from theladders.com
Lies My Candidates Told Me
By Sharon L. Florentine
It's human nature to tell a little white lie now and then in the name of courtesy or to avoid bruised egos and hurt feelings. But recruiters are unforgiving when the lies come from a candidate.
A dishonest candidate can damage your reputation and ruin client relationships. Ideally, you catch them yourself either by instinct or background check. But fibbing candidates can make you pull out your hair. They can also make you laugh.
We asked recruiters to share some of the biggest whoppers they've been told by candidates.
Cut/Paste/Lie
"A few recessions ago, one of my clients knew that her department was being downsized, so she sent a number of her employees to me to consult," said Lynn Hazan, president of Lynn Hazan and Associates, Chicago. "I interviewed this woman, and she seemed great; her resume looked good, but her supervisor called me almost immediately after the interview and said, ‘I'm so sorry to tell you this, but the candidate you just interviewed lied.'"
"This was back in the pre-Internet days, and the company had employees sharing computer workstations. This candidate had literally cut and pasted a colleague's resume into her resume; verbatim; word-for-word; all his experiences and jobs and skills. And when I called her and said, ‘I am unable to represent you because you lied on your resume,' her response was, ‘Well, doesn't everybody lie on their resume?'"
Accounting error
"A candidate once told me that he was earning $310,000 at his previous position and was interviewing for a role that would pay $370,000," said Kevin Collins, director of financial recruiting for Koren Rogers in White Plains, N.Y. "When it was time to produce his pay stubs, it turned out he was earning only $180,000. Needless to say, he was not hired."
Calling in … Dead?
"A candidate once claimed that someone in their family had died, so therefore they couldn't make a scheduled interview with one of our clients," said Kathleen Steffey, President of Naviga Business Services, an executive search firm specializing in sales professionals. "But then when we tried to reschedule, the candidate was nowhere to be found, and they became completely nonresponsive."
Magna cum liar
"One candidate was very, very close to being offered a job in the accounting department at a major client, and I was doing my final checks on his background, education, references," Hazan said. "When I called the university he'd listed on his resume to confirm his graduation date, the woman in the admissions office said, ‘Oh, he never graduated. He just took a few classes here and there.' He didn't get the job."
Little lie, big lie?
With all the technological tools available to recruiters, it's hard to believe candidates still try to get away with exaggerations, half-truths and lies by omission, Hazan said. One of the most common falsehoods candidates use is claiming they're still employed when they're not, she said.
"We still see candidates taking liberties with the dates of their employment; they'll say they worked at their previous position from ‘2005 — Present' when they aren't, in fact, still working there. It's just not acceptable! I just want to say to them, ‘It's OK to be unemployed. We understand. This is a recession!' You're not the first person, nor the last, without a job, but you have to be honest with me about your situation or I can't help you."
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