I love staffing software, but I also know its limits. It can’t help much with a common problem faced by all recruiters and staffing professionals: resume padding.

In 2006, ResumeDoctor.com, a resume writing service, did an internal study and found that 42 percent of resumes contained at least one significant inaccuracy. I can’t imagine that the percentage is much lower now, especially when so many people are desperate for a job. (In 2006, the unemployment rate hovered just under five percent; the rate was 8.8 percent in March 2011.)

When they are discovered –and they usually are – padded resumes hurt their owners, but they also hurt the staffing agency or recruiter that are responsible for forwarding them. After all, can you think of a quicker way to undermine your own credibility than to pass on applicant information that is faulty?

So what can be done? Nothing short of old-fashioned vigilance will do: checking dates, background checks, calling references, confirming degrees, and so on.

The following might help, however. It’s a list of the five most common resume lies. If you don’t know where to be vigilant, start here:

• Dates of Employment. Candidates don’t want anyone to know that they were jobless for a period of time. “Ghost companies” – which have, inevitably, gone out of business – are also common fillers of employment gaps.
• Job Title. “Assistant Cashier Manager” sounds better than “Cashier,” doesn’t it? It’s a white lie, but a lie nonetheless.
• Credentials. This includes degrees, professional certifications, and continuing education credits. “Ghost institutions” are just as common as ghost companies. The classic case happened in 2001, when it was discovered that George O’Leary, the new Notre Dame football coach, had lied about having an M.A. and had listed “NYU-Stony Brook University,” a non-existent institution, as the grantor of the degree. O’Leary resigned immediately from his dream job.
• Criminal Record. It’s easy to understand why someone would lie about a criminal past. But since criminal records are public, it’s also easy to check.
• Salary. Listing a salary higher than what was actually earned seems safe because it’s presumed that no one will actually ask about it – or, if they do, that the former company will refuse to answer. Neither is true, however. Companies may not divulge an actual salary of a former employee, but they are generally comfortable saying something like, “He made between $50K and $55K.”

If you have stories about other resume lies you’ve seen, please pass them on via the comment link below. If I get enough good stories, I’ll write another blog post about this important topic.

And as always, please contact us for answers to your staffing solutions questions.