law
The Six Biggest
Applicant Lies
Although statistics vary
widely, there is widespread
agreement that a substantial
number of resumes belong
in the “fiction” section of
the bookstore. The rate of
fraud can be as high as 40%
and higher according to different
sources. Applicants
certainly have the right to
put their best foot forward,
and puffing their qualifications
is an American tradition.
But when puffing
crosses the line into fabrication,
an employer needs
to be concerned. When you
hire an applicant who uses
lies and fabrication to get
hired, the issue is that the
same type of dishonesty
will continue once they
have the job.
What are the six most
common fabrications from
job applicants?
Claiming a degree not
earned:
Yes, believe it or not, applicants
will make up a degree.
Sometimes, they actually
went to the school
but never graduated. Some
applicants may have had
just a few credits to go, and
decided to award themselves
the degree anyway.
On some occasions, an applicant
will claim a degree
from a school they did not
even attend. The best practice
for an employer is to
state clearly on the application
form that the applicant
should list any school they
want the employer to consider.
In that way, if an
applicant lies, the employer
can act on the lack of truthfulness
regardless of
whether the educational
requirement is part of the
job requirements.
Diploma Mills or Fake Degree:
A related issue is diploma
mills or fake degrees that
can be purchased online.
For those that actually attended
classes, read books,
wrote papers and took tests
to earn a diploma, you apparently
did it the old fashioned
way. Now, getting a
“degree” is as easy as going
online and using your credit
card. There are websites
that will print out very convincing,
fake degrees from
nearly any school in America.
In fact, the president of
ESR obtained a degree for
his dog in Business Administration
from the University
of Arizona—and the
dog had been dead for ten
years. A transcript was
even obtained and the dog
got a “B” in English! Some
sites will even provide a
phone number so an employer
can call and verify
the fake degree. Some of
the degree mills even have
fake accreditation agencies
with names similar to real
accreditation bodies, in order
to give a fake accreditation
for a fake school.
Job Title:
Another area of faking is
the job description or job
title. Applicants can easily
give their career an artificial
boost by “promoting”
themselves to a supervisor
position, even if they never
managed anyone.
Dates of Employment:
Another concern for employers
is applicants that
cover up dates of employment
in order to hide
“employment gaps.” For
some applicants, it may be
a seemingly innocent attempt
to hide the fact that it
has taken awhile to get a
new job. In other cases,
the date fabrication can be
more sinister, such as a
person that spent time in
custody for a crime who
may be trying to hide that
fact.
Compensation:
A related issue is pay -
applicants have been
known to exaggerate compensation
in order to have a
better negotiating position
in the new job.
Lack of Criminal Record:
Nearly every application
will have a question about
past criminal conduct. Although
employers may not
“automatically” eliminate a
job applicant without a
showing of a “business necessity,”
if the person lies,
then the employer would
have grounds to deny employment
based upon dishonesty.
The common denominator
in all of these: they can be
all be discovered by a program
of pre-employment
screening. To quote a
phrase popular in the
1980s. “Trust, but verify.”
