To get a job most people do resume fraud. These frauds vary from small pretty lies to big ones. But how will you identify that a candidate is lying about a degree on a resume or work experience? What will be the consequences and how does an applicant’s dishonesty affect your company?
You must understand that a small mistake like this can cost the organization a lot. Their lies and habits can cause havoc internally and harm the company’s morale.
Well, to make it simple, we have brought a few tricks to the table that can make your work easy. These will also help you in managing situations where a candidate is working within the organization with lies on their resume. And what should be your next step?
Let’s begin here to identify dishonest applicants in your organization.
Identifying Common Lies
Here are some common lies that you can easily look out for while recruiting candidates or checking their profiles.
- Check the role and job responsibilities and ask queries related to the role.
- Review for fictitious employers and references.
- Fake dates to hide the gap between their working years.
- Misrepresenting academic degrees and other credentials.
- Magnifying job titles or salaries to get good opportunities.
- Making their versions of achievement awards from previous firms.
- Taking credit for the whole team and their efforts.
Be on your Guards When it comes to Resume Lies
In tough times, applicants trying to search for a job are under more pressure than usual. Here are some steps that will help you in reducing the chance of being tricked.
During the Early Hiring Process
During the early hiring process, it is crucial to flag all the possible falsehoods while reviewing resumes. Further, make sure that you ask questions to the candidate about all these matters in the pre-screening phone call or during the first round of the interview.
You can also ask the applicant to solve quizzes or queries to check the skills they possess.
These tests will help you genuinely understand the applicant’s talents and get the best first for your organization. Since candidates might be lying about a degree on their resume, it is important to validate their academic degrees or other certifications. You can ask for official proof like any transcript or graduation confirmations, etc. Also, go for psychological tests to identify and understand their ethical behavior and how appropriately they will fill their duty in the organization.
Before Officially Recruiting The Candidate
Make sure to conduct a thorough background check. Look for all the references and validate the employment history submitted by the candidate. You must also look for the criminal record if any and search for the driver’s abstract review (if you found it necessary).
You can take the assistance of your staff members or hire an agency to perform all the tasks. Also, mark the warning in the offer letter stating that the consequences of lying on a resume can lead to the direct firing of the candidate. This will keep the candidate on guard before doing any resume fraud and before accepting your employment offer.
What if the Candidate is Hired?
In some places, if the candidate is lying on their resume, companies have the policy to terminate their application on the spot depending on the severity of misinterpretation. Here are a few points that the law will consider:
- If the candidate is lying about a degree on a resume or any other skills or qualifications while approaching the recruiter for the job.
- There is content or evidence of the applicant’s dishonesty or breach of honesty in any term.
- As an employer, all the flags raised by you must be logical and reasonable.
- Also, if a lie is incomprehensible to most people and the employer chooses to overlook this fact, he or she won’t be able to fire the candidate later.
Is it Good to Overlook Lies Once?
It can happen that sometimes employers may get tempted to skimp on the hiring process or let a few resume frauds and lies go unnoticed. But the question is, is this a great thing or not?
Well, not necessarily but only if the hiring position and duties are not as important as other essential roles. You can also take the chance if the candidate is from a trusted source.
As in other scenarios, accepting or overlooking resume fraud will lower the morale and standard of the organization. Further, this can anger the existing employees if they find out that any hired person gets away with lying on their resume.
Conclusion
Screening candidates’ backgrounds, checking for references, and skill tests, all can take four to five official days. But sometimes these can be unreasonable delays in the hiring process. Situations like previous employers not picking up the call, schools or colleges being closed, etc.
However, you can opt for other alternatives that will cut you some slack. You can hire agencies to do your work. Because one mistake can lead to costly consequences of lying on a resume both for the employer and the employee.
