Today’s job market is a tough one. The unemployment rate is still hovering around 9.0 percent, with 13.9 unemployed professionals in the United States according to November’s Bureau of Labor Statistics data. A whopping 5.9 million of these professionals have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more. Little improvement is expected anytime soon, and the professionals who are looking for jobs are understandably desperate. This desperation often leads to resume embellishment or even outright fabrication.
Whether you’re a large or small business owner, the best way to protect yourself from a costly bad hire is to thoroughly investigate each serious job candidate. A background check will uncover a variety of falsehoods and exaggerations, including the following common lies told by applicants.
1. Embellished Dates of Employment.
Job applicants may fudge the numbers in order to cover gaps in their employment history that they’d rather not explain. Sometimes they honestly don’t remember their hire date or last day worked older positions on their resume. However, any significant discrepancies should raise a red flag and prompt you to question the error. If you don’t have time to verify every applicant yourself, ARS employment background screening services include employment verification. We’ll contact your applicant’s previous employers and verify the dates of employment, position held and rehire status.
2. Inaccurate Representation of Degree Earned.
Degrees often play a role in salary negotiations, if not the applicant’s ability to perform the duties of the position. Some candidates exaggerate the level of degree earned or substitute an alternate academic major. It’s important to verify the degrees and credentials listed on the resumes of every serious candidate. Once again, ARS employment background screening services have this covered. We will verify the diploma and degree earned, majors and minors, and university attendance dates.
3. Exaggerated Salary or Title.
Job applicants may believe that they can negotiate a higher salary or better title if they exaggerate the salary and title held in their former positions. Make sure you’re going to get what you paid for. We verify position held as part of our employment verification service. While companies may not be willing to reveal an exact salary, they may verify the salary range for a particular class of jobs.
4. Covering Up a Criminal Record.
If you hire someone with a criminal record, and that person later endangers or harms one of your other employees, you could be found liable in a negligent hiring lawsuit. Fortunately, a criminal background check will guard against this. ARS employment background screening services include a comprehensive criminal background check covering county, state and federal records. We can also search civil and federal court records to reveal cases brought against the applicant by individuals, companies and government entities.
A bad hire can cost you thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of dollars in lost time, lost productivity and negligent hiring lawsuits. Protect your livelihood with a comprehensive background check process.
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