Beware the `perfect resume' - Making News

When a newly hired employee's company-issued gas card registered hundreds of dollars of charges, Frank Wagner wanted to believe the man's story. The service technician said he recently lost the card, so someone else must have been responsible for the $800 bill.

But video cameras don't lie.

"I called the gas station and got its video," said Wagner, vice president of Phoenix-based Poolman, said to be the largest pool service company in Arizona. "It showed him filling up personal automobiles with gas."

It also turned out the employee used a false birth date on his job application, so a background check failed to reveal a prior drug charge and two warrants for his arrest for theft. "I terminated him on the spot, called the police and pressed charges," Wagner said.

His experience reflects a growing problem across the country: resume and job application fraud. In fact, close to 90 percent of personnel directors surveyed in 1998 said they'd encountered applicants who falsify information. The Society for Human Resource Management said its survey showed that many job candidates alter resumes regarding college education, employment, criminal history and the possession of skills essential for job performance.

The bad news continues: When companies unknowingly hire job seekers with a criminal history, they open themselves up to a greater risk of liability, according to industry experts.

"If a company inadvertently hires a convicted thief and the person breaks into customers' houses, the company can be held responsible, in part, because it was entrusted and transferred that trust to the employee," said Jerry Goolsby, professor of marketing at Loyola University New Orleans' College of Business in New Orleans, La.

"One company was sued when an employee, who forged a driver's license, got into an accident," Goolsby added.

In a slow economy where jobs are scarce, many applicants turn to deception to gain the competitive edge. "One person admitted changing his resume after each rejection to overcome the reason stated for not being hired," Goolsby said. "The person just continued to embellish his resume until hired.

"Lying is seen by most young people as no obstacle to getting what one wants," he said. "It's just a sign of the times."

On the other hand, telling the truth about employment history now sets applicants apart from the rest. "The people who come in and say, `I messed up on my last job and got fired,' and they tell me the truth, it becomes a non-issue," Wagner said.

5 ways to fight resume fraud

1. Ask potential candidates to sign a release that allows your company to contact anyone necessary during background checks.

2. Ask candidates to sign a statement noting that any misrepresentation on the resume or employment application constitutes grounds for immediate dismissal.

3. If the ending date of one job on the resume does not mesh with the start date on the next, ask why.

4. If the applicant only lists one job title at a company, find out why he or she wasn't promoted.

5. If the applicant claims to be a college graduate, ask to see an official transcript or diploma.

--R.J.W.

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