Weed Out Candidates Who Lie About Their Credentials Before They Work for You
Unfortunately, stories like these are becoming all too common:
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Stephen Gevorkian claimed to be a doctor and treated thousands of patients, even though he didn't have a medical license.
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Congressman George Santos lied on his resume about his educational background.
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Walgreens paid $7.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought against the company for employing an unlicensed pharmacist.
Some might argue that the above is nothing more than the media jumping onto sensational stories. But reality suggests otherwise.
In this article, we're going to . . .
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Share some enlightening stats that will force you to think twice before glossing over a candidate's education and employment history
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Discuss how resume fraud costs employers big time (and not just in terms of dollars)
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Highlight better ways to streamline your screening process than ditching an education verification check
The sad fact is people do lie on their resumes.
You might think the above stories are isolated cases, but the numbers suggest otherwise.
ResumeBuilder.com recently surveyed 1,250 Americans, and 72% admitted to lying on their resume. The most common lie? Education (44% of respondents lied about their credentials). But candidates also lied about their experience, skills and abilities, and previous job responsibilities.
Another survey from StandOutCV shared these grim stats: "Over half (55%) of people surveyed said they had lied on their resume at least once, which could mean 42.5 million Americans lied their way to a job in 2022." It also noted that "2 in 5 (41%) have lied about their college degree on their resume, with almost a quarter (24.5%) telling employers they had a degree when they didn't."
StandOutCV explains that people can buy fake credentials, like transcripts, online for under $300.
Hiring liars can cost your organization BIG time.
If someone is willing to lie on their resume to get a job, what sort of nefarious things might they do while working for you? According to Business.com, resume fraud can cost employers $600 billion annually.
It makes sense when you stop and think about it. If someone claims they have the expertise, but in reality, they don't, this could lead to things like . . .
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Reduced productivity as the lying employee tries to learn on the fly
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Mistakes that require tasks to be done over and over
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Customer/client attrition due to shoddy work
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Negative PR if it gets out you hired someone without proper qualifications
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Costly litigation and skyrocketing insurance premiums
Even if the candidate comes clean about lying and you decide to keep them, you still need to spend time and money training the person.
And if you let them go, replacing them isn't cheap. Northwestern University cites the U.S. Department of Labor when it shares this nugget: " . . . the average cost of a bad hiring decision is at least 30 percent of the individual's first-year expected earnings. If you take an employee with an annual income of $50,000, the cost to the organization can be $15,000."
Ouch!
Streamlining background check processes should involve something other than ditching an education verification check.
When the labor market is tight, you struggle to find candidates who'll show up for interviews. When the labor market relaxes due to layoffs (like we're seeing now), suddenly, the marketplace has a glut of talented people. This can seem like a good problem for employers. But it also means a more competitive landscape could lead to a spike in resume fraud as more people compete for fewer positions.
Either way, HR and recruiting managers face the same challenge—finding qualified talent and getting them into open positions quickly.
Still, you must resist the temptation to skip education and employment verification simply to make the process faster. As noted above, doing so could cost you more (in money and time) if your complacency leads to a bad hire.
And here's the thing: An education verification doesn't need to slow down the hiring process, provided you're working with a background check vendor that regularly conducts verifications and they handle all of your other background checks in-house.
Because what does slow down the process is when different checks are spread across different vendors.
Here's how to truly streamline your background check process:
✔ Choose a vendor who can handle all your background check needs, from criminal history checks, drug testing, MVR checks, employment and education verification checks, and social media screening.
✔ Make sure the vendor has a team devoted to verifications. When a team focuses on nothing but employment and education verifications, they can work much faster. They'll know the ins and outs, what questions to ask, the people to contact, where the potential bottlenecks are, etc.
Good Egg can create a fast background check process with employment and education verifications baked in.
Bottom line: There are better ways to streamline your screening process than eliminating education verifications. Your dedicated Good Egg account manager will review your hiring process and offer a streamlined package that doesn't sacrifice accuracy or quality. Request a demo and experience the Good Egg difference firsthand.
