Getting the Best Candidates – And Avoiding the Dogs By: D. Albert Brannen and Ilene W. Berman

A recent study by the national placement firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, found that 52% of 249,000 resumes surveyed contained “discrepancies” or false statements. According to this survey, the most common false statements that job seekers tell on their resumes and during employment interviews relate to education, job title, compensation, reason for leaving a prior job and past accomplishments.

MOST COMMON FALSE STATEMENTS

Education

False statements in this area usually involve bumping a bachelor’s degree to a master’s degree, changing the name of the college that awarded the degree or adding a degree when the applicant was actually a few credits short of earning that degree.

Job Title

Creative applicants may assign themselves the position they feel they should have had in the job they are leaving or they will embellish their job duties.

Compensation

Creative applicants know that it is much easier to command higher compensation in a new job if they are already making close to that income since firms typically do not like to require applicants to take a pay cut going to work for the new employer. This false statement usually accompanies inflation of the job duties or title.

Reason for Leaving

Applicants have well-rehearsed excuses for leaving their prior employment, especially when the real reason would reflect negatively on them. Make sure you thoroughly probe their stated reasons for leaving former employers.

Past Accomplishments

This false statement is very difficult to detect because it is next to impossible to get former employers to speak on this subject. It is also entirely possible that different people have legitimately different views of an individual’s contribution to the enterprise. Even more difficult is distinguishing the individual’s contribution from the success of a team of people.

DIGGING FOR THE FACTS

No single process guarantees 100% success in hiring qualified individuals, but we do have some suggestions which, when followed, will help improve your data collection and ultimately will improve your hiring performance.

Have Each Applicant Complete An Employment Application – Without Exception!

Never accept a resume standing alone. Your application should have certain language, including at a minimum: that employment is at-will; falsifications or omissions on the application are cause for immediate discharge or withdrawal of the offer; the applicant agrees to comply with the firm’s rules and regulations if hired; employment is subject to the firm’s drug and alcohol policy; employment is probationary for the first 90 days; there are no contracts of employment for a specific period unless written and signed by a Chief Executive; and, a short designated period of time that the application will remain valid. The requirement that each applicant complete an employment application should apply to all positions.

Read The Application

A well designed application will provide you with a great deal of information about the applicant. In fact, the application form is an ideal “pencil and paper” test of the applicant. Make sure that all inquiries on the application are completed. Leaving blanks, especially to questions relating to criminal background or reasons for leaving a prior job, is another way that applicants mislead inattentive employers. Pay particular attention to strike outs, gaps in employment, reasons for leaving prior jobs, and job and salary progression.

If the response to the application inquiry regarding whether the applicant has ever been convicted of a crime is “too many to list,” you better catch it.

Ask Open-Ended Questions

In a well conducted interview, the applicant should speak at least approximately 75% of the time. You do not learn anything about the applicant while you are speaking. Your talking deprives you of potentially useful information about the applicant. Asking open-ended questions permits you to evaluate the applicant’s ability to reason and attitudes, as well as the applicant’s basic communication skills. Well planned open-ended questions are also practically impossible to answer with stock answers.

For example, questions such as “What was your biggest [frustration] [success] [problem] on your last job and how did you deal with it?” opens up a wide area for discussion and follow up questions. Furthermore, a careful and thorough employment interview will do more than reams of slick recruiting materials to impress the right candidate with the firm’s focus, objectives and thoroughness.

Do Not Waste Time Selling the Firm (Until You’ve Made The Decision To Hire)

The time to convince the applicant of the value of your firm does not come during the initial interview. The purpose of the initial interview is to help you understand the qualities of the applicant so that you can assess his or her potential to help your firm in the specific position for which the individual is interviewing. The time to sell begins only after you have made the preliminary hiring decision.

Conduct Background Checks

Usually, background checks provide one of the best opportunities to uncover application fraud. We do not believe employers should just throw up their hands and meekly accept what seems to be the current fad of resume fraud. While not all fraud can be detected, a background check will certainly improve your odds of detecting it. While beyond the scope of this article, background checks are subject to state statutes and/or the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”). Ensure that your use of background checks meets these applicable legal requirements. For example, the FCRA requires, among other things, that the applicant complete and sign a separate disclosure and authorization form.

Conduct Reference Checks

References likely know a great deal about the applicant and can corroborate facts represented by the applicant during the interview, such as reasons the applicant is leaving the current employer, position(s) held, possible income, and a host of other details brought out during the initial employment interview. Inconsistencies or a reference person’s pregnant pauses in responding to questions can tell an alert interviewer a great deal about the applicant. Even if your efforts at checking references are met with nothing more than “name, rank and serial number” for references, documenting this process may serve as your first line of defense to future claims of negligent hiring.

Take Action When You Find Application Fraud

This advice may sound simplistic but it really is not. If you find that an employee has falsified documents either in performing the job or on the application, that situation should be addressed immediately for several reasons. If you detect fraud and do nothing about it, the courts could find that you have condoned it and your ability to deal with it in the future can be jeopardized. Additionally, the legal doctrine known as “after acquired evidence” provides an employer with further justification for terminating an individual, even if that offense is only discovered after he has already been terminated.

It works like this: Fred is terminated and sues you for wrongful discharge. During discovery you learn that Fred lied on his application. The employer would be permitted to cut off any damages after the date it discovered the resume fraud – if it can prove that it would have terminated Fred when it discovered the fraud. This defense can be important but will not be of any help to an employer who ignored previous cases of fraud.

Your Diligence In The Hiring Process Will Be Rewarded

Even if you do all of these things, you will not be guaranteed perfect results from your hiring decisions. No system will ensure absolute success in an area as subjective as the employment of people. Rigorously following the steps above will not result in perfection, but it will result in a greatly improved success.

D. Albert Brannen and Ilene Berman are attorneys at Atlanta-based Fisher & Phillips LLP, a nationwide firm representing employees in labor and employment law, employee benefits and business immigration matters. They can be contacted at (404) 231-1400 or www.laborlawyers.com.

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