Why You Should Always Check References

Think most resumés are honest? You need to read this.

Here are findings from surveys by Statistic Brain, a well-known US research organization.

• 78% of resumes are misleading
• 53% of job applications contain falsifications
• 70% of college students surveyed would lie to get a job they want.

It’s kind of obvious, but glowing references on a resume are worth nothing unless they are true.

Sad to say, this is not always the case. Equally sad to say, not every hirer or recruiter checks them thoroughly. Which leaves us with one more “sad”, the low chances of this candidate living up to the expectations you have built, but not confirmed.

A retained search recruiter can be expected to check references by virtue of the search process, which results in a short, recommended list to the client.

It’s possible that contingency searchers and hiring managers – both of whom tend to deal with a higher percentage of unknowns for a specific position – may be more rushed in the process and less painstaking in the verification.

It is also reasonable to suppose that embellishing a resume is more likely to occur at the starting end of the career curve than with more senior, mature candidates.

Although let’s not forget Scott Thompson, the CEO of Yahoo, who was forced to resign after only weeks in the job for faking a computer science degree.

Extra wife turned up.

Thompson’s gaffe is only topped by the CEO-to-be whose resume verification turned up a wife and two kids in California and another wife and two kids in Connecticut .

There’s an article on catching tall-tale-tellers in a recent issue of Workforce by Lara Walsh. Among her findings is a survey by CareerBuilder which suggests the recent economic downtown has reportedly led to an increase in embellishments.

Job recruiters are taking more time to review résumés, and the survey estimates the time spent on résumés is up 33% from last December.

You can read the full article here: http://www.workforce.com/articles/20813-to-tell-the-truth-tales-on-catching-tall-tales-on-rsums