[Originally Published Sept 24, 2019 Last Published August 4, 2022]
These days lying on resume about work experience is as easy as editing a LinkedIn profile online. 40% of the forgery cases we unearth at SpringVerify are related to claimed previous experiences of the candidate.
At SpringVerify, we do background checks on candidates coming from different backgrounds daily. The challenge is unique every time. And, we do find minor glitches in the profiles now and then.
The most common form of glitch (calling it forgery could be a stretch at times) which we see is related to lying about job experience.
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Story of an employee lying about experience to get a job
In a recent case of experience forgery, we found that a candidate had claimed prior experience of over five years instead of the original span, that is, a year.
The ‘employee’ got fired the day we presented the case to the HR. Super-fast execution, we would say! We typically implore all our clients to have empathy and to discuss the findings with the employee before making any hard decisions. The reason is an economic one. We calculated that having the employee stay for a minor charge, with adequate checks in place, could, in turn, be economical than having the complete hiring process repeated
Over 40% of the forgery cases we unearth at SpringVerify is related to previous experience.
We have seen cases of misleading experience history before as well with a dramatic ending to it. We discuss the true cost associated with these findings and the cost of not having the checks done here. And, an ideal way to take the discussions forward with the candidate.
Maharashtra Transport Corporation recently confirmed job candidates were submitting fake experience documents. Couple it with the fact that more than 48% of HR do not check the credentials of a candidate while hiring. And this becomes a very slippery slope to be on.
Why would people rather lie on resumes?
Apparently, enhancing the experience is a thing among job seekers these days.
It is pretty common sense if we look at it critically. Why not do it? The competition one faces could very well be doing it, and one could lose out on the opportunity due to honesty. Right?
Wrong!
The easiest form of checks we perform, apparently, is the employment history checks. Finding out if an employee is lying about work experience takes about as long as a conversation with a teammate at the firm the candidate claimed to have worked before. An email or a phone call can confirm authenticity.
Yet, this crucial step is overlooked by a majority number of firms. Partly because getting backgrounds checked for all the hires at pace with the hiring team could be a challenging task. It takes a team to get it done. And partly because the costs associated with getting it done by an agency have historically been high.
How to resolve this?
At SpringVerify, we have worked hard to reduce the costs and the time associated with the checks.
With the advent of technologies like blockchain, we could help build a future where the need to get these checks around common lies on resumes would become obsolete. The companies would upload the work histories of teammates on a private chain which would be accessed at a later time to authenticate the experience claimed by a candidate.
We are working on building such a future too with SpringRole — a platform which allows people to have authentic profiles on the blockchain.
About SpringVerify
SpringVerify is the modern take on the age-old problem of employee verification being costly, tedious, and out of reach of small businesses. We are trying to build a platform where the employee verification process happens seamlessly and with minimal effort required from both the company and the employee.
We believe that employee verification is a must for any business. It is a critical process in ensuring that every employee working with you is faithful and could be trusted. CareerBuilder survey shows that a company stands to lose on average $17000 on a wrong hire.
We have built the platform with blockchain and believe that it will change virtually everything it comes in contact with. Blockchain helps us in building a decentralized system which keeps all our data secure and immutable.
Doing background verification yourself is complicated and time-consuming. Try our employee background verification platform, SpringVerify – where employee verifications happen seamlessly and with minimal effort required from both the company.
FAQ
Is it ethical to lie on your resume to get a job?
No, it is not at all ethical to lie on your resume to get a job. One employee reference check can easily point the lie out in front of your organization.
How do companies verify previous employment?
Background verification tools are used in order to check the entire background of an employee– from their education, employment, to even criminal records.
Do background checks show employment history?
Yes, employment history is one of the most common findings of a background check. It offers all details about which companies the employees worked in.
[Originally Published Sept 24, 2019 Last Published August 4, 2022]
