Tag Archives: employment verification

Employment verification takes the padding out of résumés

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When we think of pre-employment screening, employers often think of conducting background checks to turn up any criminal record a job applicant has or running a credit report to see if the potential hire is financially trustworthy. But the pre-employment screening process actually should start with something much simpler — verifying the information contained in the applicant’s résumé.

A lot has changed about the hiring process, but a résumé is still often the first thing you see regarding a potential employee. Yet would-be employees continue to pad their résumé with half-truths and outright lies, which makes employment verification a critical step in the hiring process.

As an employer, you need to do your homework on each and every applicant you are seriously considering, to make sure you’re getting someone with the depth of experience and education they purportedly have. The most common details on a résumé that are “enhanced” include: 

  1. Education. Doublecheck the fact that the applicant received the degree listed from the university listed. Also check to make sure the educational institution is an accredited college or university, not one of the many “diploma mills” out there.
  2. Length they’ve held a title. Sometimes an applicant will list an ending title beside the dates of their employment with a particular company, making it seem like they’ve been in a managerial or executive position for far longer than they have. Find out how long they held the most recent title and what responsibilities they had.
  3. Singular responsibility for group success. Applicants often enhance the contributions they made to a company’s bottom line or new initiative, regardless of how personally involved or responsible they were for that success.
  4. Salary. Make sure the current salary they list is what they’re actually earning, not what they think they’re worth.
  5. Computer skills. Employees know how critical it is to have certain computer-related skills, but listing a bunch of programs and applications in which they’re “proficient,” or saying that they’re “social media savvy” isn’t necessarily the case. Find out whether those specific programs and skills were used at their last job(s), or whether they just think you want them to be knowledgeable in those areas.

 

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Study finds reviewing candidate’s social networking sites can predict future job success better than standard tests

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Perusing social networking websites as part of employment screening tactics is a trend that’s catching on across several industries worldwide. But could using information gleaned from social media sites be an even better predictor of job success than traditional standardized tests used by human resources professionals to determine someone’s personality as it pertains to their aptitude and attitude?

A new study published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology claims just that. The study found that a 10-minute review of a candidate’s Facebook profile page could yield not only red flags – past indicators of possible future problems – but also “an unvarnished look at a job candidate” and clues to “character and personality.”

The study involved trained “raters” who spent five to ten minutes evaluating 274 Facebook pages of job candidates and answering questions related to their personality. The researchers followed up six months later for performance reviews from the supervisors of 69 of the job candidates – approximately 25 percent of the original group – and found that the quick Facebook evaluations more accurately predicted success than standard IQ and personality tests.

The study doesn’t suggest employers should forgo the traditional background checks and employment verification processes in their employment screening protocols, but it does suggest that much of what we put online about our personal and professional lives can tell prospective employers a lot about us, and about whether we’d be a good fit for their company.

 

 

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Know what to ask — and what not to ask — during employment verification

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Checking an applicant’s professional references is a critical step in the pre-employment screening process. But do you know what you can and can’t ask? While performing employment verification, any human resources executive or hiring pro can make the innocent error of asking questions that infringe on an applicant’s privacy or open up the employer to discrimination claims by someone who is not ultimately offered the job. 

The easiest way to remember what is off limits is to remember you can’t ask a reference any questions you are prohibited from asking an applicant. You must keep the conversation on job-related issues. Here are some sample questions to help get you in the right frame of mind:

  • What was the employee’s starting salary? Ending salary?
  • What was the employee’s starting position? Ending position?
  • Please describe your reporting relationship with the candidate?
  • Please describe the key responsibilities of the candidate in his/her current position.
  • How many reporting staff did the candidate manage?
  • Tell me about the candidate’s most important contributions to the company?
  • Describe the candidate’s productivity, commitment to quality and customer orientation.
  • What are the candidate’s most significant strengths?
  • What are the candidate’s most significant weaknesses?
  • Would you rehire this person? Why or why not?

 

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Is That Jobseeker’s Previous Employer Real or Fake?

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One of the most important tools an employer uses as part of the pre-employment screening process is to speak to an applicant’s former employer, to check professional references and find out from former bosses and colleagues whether the applicant has the experience, knowledge, leadership skills and other assets listed on their resumé.

Now there’s at least one company sabotaging this effort by offering fake job references, complete with job titles, salary details, and start and end dates. Jobseekers pay a fee and a monthly subscription to get a complete stranger to pose as a previous employer and offer glowing reviews of the applicant’s performance and skills.

The fees range, with more expensive plans promising three different “references” to act as a phony human resources manager, a fake immediate supervisor, and a phony secondary supervisor. Those giving the fake references also are paid subscribers to the service.

The job market is tough for many industries right now, but using deceitful means to land a job hurts both the employee and the employer in the end. The best way to wade through the increasingly murky waters of employee verification is to hire a reputable employment screening service trained to weed out the scammers, con artists and thiefs and find those deserving of a job at your place of business.

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Importance of Employment Verification — “But He Said That Was Where He Worked!”

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“But the resume said she worked at ABC Company!”

It’s amazing how often employers are shocked when they find out (after the fact , of course) that someone didn’t work where he or she claimed to have worked.  But whose fault is it that the person was hired?  Noneother than the employer!  After all, the discrepancy could have easily been ferreted out with a simple employment verification.

The problem for many companies is that true employment verification takes time and energy… and organizations (especially small businesses) don’t always turn their manpower over to the task.  Instead, they assume that all resumes that come across their desks are on the up-and-up.

In the end, they are often surprised when they find out from a screening company like VerifyProtect that their “perfect” job candidate lied about where he or she previously worked -or- at least fibbed about the job he or she held there. 

Believe us — we’ve seen and heard it all, from flat-out lies to half-truths that would make Pinnochio blush.  In the end, it’s why we always recommend employment verification if you’re serious about hiring someone for all the right reasons!

Liars Don’t Wear Signs

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Think you can spot a lying interviewee?  Guess again.  They don’t wear big signs that give away their fibs and many of them have perfected the art of tweaking the truth.

Though you can’t stop some people from bending reality, you can educate and protect your business by instituting an across-the-board policy of getting professional education and employment verification on all potential hirees.  (Wait until they get to the second interview stage; that way, you will have already weeded out the wheat from the chaff.)

Of course, there are some people who feel that a little “white” lie on a resume isn’t a big deal.  But are you willing to take the chance?  Think of it this way — if a person is willing to lie, even a tiny bit, to get a job… isn’t that an indication that he or she will be willing to lie when working for the corporation you’ve spent so much time building?

Employment and education verification.  It can be one of your best weapons against the fibbers of the world who could wreak havoc on your business.

The Lies People Tell

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tn_new_yorkThis article from Forbes.com reveals a rather shocking statistic — approximately 40% of resumes contain false information (a.k.a., bold-faced lies.)  Ouch.

As an employer, that means a whopping four out of ten job candidates who send cover letters and resumes to you are probably fibbing in some capacity.  Maybe they are playing around with dates, perhaps they’re exaggerating the extent of their responsibilities… or they could be hiding something even darker.

It’s no secret that businesses carry the onus to check the backgrounds of their applicants, but many organizations, especially those that are smaller, do not.  And we understand why — it’s time-consuming to check references, call educational institutions and verify employment dates.  Yet that’s no excuse.

The next time you’re searching for the “right” person for a job – any job — do yourself and your employees a huge favor.  Make sure you background screen every single individual you’re considering. 

Don’t rely on your instincts to tell you if someone is being truthful.  The facts are there, just waiting to be found.

What Kind of Background Screening Solutions Do You Need?

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You know that you need to conduct background screenings on new (and perhaps current) employees, but which ones do you really need?  Is a pre-employment credit report necessary?  How about a multi-state criminal database check?  Would you feel best knowing that his/her previous place of employment has been verified?  Is a social security search/trace going overboard? 

First of all, congratulations on asking yourself these very tough questions.  Many employers don’t even take these thoughts into consideration until it’s too late and a problem has arisen.  So you’re one step ahead of your competitors.

Next, know that there are fast, easy ways to determine what kinds of background screening solutions you need for each of the positions in your company.  Whether you have a staff of five or a team of 200, you can find your answers efficiently at VerifyProtect’s simple evaluation tool.  Just answer the prompts and you’ll soon receive suggestions on which kind of background checks would be useful for your circumstances.

For instance, for a professional outside sales representative’s role, VerifyProtect’s tool recommends the following screenings at a minimum:

  • Social Security Search/Trace
  • Multi-State Criminal Database Search
  • Previous Employer Verification

Other items that are recommended include:

  • Statewide and County Criminal Records
  • Standard Driver Motor Vehicle Report
  • Personal Reference Verification

 No fuss, no muss, and answers are available at the touch of a keypad.  Now that’s a good use of five minutes!  Try the VerifyProtect tool today!

Employment and Education Verification Made Simpler

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You’ve interviewed a couple of “ideal” candidates for your job opening.  But before you “pop the question”, as it were, you have to conduct some background checks.  Namely, you need to address your potential new-hires’ previous employment and/or education history.

Sounds easy, right?  Yet it’s not as cut-and-dry as it seems.  First of all, employers and institutes of education do not always get back to you in a timely fashion; thus, if you have other responsibilities, you could spend days hunting them down.  Secondly, do you know what to ask when you finally get your target audience on the telephone?  This can be tricky, even for the savviest of business pros, as there is a right… and a wrong… way to verify someone’s employment or education.

To make your job enormously simpler, why not hire a third party to conduct your employment verification and/or education verification screenings on your organization’s behalf?  That way, you won’t be spending your time focusing on a duty that might be better outsourced.  Even small to medium sized companies can benefit tremendously from releasing themselves from this (sometimes arduous) assignment.

Of course, you might be tempted to just skip the employment or education verification for new hires.  (You’d be surprised how often this is done!)  However, if you seriously want to build a solid team, this isn’t the place to cut corners.  Instead, turn it over to a trusted partner and work on what you do best — growing your company.