As much as we’d all love it if job candidates were always telling the truth, that is often not the case. In fact, a whopping 78% of job applicants lie on their resumes. So what are the most common lies that you should be aware of the next time you’re reading a job candidate’s resume?
In the latest blog post from Barada Associates, we’ll discuss the most common lies that job candidates tell, as well as show how you can verify any experience or claims that they are making on their resumes.
Dates of Employment
We’ve found that many job seekers will accurately reveal their previous employer and job title as part of their resume’s work history. However, they’ll often exaggerate how long they were with a previous job. This is usually done to fill time between different jobs to make it appear as though the gaps between jobs were smaller.
While this may appear to be a smaller issue in the grand scheme of things, it’s still an important detail to verify during the hiring process. Any exaggerated claims to a job candidate’s dates of past employment can be a red flag to an employer about what else on the resume might be exaggerated.
Employment verification services can help by verifying the dates of employment that the employee claims.
Skills and Accomplishments
You’ve heard it all before. An employee claims to be proficient with a certain program when, in reality, they’ve only used the program once or twice and are largely unfamiliar with it. This happens to convince a prospective employer that they have the skills necessary for the role they’re applying for.
Verifying skills and accomplishments that a job applicant claims is a very helpful way to ensure that they’ll already have the skills necessary to complete any tasks that the job requires.
Barada Associates offers cognitive and professional skills assessments to ensure that your new employees have the skills that they claim.
Drug Use
Substance abuse can have a large impact on a company. Whether it leads to poor performance or low productivity, drugs and alcohol can greatly affect how successful your business is. Over the years, we’ve unfortunately found that it’s not uncommon for employees and job candidates to hide drug and alcohol issues that are only discovered after problems arise.
Drug and alcohol testing can help you find if any employees or job candidates are abusing drugs or alcohol before it’s too late.
Criminal Records
Many job applications will ask the applicant whether or not they have any criminal convictions. Whether they simply select “no,” or they select “yes” and lie about the severity of the conviction, criminal history background checks should be performed to ensure the hiring manager receives the whole truth before making a hiring decision.
Contact Barada Associates for Background Screening Services
No matter the position that your company is hiring for, ensuring that your job applicants are telling the whole truth and not lying on a job application is crucial in avoiding making a bad hire. For the best background check services in the industry, contact Barada Associates today to get started.