Overall, job seekers of today are honest and hardworking. They want nothing more than to be judged based on their qualifications. However, there are those who are bent on gaining a competitive advantage through half-truths and misstatements.
Whether it's for the generous pay, employee benefits or the status of particular positions, there are few things that disreputable job seekers won't do to get an upper hand on others who want the same positions they're out for. As it turns out, an increasing number of employers are finding that some workers' are letting their true colors show early on in the vetting process.
Nearly 90 percent of business owners say they've spotted misrepresentations on resumes sent or given to them by job candidates, according to a newly released poll from verification services firm HireRight. Additionally, nearly 85 percent have verified whether statements made on resumes regarding previous employment were accurate, doing so through a variety of strategies like contacting referrals or former places of employment.
Uptick in hiring expected during second quarter
With over four years of uninterrupted job growth in the private sector – as well as a steadily declining national unemployment rate at 5 percent, according to the Department of Labor – more employees are broadening their search parameters. Similarly, larger swaths of employers are extending their reach in order to find the best candidates for recently opened positions as well as newly created jobs. Between April and June, over one-third of companies expect to hire full-time workers, according to the most recent forecast from online job search portal CareerBuilder. Almost 40 percent intend to hire temporary workers, which is more common during the summer.
In order to stand out from an increasingly competitive marketplace of aspiring full-time workers, candidates are beefing up their resumes, festooning them with extracurriculars and achievements that add a sheen to their basic qualifications. However, their doing so may be an exercise in futility. In a separate survey also conducted by CareerBuilder, over 40 percent of employers said they'd be open to considering candidates who met three out of five qualifications to be considered for a job posts.
Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer for the Chicago-based online job search engine, said that while candidates may feel the need to amplify their curriculum vitae, there's a delicate balance that has to be walked, especially given the fact that nearly half of employers spend less than two minutes looking at a candidate's resume.
"Job seekers have the unenviable challenge of grabbing and holding a hiring manager's attention long enough to make a strong impression," Haefner explained. "Embellishing your resume to achieve this, however, can ultimately backfire. Most hiring managers are willing to consider candidates who do not meet 100 percent of the qualifications."
Most employers say they've been lied to by job candidates
Though to a lesser extent than the HireRight survey, a majority of employers say they've detected mischaracterizations on resumes. Specifically, nearly 60 percent of hiring managers have caught interviewees in a lie, based on CareerBuilder's polling data. Of these, nearly two-thirds say it had to do with embellishing skill sets and 54 percent said the half-truths related to responsibilities that they, in reality, were not in charge of.
Many employers say that you can never be too cautious when it comes to the vetting process, both for the good of the company as well as the potential hire. False statements can ultimately land candidates in hot water. As for the types of screening more employers are doing, over 8 in 10 take advantage of criminal and public record searches databases, according to the HireRight poll. Over three-quarters corroborate Social Security numbers and two-thirds substantiate previous employment history.
