Some job hunters are fabricating new employment histories, specialised licenses and job references on their resumes.
The rise in résumé fraud can be traced to the rise in unemployment, coupled with tough competition in the labour market.
Resume fraud is a legal issue as to obtain a job and thereby monies using false or fraudulent information, is a crime and one can be charged under any number of Acts including the Crimes Act.
The sacking and police charges against former Myer executive, Andrew Flanagan, for alleged resume fraud, is a reminder that lying to get a job does not pay.
Some areas of resume fraud include:
- Stating false educational qualifications, such as citing unearned post graduate degrees
- Stretching employment dates to cover periods of unemployment
- Inflating past accomplishments, such as single handedly achieving a KPI when it was reached through a team effort
- Enhancing job titles and responsibilities, for example, by claiming one was a director when in truth, you were an office manager
- Providing fraudulent references by co-opting friends outside of the organisation, to give glowing work assessments
The Trade Practices Act effectively says that if a recruiter proposes a ‘dodgy candidate’ without conducting due diligence on their resume, then they too they may be involved in deceptive or misleading conduct.
As a professional resume writer, I occasionally see people trying to ‘gild the lily’, but I remind them that a resume is a legal document and fraud is treated harshly.
In the States there are even websites designed to aid occupational fraud by providing job seekers, for a fee, with a 1-800 number. When a prospective employer calls the number, they are provided with a glowing recommendation of the applicant.
A resume is a specialist form of career autobiography and marketing document. It shows not only what you have done but also indicates potential.
Employers are always looking for a “champion”. It’s the desire to believe the candidate – to think well of them and not conduct background checks – that is their undoing.
ICAC NSW
Résumé fraud is a costly problem but can be detected
Hiring staff who have engaged in résumé fraud can lead to further corrupt conduct, damage an organisation’s reputation and negatively affect other staff.
Employment screening is a simple approach that can prevent such applicants from being hired.
According to conservative estimates, 25% of people lie on their résumé and several high profile organisations have hired individuals for senior roles who have engaged in résumé fraud.
For instance, retailer Myer discovered that it had hired a general manager for strategic and business development (on a $400,000 salary package) who had an extensive history of résumé fraud, a criminal history and a string of terminations at previous companies.
Yahoo terminated the employment of the CEO after discovering that he had listed a false tertiary qualification.
Résumé fraud can have significant detrimental effects on organisations. In the Commission’s Operation Avocainvestigation, an engineer fabricated his employment history and used false references to obtain senior engineering positions at numerous regional councils.
One general manager commented that the cost of hiring him “far exceeded any benefit to the community”, as he was unable to perform his duties properly and adversely impacted the morale of other council employees.
Queensland Health faced severe financial and reputational consequences when it hired a person for a senior financial position who had committed résumé fraud and had a criminal history of fraud.
In addition to defrauding Queensland Health of $16.69 million, he took excessive leave, failed to adequately complete his duties, submitted poor quality work and bullied staff.
In many of these cases, simple and relatively low-cost employment screening checks would have prevented these organisations from hiring these individuals.
For example, in Operation Avoca, a simple web-based search would have revealed that the engineer claimed to have worked at a company before it had even existed.
In the Commission’s Operation Bosco investigation, an employee was able to use false academic qualifications (certified by a justice of the peace) for over 15 years to obtain a number of lucrative senior positions in the public and private sectors. A simple telephone call to the issuing institution would have uncovered this deception.
Employment screening checks can detect integrity-related issues in relation to potential employees even if they have not engaged in résumé fraud.
For instance, in the Commission’s Operation Sonet investigation, an employee was hired to perform the duties of an information and communications technology manager with a $150,000 delegation despite a known criminal history of fraud. This individual subsequently defrauded the agency of more than $1.7 million.
If the agency had properly considered his criminal history when hiring him, they could have prevented this fraud.