The Integrity News
Vol. XIII No. 7
ISSN 1081-2717
"objective risk management services"
March 24, 2004
The 3/11/04 article in CNN.com - Technology
entitled "Resume Fraud Gets Slicker and Easier"
points out how bad the problem has become.
The answer to the question will be clear when you think
about the following:
Will you trust your operations to a devious person ?
Does the applicant really have the training claimed ?
Will you get the experience you will pay for ?
Does the applicant actually have the license claimed ?
Was the real time between jobs actually spent in jail ?
Does the Resume cover-up a hidden business agenda ?
In "Resume Fraud Gets Slicker and Easier" , we see
the following amazing quotes.
"Simple misrepresentation of facts on a Resume is passe.
Lying convincingly is in."
"As companies, via background searches, try to call the
bluff of less-than-honest job seekers, candidates are
resorting to more complex, sometimes hi-tech means to
hoodwink potential employers."
"Some applicants are providing employers with toll-free
numbers which are answered by operators of Web sites
that not only offer phony academic degrees, but also
"verify" a job seeker's education."
"And, in an effort to put more credibility into embellishing
their resume, some candidates are paying hackers to plug
their names into a class list database of a university they
claim to have attended."
"People could be charged with a felony for hacking into a
university's database, according to criminal lawyers. And
if a false degree leads to higher pay for a job candidate, he
or she could be accused of criminal fraud by the employer."
"There is a long list of websites that offer fake degrees
and these only facilitate resume fraud." "Some websites
give out a 'special' 800# along with the fake degree that
crooked applicants purchase, so that when the employer
calls, the degree will actually be confirmed."
"This has prompted an increasing number of companies
to do more thorough background checks of candidates."
"Companies seeking to get a clearer picture of a
candidate's ( true ) qualifications via background checks
are uncovering other new forms of deception."
Some companies are now requesting grade transcripts
from potential candidates as proof of their academic
claims -- although, a good hacker can invent and insert
a viable transcript in a school's records while adding the
bogus alumnus to the school's database.
There are currently two (2) online tools that can help
the employer get the truth from an applicant.
There is an online survey that the employer can require
the applicant to take. The survey, already used with
thousands of job applicants, produces an Interview Guide
for the employer to use.
The Interview Guide is automatically created when the
survey is completed. The interview should be completed
prior to any background checking because it will identify
the more important items to check.
Before the employer ever interviews the applicant, he
or she gets a very detailed and accurate picture of the
applicant's job-related motivations and attitudes. The
employer is also given the applicant's answers to a
series of "control" questions that enable the employer
to gauge the level of honesty with which the applicant
took the online survey.
Frankly, most applicants are amazed at the insight that
the interviewer gets from the seemingly simple survey
that only took 35-45 minutes to complete online.
That amazement is part of the power of the Interview
Tool's great success. The interviewer reviews the
motivations and attitudes with the applicant. Applicants
have consistently been more candid and forthcoming in
the balance of the interview because they just don't
know how much the interviewer actually knows.
After the initial review, the balance of the interview
consists of discussing the applicant's answers to other
questions that the applicant answered online during the
survey session. The process is so easy for the interviewer
because the interviewer merely has to remind the
applicant of the answer that they gave to a particular
question online, and ask for further clarification.
In the Interview Guide, those other questions are grouped
into nine areas that cover topics that are increasingly
difficult for the applicant to be candid about. There are no
right or wrong answers. The tool just creates an atmosphere
in which the applicant volunteers amazing information to
the interviewer who carefully notes what is said.
The result for the interviewer is an absolutely solid
understanding of the applicant, and usually, very good
leads to follow up in the subsequent background checking.
Employers should now be using online Job Applications
and can use ones that have special features that facilitate
the collection of supporting documentation.
Online Job Applications save the employer large amounts
of time and give the employer control over the data fields
that he or she specifies as "required input". In addition,
online Job Applications can now be set to require the
applicant to fax supporting documents to an Image Server.
The Image Server converts the faxed documents to online
reports and adds them to the employer's online file for
reference at any future time where they are stored with
the Job Application. Further, Interview Notes can be
kept online with those documents so that HR personnel
can collaborate with managers in a virtual meeting to
evaluate an applicant.
The Integrity Center, Inc. offers both of the above tools
and they are very inexpensive. Clients can request that
a staff investigator perform the personnel security
interview if the employer is pressed for time or wants a
third party evaluation. Also, the client can ask to have
the documents which have been faxed in to be further
verified by a staff investigator who will check randomly
selected items on the documents using our own reliable
sources.
To discuss any aspect of resume fraud and the
techniques that will help your company avoid
being deceived, feel free to call The Integrity
Center, Inc. at (972) 484-6140. Helping you
with your Risk Management is what we do.
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