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- Common occurrences for when people are attempting to falsify their education are “odd” degree titles
- Confirm if everything on an applicant’s resume and past work history is true.
- Go back to the source! Always refer to past employers and stated universities for confirmation.
It would be nice to live in a world where we can just trust what everyone says. Even our parents fibbed to us…Tooth Fairy? Santa Clause? But if your parents would fib about something like mystical creatures then you can bet that a potential employee would fib about their education, job positions, and information on their resume.
What To Look Out For – False Education
So, what is false education? It’s when someone has on their resume that they graduated top of their class from Harvard or Yale, but in reality, they never even went to college. If you believed that applicant, you were just a victim of false education. But how do you know when you should check on these things? You have to trust someone, right? Well, yeah, but don’t trust them until you get everything verified. Just to be safe.
When you start to implement education verifications, the first thing I can tell you is you have to make sure you’re doing an education verification for every potential employee. You can’t just pick and choose because you think someone might be lying because that can land you in hot water if someone were to bring a discrimination claim against you. Be sure to add it to your policy today!
So, we got you started on updating your policy to include education verification but now let’s talk about some of the things you should look out for.
When it comes to education and people getting their degrees, there’s no fool proof way to detect if someone is attempting to falsify their education. But based off what we see (and we do anywhere from 60-80 education verifications a day), common occurrences when people are attempting to falsify their education are “odd” degree titles (Bachelor’s Degree in Life Sciences) or when there’s an issue finding their information from the university, they usually don’t fight very hard to get it corrected.
The actual verification of the education – how does it get done? Always go back to the source! If you’re not sure of someone’s education history then contact the source and get it confirmed. You don’t want to hire a Yale graduate to learn that they weren’t being honest.
What To Look Out For – Work History Fraud
We know people falsify information about their education. Resume fraud is huge, but what should you look out for? Here’s a common list of things we see when applicants are fibbing on their resumes:
- Wrong job titles
- Length of time with the company
- Made up company or company they did not work for
Resume verifications are able to confirm if everything on an applicant’s resume and past work history is true. It’s the same case as education verification – always go back to the source! To confirm if their information is true check back with their past boss, call the company and confirm if they ever even worked for them. Even if they did work there, be sure to verify they actually worked there for the amount of time they stated on their resume. These are all things you have to make sure you’re looking out for. But also note, when you go back to the source and the applicant receives a bad reference don’t always put too much weight into that. That’s a whole other blog, learn how to handle what to do when your applicant gets a bad reference.
You’re Not Alone
Just remember that you don’t have to do this alone. Here at Validity, we understand that you might not have time to always go back to the source. So let us do it for you! We are confident we can take it off your hands and leave you at ease for every potential hire.
