How to Spot a Fake Resume
Due diligence improves hiring success
Job-seekers and applicants work hard to put their best foot forward with potential employers. A competitive market raises the stakes in every job search, and smart applicants customize resumes and cover letters to match each unique opportunity. Yet in this process of tailoring a resume for a position, some applicants go beyond embellishment and outright falsify information to improve their chances of getting hired.
According to a July 2008 survey by Careerbuilder, 49% of hiring managers said they caught an applicant lying on their resume. In the same survey, more than half the managers said they have a company policy that prohibits hiring applicants who lied on their resumes. Thorough screening, reference verification, and background checks will reveal fraudulent information – if you know what to look for.
Falsifying employment history
Candidates generally omit or falsify information they believe will turn off potential employers. The top categories include gaps in employment, being in a position for a very short period of time, and being fired. Recruiters and hiring managers should watch for:
- Unexplained gaps in employment
- A reluctance to explain the reason for leaving
- Unusual periods of self-employment
Always corroborate the above information by calling references, including clients for self-employed work history. Beware that candidates falsifying this information may even provide fraudulent references. Always check the web sites of previous employers and use the phone numbers found online for employment verification.
Education credentials
“Ensure that the decisions you make are based on facts, not fraud.”
Candidates may exaggerate their educational history. Contact the college or university on the resume to verify a degree was granted. Applicants may list a completed degree when they did not actually finish all courses and graduation requirements. If a college name is unfamiliar, check the web site of the school. Verify accreditation and evaluate the nature of the school. Diploma mills abound online. If you call the school, you’ll reach someone who will verify the degree, but if you visit the web site, you’ll find the real story behind the diploma.
Verify technical and project skills
Most jobs require basic computer or technical skills, and any IT or engineering position will require experience in specific software and technology. In the age of online job databases, applicants know that employers use keyword searching to find and qualify their resumes. An applicant faking information in the resume will include keywords for all skills required for the job and the project.
To uncover this type of fraud:
- Ask specific technical questions in the interview
- Test applicants on computer skills
- Search resume databases and online search engines for project descriptions – use other candidate’s descriptions of the project to evaluate your applicant’s claims
Trust your intuition and experience
As much as we want to make interviewing into a science, it still comes down to a face-to-face conversation, so trust your instincts when it comes to assessing how a candidate’s skills and personality will fit with your existing staff. Learning to recognize these common resume deceptions will help ensure that the decisions you make are based on facts, not fraud.