Living a Lie: Detecting Resume Fraud

July 2015

IN THIS ISSUE

— Resume Fraud: From Embellishments to Fabrications
— Vetting Candidates and Uncovering Fraud

GREETINGS!

Welcome to the July edition of our newsletter! In this issue, we’ll examine the areas of expertise that prospective employees are most likely to lie about, and how to investigate such claims.

RESUME FRAUD: FROM EMBELLISHMENTS TO FABRICATIONS

Stories of job applicants lying on their resumes seem to occur on a regular basis, sometimes ensnaring high-profile subjects, like the former chief executive officer of Yahoo! Inc., Scott Thompson, who said he earned a degree in accounting many years before his alma mater ever offered any such degree.

While fabrications are the most high-profile — claiming awards or degrees which were never attained — embellishments are also an area of concern. If a candidate said they “contributed to” research on a given topic, or were a team member for a large project, simply verifying their basic employment may not delve deeply enough.

VETTING CANDIDATES AND UNCOVERING FRAUD

While technology has made basic verifications simpler — with the advent of degree and employment verification services — claims that exist in a more gray area require greater effort. Some of the claims can be verified in industry-specific methods, but the principles apply to candidates in any industry. If a scientist claims to have worked on a popular cancer-fighting agent, for instance, did he publish scholarly articles about it? Attempting to speak with former colleagues would also help discern his level of involvement. The same methods apply across various industries — high-profile claims, if true, are often visible in a high-profile manner.

The damage is done once an award is granted, or a high-level position is accepted and announced, only to learn that the candidate expanded or fabricated claims in their resume. The time for action against such fraud is in the candidate vetting process, where a thorough public records search, followed by discreet interviews, can ensure a candidate’s integrity and save your company significant public relations headaches.