Nasty tactics offered to job seekers that employers should know about

  • Yves Lermusi
  • 3 MIN READ
    

Employers, this is a warning: some job seekers use nasty tactics... This short article will show you what some job seekers do and how you can avoid being fooled.

We are familiar with the fact that people are bending the truth on their resumes, as seen in a recent in-depth study: The results from a survey of 17,368 applicants showed that about 1/3 of people embellish the truth. Some people simply stretch the truth, while others actually outright lie.

 The best way recruiters and employers can be armed to uncover dishonesty is to check the facts. If someone is claiming to be able to speak Spanish, you can easily verify with a Spanish speaker. To the same extent, any specific technical skill one claims to have can be assessed during an interview or a test.
 
The difficulty arises when you try to assess true performance in past achievements, or any other fact that cannot be verified with the candidate alone. For instance, the level of sales achieved in the last sales job, the skills in organization and follow-through of a manager, or even something as simple as the last company where the candidate worked.
 
To verify data, the recruiting process relies on third-party checks. Typically, the checks can be factual (employment verification, academic verification) or performance-based (reference check). In fact,  when conducted correctly, reference checks are not only the most accurate way to assess candidate quality, but are key to avoiding a low performer you don't want to hire.
 
But what most employers don’t know is the nastiest of tricks I have ever seen: a professional service to falsify your employment history and act as a fake reference! You read that correctly,  there are companies that specialize in providing bogus work histories and associated performance.
 
Here are some claims one of those websites makes:

  • You choose your career history!
  • You pick your start and end date!
  • You choose your salary!
  • We provide a real company, just for you!
  • We provide a real address for that company!
  • We provide a real website for that company!
  • We provide a real "800" phone number!
  • We will have our operators standing by!
  • We will e-mail you every time someone calls!
So how do you avoid getting tricked by fake references generated by an unscrupulous company?
 
Welcome to Checkster. Our reference check process includes a 12-step fraud alert system, that  uncovers, on average, 4% of candidates being deceitful. Fortune 500 companies across the globe use Checkster to ensure their hires are high quality and honest. If you want to learn more about what we do and how we protect you against such deceitful practices, feel free to schedule a free, customized demo here.