Employers Crack Down On Candidates Who Lie

The Wall Street Journal's Career Journal reports:

Carl Norcross of Boulder, Colo., a corporate recruiter for high-tech companies, interviewed a sales-rep candidate who said he had a bachelor's degree.

On checking, Mr. Norcross discovered that the man had left college after three years. "My wife typed my resume," the candidate explained. "She thought I had a degree, and I didn't have the heart to tell her I didn't." But he didn't get the job. "A person who lied on his resume is going to lie on sales reports," Mr. Norcross says.

But many job applicants don't seem to get the message about the risks of lying. Numerous surveys by search firms show that job applicants continue to falsify or embellish their credentials. "They lie most frequently about education and employment, particularly about duties and dates of employment," says Lisa Gallagher, vice president of operations at background-checking firm HireRight Inc., Irvine, Calif...

...After discovering repeated falsehoods, CEO Jude Werra started checking credentials even before interviewing candidates. "In the old days, you assumed you could rely on what was represented and checked references at the end of the process when you and the client had already invested several hours," he says. The firm tracks education because it's easy to check. "It's hard to evaluate other representations," he says. For example, it's hard to argue with "I was responsible for the growth of my former employer."

Misrepresentations can be sly. "Someone told me he was on the Harvard football team," reports Richard Taylor, CEO of Stamford, Conn.-based executive-search firm Taylor-Rodgers & Associates LLC. "He actually attended summer courses, never graduated and was never on the team." Mr. Taylor has also been told of fictitious ranks in the armed forces and attainment of Eagle Scout status.

...Falsehoods often are discovered after employees are hired. "I've seen division presidents get fired because they falsely represented that they had a college degree," says Mr. Taylor. "If five years later the company is sold, the new people may do a check and find it out. They don't want someone with a character issue. Then, too, they'll have their own people and be looking for reasons to get rid of the old ones. Lying is just not an option. It will catch up with you."