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Hiring an executive? One in seven is lying to
you
Bankrate.com
If you're a small-business owner, you already
know that each of your hiring decisions is crucial -- none more
so than your choices for managers. Here's one more reason to check
the credentials of your job applicants: A lot of them are lying
to you.
The Liars Index, a semiannual survey conducted
by Jude M. Werra & Associates, a Wisconsin-based executive search
firm, found that about one in every seven executive candidates lie
about their credentials.
Resume puffery can take many forms, but the
most common is the claim of a degree that was not earned -- 35.9
percent of the liars made that claim.
"Many are regularly surprised to find that the
easiest credential to verify is so commonly puffed or commonly claimed,"
company president Jude Werra says. "Particularly today, when the
shortage of executive candidates has caused employers to loosen
specifications, we wonder why applicants feel it is necessary to
inflate their educational records."
The irony is that companies are often willing
to accept a candidate without a degree -- but a liar? Never.
"The concern is that if people will lie about
their major course of studies or graduation dates, what else will
they lie about on the job?," Werra says.
The semiannual survey calculates the number
of liars by dividing the total number of people who misrepresent
their educational credentials by the total number of resumes checked.
In the five years that Werra has been creating the Liars Index,
it has ranged from a low of 7.8 percent in the second half of 1998
to an all-time high of 23.3 percent -- a mark reached in the first
half of 2000.
Are you thoroughly checking the credentials
of your job candidates?
-- Posted:
Jan. 17, 2001
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