In the years since 9-11 the percentage of American businesses conducting pre-employment background checks on applicants has increased significantly. Employers have had to learn that many job seekers know how to gloss over their past to make themselves more appealing to hiring managers and recruiters. Although the chances that an applicant is a would-be terrorist or an extremely violent criminal are slim, employers have found that looking into a person’s history before offering them the job can weed out the untruthful and make the workplace safer.

According to some experts, as many as 40 percent of Americans have been caught either stretching the truth or straight out lying on job applicants. Statistics show that the lies discovered during the course of a pre-employment background check usually fall into one of the following categories:

• Education: In today’s competitive job market, many applicants have found that it is often harder to find employment without a degree. Because of this, there has been a rise in the number of individuals falsifying their academic records. This can be as drastic as claiming to have a degree or certificate that one does not or tweaking one’s GPA. With many employers now looking for workers who are proficient in Spanish and other foreign languages, there has also been noticeable jump in the number of individuals inaccurately claiming that they are able to successfully communicate with non-English speakers.

• Dates: Hoping to make their certifications more relevant in a job market that requires many workers to remain up-to-date on the newest technology, some applicants are now filling out pre-employment forms to say that they received education, training and experience more recently than they have. Since the truth about such information is easily obtained during a background check, these individuals usually end up continuing to claim unemployment benefits when an employer might not have minded slightly dated training had they been honest.

• Work History: More applicants lie on this section that any other part of their resumes. Some individuals make false claims about where they have worked, while others lie about their salary, achievements and even jobs titles. If an employer does not conduct a background check, these individuals often find themselves overwhelmed with responsibilities they lack to experience to live up to.

Employers who conduct background checks save themselves from losing money on workers who can’t possibly provide what they have claimed and save themselves from the lawsuits that employing the wrong person can result in. Because of this, the percentage of businesses that require proof of an individuals skills before offering them a job will also continue to increase. Although taking these precautions will help to safe-guard one’s office, employers should remember that no background check is flawless.

Labels: Background Checks