The Details Matter

If you get a job interview and do well, you can pretty much count on the organization doing a background check on you before you are offered a job, or if they do offer a position, that they will make it contingent on you passing the background check. Organizations today are more selective than ever before because we are in a very strong buyer's market. That means that while the job market is improving, there are still more good people looking for great jobs than there are great jobs that need top people. Companies can afford to be choosy, and they are.

In my recruiting business I have seen several types of intentional deception on the part of job seekers and a few instances in which no deception was intended but the candidate was disqualified on the because the hiring company did not view a particular candidate's experience as she described it.

The most common attempts at deception are when candidates try to cover up gaps in employment by falsely claiming that they worked at a particular job right up to the time when they took another one. Many candidates try to hide gaps of months or even years by claiming that they were working when they actually were not employed. In almost all cases, this attempt to cover up the employment gaps is found out in the background check. When that happens, the job offer is rescinded. For most companies, if they find out that you made false representations on your resume or employment application, it is grounds for termination even if you have already started working and are doing an excellent job.

Another common attempt to deceive is to claim educational credentials that the candidate has not actually earned. I have been amazed at some of the excuses and justifications that candidates have used when they are caught (as they always are) in this deception. Some have claimed that they had more than enough hours to graduate but that some of the hours were in different fields when they changed majors and they just had not gotten around to taking that missing English course yet. Others have claimed that they learned the necessary material on their own through home study or online courses and that they feel the knowledge they gained is equivalent to that of someone who has actually earned the degree. Either way, the result is the same. The candidate is eliminated from consideration or terminated when the deception is uncovered...and the deception is always uncovered.

The most brazen attempt at deception I have encountered was from a young (27) candidate who told me up front that he had made a big mistake several years earlier and received a DUI. He followed that by saying he had definitely learned the error of his ways and that it would never happen again. I took him at his word and gave that explanation to my client. They offered him the job, contingent on passing the background check. When the results came back, we learned that he did indeed have a DUI...along with three others over a five year period. In many states that kind of record is a one-way ticket to a cell as a state jail felony. Needless to say, the offer of employment was rescinded.

One candidate had accepted the job offer and was due to start in three days when she got a call from the company stating that they were withdrawing the offer of employment because of a discrepancy on her employment application. She had claimed that she worked for a particular company when in fact she was a contractor rather than an employee. In this case, the young woman had applied for the job at the previous company, interviewed at the company, and was offered the job by the company. When they offered her the job, they told her that in her particular position (along with many others within the organization), they were at their limit on company employees so they were going to "payroll" her through a temp agency. It made no difference to her since she still had the company benefits and her compensation was deposited directly into her bank account. She never thought about it again. When she and several others were laid off a year and a half later, she listed this company as her previous employer on her resume. That is where she showed up every day and did her job...very well, according to her reviews. Nevertheless, she was shocked when the new company told her that they were withdrawing the offer of employment based on her "attempt to deceive." Deception was certainly not her intent, but it was her error and it cost her dearly. One might think that the skills and experience she gained and displayed in that job would be the important points, but companies today do not overlook anything.

My point? Make sure your information is accurate and truthful. It will come back to haunt you if it is not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.