Welcome to the November 2, 2005 issue of The Total View

Published by Success Performance Solutions, Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Visit our Human Resources Blog and Perfect Labor Storm Blog where we can post daily (and more often) human resource updates, news, and Perfect Labor Storm facts. 

What's Inside:

1.  Resume Lies Leave a Paper Tale

It takes copy with punch to commandeer the space given to current hard news such as Hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq, and skyrocketing fuel costs. So when a human resource issue makes front-page, above-the-fold news the story reaches out and grabs you.

Resignations and terminations occur so often today you hardly expect to read about them in the newspaper, much less as headline copy. What gives this normally second-page, business section story such prominence? It's a matter of degrees, so to speak.

Gary isn't the man we thought we hired
Take Gary, a county human resources chief officer, as one example of a hiring decision gone bad. Michael Brown, the ex-FEMA director, is another example. Both men, who garnered their jobs based on the right credentials, failed to withstand public scrutiny of their resumes after their performance became suspect.

Poor job performance isn't always the issue - at least right away. According to his boss, President Bush, Brown was doing "a heck of a job" right up until the time he was tested by Hurricane Katrina. Even after Gary resigned managers and co-workers defended him as talented and hardworking. The county commissioners recommended a $10,000 raise for Gary a few months earlier. What's up with these two? How did they become the poster children for the "failed hires club?"

Both men were unmasked when a disgruntled public questioned their credentials. An overdue resume fact-check showed each man was not as he presented himself to be. No one expects experience and education to eliminate missteps, but organizations and the public generally have no tolerance for liars. Resume alterations, exaggerations, and outright lies cost them the privilege of a second chance.

When trust is broken and the public discovers faked credentials all bets are off. Let's say that hell hath no fury like a manager or public scorned.

A little this, a little that
One thing is certain: Gary deserves a master's degree in the art of exaggeration. A Lancaster (PA) New Era investigation found Gary mis- or overstated his academic credentials. His resume listed a doctorate in administration, a master's degree in decision-making and ethics, and a bachelor of science diploma in health science and psychology.

Here's the truth: The doctorate degree, granted by a non-accredited on-line school is in philosophy. He earned a diploma certificate from Marine Corps University and a master's degree in theology. His bachelor of science degree is in speech and hearing science.

Gary pushed the envelope even more by describing his work and management experience. His resume listed background as an assistant superintendent He claimed to have supervised 500 staff members. His leadership credentials included a stint as city council president.

Again, the truth: Gary was a substitute teacher. His work as "assistant superintendent" was as an unpaid intern. His supervised approximately 100 people and, when asked, no one at the city council could recall knowing Gary.

Similarly, Michael Brown claimed he was director of a nursing facility but the nursing home administrator told Time magazine Brown was "not a person that anyone here is familiar with." He offered his oversight of an emergence services division as proof of experience but in fact, he was only an assistant to a city manager.

Are Gary and Brown isolated cases? Hardly. Estimates indicate 10 percent to 30 percent of job seekers fib or flat-out lie on their resumes. In 2004, the outplacement firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, reviewed 249,000 resumes and found 52 percent had discrepancies.

Where do the lies begin?
Most often, executive job seekers have the nerve to claim an advanced degree from an educational institution they've never set foot in. This lie is so pervasive that Jude Werra, president of an executive search firm, began compiling a "Liars' Index" ten years ago.

To compile the Liars' Index, Werra divides the number of people who have misrepresented their education on a resume by the total number of people whose education his company has checked. During the first six month of his year, the index was 10.73 percent, down slightly from 11.88 percent during the preceding six-month period. The average over the past two years is 17.33percent, with the index going as high as 23.3 percent.

In addition to beefing up education and job experience, job seekers bank on inflated accomplishments and awards to gain a new position. Take Michael Brown who listed "Outstanding Political Science Professor, Central State University" as one of his accomplishments. A director of university relations at the school said Brown "wasn't a professor here, he was only a student here."
And that's not all. Also making it in the top five of little white resume lies, job seekers fudge their compensation and reasons for leaving, too.

Does everyone who lies get disqualified or fired?
It depends. A whopping 94.6 percent of Werra's survey respondents would pass over a candidate who falsified a degree. Approximately eighty percent of respondents disqualify candidates who falsify job assignments and titles. Werra found greater tolerance for lesser offenses with 41 percent of respondents forgoing candidates who falsified dates of employment; the remaining 59 percent would give a candidate a chance to explain. Claims of inflated results would be a total turnoff for 35.7percent of respondents; 21.4 percent would categorically disqualify someone who omitted an employer from a resume.

Why is this happening?
The Internet makes earning advanced education degrees, whether legitimate or fake, a relatively easy process. A global and mobile society means workers move smoothly from east to west and north to south, and to other countries, almost at whim. Downsizings, mergers, and a migration of managers from one company to another leave a void in human resources' staff ability to verify references. Caution about lawsuits translates into a reluctance to give any meaningful information about ex-employees. Overwhelming managerial workloads forces many hiring managers to accept a resume at face value and a job seeker at his word.

Two employers learned the hard way: what you see isn't always what you get.

2. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts # 467 to # 468

Don't miss day-to-day updates on Perfect Labor Storm. Save the Perfect Labor Storm blog to your favorites.

Fact #467: The average "cost-to-hire" and "time-to-fill" were $7,123 and 37 days, respectively. The number goes up exponentially when recruiting and hiring knowledge workers. (Source: 2005 SHRM Human Capital Benchmarking Study)

Fact #468:  If you come from a family earning over $96,000 a year, your odds of getting a bachelor's degree by age 24 are 1 in 2. If you come from a family earning under $36,000, it's 1 in 17.

(Source: Time, October 24, 2005

Don't be caught in storm without all the facts. "The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book: Why Worker Shortages Won't Go Away" is a must-read leading edge forecast that predicts workforce trends for decades to come. Order your copy today - Only $7.95.

3. Check Backgrounds before you hire

If, like Pinocchio's nose, each lie a candidate told on his/her resume or during the interview became immediately apparent, business owners could easily weed out employees who cheat and deceive. Because it's not always that easy, how can employers like you tell if an employee is lying about their work experience, criminal background, and education?

Our Background Checks Services include:

• Employment Verification
• Criminal Records Search
• Civil Records Search
• Workers Comp Search
• SSN Verification
• Credit Reports
• DMV Reports
• Bankruptcy Search
• Degree Verification
• Professional License Verification
• Drug Screening

Learn more about Background Checks

4. The Manager's Guide to Interviewing and Hiring Top Performers

Today's tight labor market is forcing organizations to maximize the time they spend attracting and keeping top performers. Organizations that can attract, inspire, and retain top performers are in the position to beat out their competition. This is true both in market share and being able to draw outstanding employees.

This book is for individuals with training responsibilities who are looking for tools to help their managers, supervisors, and/or team leaders interview, hire, and retain top performers. If you or someone in your hiring system has limited experience in interviewing and hiring, this book will help you and your organization to be more proficient in hiring practices.

Includes over a dozen job aid templates for recruiting, hiring, and retaining top performers.

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5.  Manager's Pocket Guide to Recruiting the Workforce of the Future

In today's downsized, restructured, and reengineered workplace, there is a tremendous pressure to recruit high-quality people in order to get more work and better work doen with fewer people. Through best practice, worksheets, and checklists, Recruiting the Workforce of the Future will show you how to develop and implement effective hiring solutions for today's workplace.

Employers should no longer recruit for the long term, but to get the job done today, tomorrow and next week. Give your organization the advantage in quickly and effectively recruiting the talent you need.

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