Inaccurate or Exaggerated Resumes Can Lead to a Job Rejection or Worse

Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (KRTBN)
By By Emily Le Coz, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo, Miss.
Sunday, March 12, 2006 12:00 AM GMT

Mar. 12--Disgraced former RadioShack CEO David Edmondson isn't the only one to lie about college degrees on his resume; it seems that 14 percent of Americans have twisted the truth about educational attainment.

They've also lied about criminal history, former jobs, credit reports and just about anything else to make themselves appear more qualified than they are, according to InfoLink Screening Services, a national employment background checking firm.

The firm found that, of all its applicants last year,

-- 8.5 percent lied about criminal records

-- 41 percent lied about driving records

-- 4.8 about social security numbers

-- 3.3 about doing drugs

-- 41.2 about credit history

-- 36.5 about past employment

-- 14.1 about educational attainment

-- 7 percent about workers' compensation.

In an informal survey by the Daily Journal this month, one out of 10 people interviewed admitted to having lied on a resume.

Many fabricators get sniffed out before landing a job, thanks to rigorous background checks performed by most big companies. Others, like Edmondson, slip through the cracks until much later.

Sooner or later, though, most of them get caught, said Michelle Daniels, staffing director at The CPI Group, a staffing and human resources firm based in Columbus.

"Don't exaggerate" on a resume, Daniels said, "because it will catch up with you."

In Edmondson's case, his past caught up with him in February after a Texas newspaper discovered false information on his resume. The former RadioShack executive claimed to have two degrees from Pacific Coast Baptist College, which later changed its name to Heartland Baptist College. The school had no records of Edmondson, who before resigning later admitted the information was wrong.

Most people don't make as flagrant an exaggeration as Edmondson, said Daniels, who more frequently catches minor fibs -- like stretching the dates of previous employment positions or stating proficiency in languages or computer programs when knowledge of them is only marginal.

"We're encouraged to look our best on resumes," she said, "and a lot of times it looks good on paper, but it serves you much better in the long term to be honest."

While the bulk of the lies appear harmless in nature, a few big ones have hit the radar at The PACE Group, a Tupelo-based executive search firm that specializes in health care and economic development businesses.

"We have only had a few instances where something did not check out the way the person presented it to us," said John Lovorn, the firm's president and CEO. "Most of the issues have been in credit card debt. We had one person who had over $200,000 on his credit card bill. We have had one person who said he graduated from the University of Oklahoma, and we found out he never enrolled at the university."

A more recent case involved a woman who failed to mention a prior drug conviction. Lovorn discovered it during a background check and dropped the candidate from consideration.

Still, Lovorn is convinced that most people tell the truth. He estimated that only about 2 percent of his job applicants have lied -- far below the national average.

Who checks what?

But that doesn't stop him from doing background checks on everybody. How far and to what extent he searches, however, depends on the company for which his firm is hiring. Some want everything -- criminal, financial, educational, motor vehicle, professional. Others pick and choose from the list according to what meets their needs.

At BancorpSouth, screeners tailor their investigations depending on the position for which they are hiring. Upper-level management applicants get a thorough examination, while tellers and secretaries face less scrutiny, said W.O. Jones, human resources director.

But the financial giant doesn't do its own checks. It uses the WIN Job Center to screen non-management positions and has an executive search firm select candidates for the higher ranks.

WIN does not do any investigative searches, said office manager Bill Mims. That, he said, is up to the company to do once they accept a candidate screened by the job center.

BancorpSouth gives all new hires -- regardless of their position -- criminal and financial background checks.

"They want to make sure you don't have personal financial problems before you get around a lot of money or help people with their money," Jones said. "You can tell a lot about people by criminal and credit checks."