It would be great if there were a foolproof way to identify “self-graduators” just by looking at someone or their resume.  Unfortunately, that is not possible.  A “self-graduator” is a person who presents himself or herself as having degrees or certificates that he or she has not earned.  In other words, they have “graduated” themselves from a school without actually graduating.  They also have a tendency to be very creative with the schools they choose as their alumnus.

Many times “self-graduators” choose Ivy League or prestigious schools as a ploy used to throw potential employers off.  They think that employers will not question a high level of education or a prestigious school on a resume.  Sadly enough, some employers won’t question a resume, especially if the job candidate interviews well and has some verifiable references from past employers.

Many employers will not question the education if the applicant has verifiable employment references.  These employers assume the job candidate must have the credentials listed on the resume to have worked in the previous positions.  These employers overlook the fact that maybe no one ever verified the educational background of the candidate.  Therefore, this type of job seeker may continue to advance in his or her career as a result of lying on resumes and job applications.

One of the best ways to identify a “self-graduator” is to conduct a pre-employment background screen on all job applicants, regardless of the position a company is recruiting for.  An employment screening firm has the resources and experience to reveal “self-graduators”.

Infamous self-graduators

Resume padding is a very common practice.  Here are some examples of infamous “self-graduators”:

1. George O’Leary, ex Notre-Dame football coach

In 2001, O’Leary divulged his lies about his academic and athletic backgrounds.  Mr. O’Leary claimed a master’s degree in education from New York University.  He also claimed to have played college football and earned three letters.  Mr. O’Leary was a student at NYU, but did not earn a degree.  He did play football but he never earned a letter, let alone play in a game.

1. Marilee Jones, admissions dean for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Jones fudged her credentials, claiming to be a scientist with degrees in biology from Rennselaar Polytechnic Institute and the Albany Medical College.  She also claimed to have a doctorate degree.  In a statement Jones said, “I did not have the courage to correct my resume when I applied for my current job or at any time since.”

These are somewhat docile examples of employees who practice resume padding.  Imagine hiring an applicant with a bogus medical degree without proper verification.  The consequences for that type of dishonesty can be devastating to a business and to patients.

The consequences of hiring a self-graduator

When an employer hires a person at face value, they are not practicing due diligence.  In business “due diligence” is the effort made by an employer to avoid harm to employees and associates.  An employer has the responsibility of due diligence for its employees.

Among the consequences are lawsuits involving harm due to negligent hiring and costs associated with replacing employees who “self-graduate”.

How to avoid a self- graduator

Employers should not hire a candidate based on just a resume and a good job interview.  The information on a resume or job application needs to be verified prior to making a job offer.  At the very least, an employer should only make a job offer pending verification of the information the job applicant has supplied on his or her resume and application.  Due to the limitations of a human resource department or a small business owner, this is best left to a professional employment-screening firm.

What is a fake diploma?

Fake diplomas come from “diploma mills”. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary defines a diploma mill as, “An institution of higher education operating without supervision of a state or professional agency and granting diplomas which are either fraudulent or, because of the lack of proper standards, worthless.”

Identifying a fake diploma

The reality is that 43% of job applicants lie on their resume′ in one form or another. One of the biggest lies on a resume or job application is a fake education. This can be presented by false claims of graduating from a school by supplying fake diplomas from diploma mills. Regardless of the how the fake education is presented, it is fraudulent and should be of great concern to employers.

The best way to stop this type of unethical behavior by applicants is to conduct an employment background screening prior to hire. Hiring a pre-employment firm such as Accu-Screen.com. will help uncover and identify fake degrees and bogus claims of an education. Accu-Screen.com has the resources, experience and skills to verify legitimate schools versus diploma mill degrees.

The market for fake diplomas

Employers need to be aware that the market for fake diplomas is very lucrative and very easy to set up and get away with. Through the ease of the Internet, diploma mills and “phony” diploma companies can provide low cost, good quality diplomas. Even if the government steps in to stop them, they are up and running on the Internet the very next day. Unethical job applicants are more than happy to take full advantage of the ease of obtaining a diploma through a diploma mill or a “novelty diploma” company. These companies make it very easy to get a fake education and diploma for a relatively low price. Some fake “schools” and novelty companies can provide bogus transcripts for an extra fee.

Why employees use fake diplomas

Employees use fake degrees because it is easy and the job market can be very competitive. Even a position does not require a degree, a fake degree will be used to “get a leg up” on the competition.

The consequences of hiring fake graduates

The consequences that can arise out of hiring candidates with fake degrees are financial and physical damages. Employees who receive their degrees from diploma mills are not properly trained. They are more likely to make mistakes on the job that can result in a lawsuit or financial loss for a business. This is in addition to physical harm they can cause fellow employees and the public.

Making sure you avoid the “diploma mill” graduates

What it comes down to is that lazy and lying job applicants will use diploma mills to “earn” their degree. Employers can’t keep job applicants from buying their education, but they can take action to avoid hiring them. By conducting a professional background screening, including an educational records search, many inconsistencies can be discovered and problem employees averted.

Liars, con artists, and employment scammers are about to have their cover blown in a live webinar hosted by professional background screening expert Kevin Connell. In this free interactive webinar, Connell will share real stories of outrageous resume lies and reveal insider secrets of employment scam artists.

TAMPA FL — Today’s most prosperous liars, con artists, employment scammers, and the fraudulent websites that aid and abed them are about to have their cover blown in a live webinar hosted by professional background screening expert Kevin Connell.

In this free interactive webinar, Connell will share real stories of outrageous resume lies and reveal insider secrets of employment scam artists. Actual names of websites that help con men and scam artists achieve their goal of robbing employers of millions of dollars and trade secrets will be revealed.

“This webinar is a ‘must’ for anyone involved in the hiring, recruiting or staffing of new employees. Have no dissolutions — there are con artists and scammers working the hiring system to rob businesses blind. Knowing what to look for is essential to avoid employment scams and to protect the precious assets of the business,” said Connell.

According to Connell, professional con artists aren’t the only ones lying on resumes and job applications to try to weasel their way into companies.

“When the economy recedes, job applicants tend to lie more. 43% of the job applicants that we do a background check on come back with a discrepancy,” said Connell.

These resume lies, often centered on inflating credentials or hiding criminal history, can chip away at the integrity of a company. The webinar will show employers exactly how to spot these resume lies that can allow unqualified and potentially dangerous people access to the organization.

The webinar will take place on Thursday, September 9th 2010 at 11am Eastern Standard Time.

Attendees can register for the free webinar online at:
http://www.accuscreen.com/media/webinars.

After registering, participants will receive a link to view the live webinar online. Space is limited. Those interested are encouraged to register quickly to reserve their space.

As the economy slides closer to recession and the job market tightens, the inclination might be to inflate your credentials and your work experience in order to impress potential employers. If you’re feeling the pressure to pump up your profile, you’re not alone. Research shows when times get tough jobseekers are more inclined to exaggerate—or even outright lie.

RESUME FALSIFICATION
Accu-Screen, a leading employment background screening company that has been keeping records on resume falsification for 14 years, has noticed spikes correlate with economic downturns and weak labor markets. Currently, Accu-Screen is seeing an increase across the board of the most common incidences of lying on resumes.

The top seven resume lies, according to firm data, are:

• Job title (rank)
• Dates of employment
• Inflated salary
• Criminal records
• Education (e.g., bogus degrees or degrees from diploma mills)
• Professional license
• “Ghost” company (self-owned business)

STRETCHING THE TRUTH
Exactly how do jobseekers enhance their experience? Consider job titles as an example. There’s a tendency toward what Accu-Screen calls self-promotion.

In this case, self-promotion isn’t about marketing yourself, which is generally viewed as positive. Instead, self-promotion means something altogether different, as in bestowing bigger and better—and unearned—job titles.

WHAT’S THE REASONING BEHIND JOB TITLE LIES?
Jobseekers typically inflate job titles in order to apply for more senior positions, with the thought that those positions offer more prestige and higher salaries. However, job titles aren’t only about status and income, at least from the employer side. Employers equate job titles with experience, skills, and, in some instances, credentials.

THINK IT DOESN’T MATTER ALL THAT MUCH?
Accu-Screen shares a well-publicized story, reported in The New York Times this summer, of a man who posed as a doctor and caused brain damage to a patient while administering anesthetic. It’s an extreme example, to be sure, but the potential for error exists in any job for which a person isn’t qualified.

Education is another area where people frequently lie. Jobseekers may claim to have gone to a school, usually a top-notch university, they never attended. In other instances, they are self-graduators; that is, they attended a particular school but never completed the degree requirements and nevertheless claim they have a degree.

Kevin Connell, CEO and founder of Accu-Screen, finds this lie particularly ironic because not all jobs require college degrees. “The message to job applicants is to, number one, find out what the position requires,” Connell says.

THE QUESTION HE RECOMMENDS ASKING IS: DOES IT NEED A DEGREE?
Even if a position requires a college degree and the jobseeker lacks the credential, Connell advises against falsification. He has seen many job offers rescinded—not for lack of college degrees, but because the applicants lied.

TEMPTED TO INFLATE
It’s very easy for companies to check employment history, educational background, and criminal history. What’s more, employers let jobseekers know they will be performing these background checks www.Check4Jobs.com Business Manager Claire Brown confirms that today a majority of employers perform background checks, and that notification is standard procedure.

STILL, MANY JOBSEEKERS ARE DISHONEST.
In fact, Accu-Screen finds resume falsification is a bigger problem than has been previously reported. According to the company’s data, 43 percent of all resumes and job applications contain falsifications. And it’s not only desperate jobseekers who fabricate experience and credentials. “I’ve seen applicants lie when they don’t have to,” Connell says.

WHY WOULD JOBSEEKERS DO THIS?
The intent is to set themselves apart from other applicants, says Connell. In addition, many jobseekers are able to rationalize the behavior. In the case of a college degree, for example, they tell themselves they plan to go back to school and graduate. Nevertheless, good intentions are not accomplishments. Resume falsifications are dishonest, Connell says, and grounds for disqualification.

THE FEAR FACTOR
Lying on a resume or job application carries risk. The most obvious one is that the lie will be uncovered and the jobseeker won’t be hired; or, if already hired, the employee will be dismissed.

But there’s another potential pitfall to being dishonest. Falsifying education, experience or skills means the person might not have what it takes to do the job.

Connell gives the example of customer service representatives. “I see people put themselves down as customer service manager or vice president of customer service,” he says. “If somebody says they’re a manager, there’s a belief [on the part of employers] they’ve gone through management training.”

It may seem harmless enough, but what happens if there’s a situation on the job that requires management expertise, like a sexual harassment charge? “If you don’t have training, you’re in a dangerous position,” Connell says, indicating there may be personal liability.

A DIFFERENT APPROACH
Instead of falsifying credentials, Connell recommends that jobseekers try to stand out in other ways to separate themselves from the competition. He says his company is hiring people right now, and he tells of how one applicant took the time to mail a handwritten thank-you note. “That’s the type of thing to separate yourself,” Connell says. “Do a little thing like that to make yourself stand out.”

He also recommends choosing resume writing services with caution, indicating there are a lot of bad ones out there.Regardless of who prepares the resume, he advises a jobseeker to be actively involved in the process. “Look at your resume and really scrutinize it,” Connell says.
Proofread for errors and content, but also determine what the document is saying. Put yourself in the employer’s position as you’re doing this. You want to make sure you’re zoning in with laser-target precision on the job you want, Connell says.

Which raises a major, often overlooked point with regard to resume falsification. Jobseekers, rather than lie about your experience and credentials, why not go after a job for which you’re actually qualified? What’s more, why not follow your passion?

If this means working your way up while finishing your education, so be it. Showing pursuit of education on a resume can be very attractive to a potential employer, and the hiring organization may even cover the cost of your education.

Connell recommends looking for a job in the most honest and forthright manner possible, and today this doesn’t only mean presenting yourself via resume or job application.

KEEPING IT HONEST
Jobseekers now have online identities, thanks to business and social networking sites like LinkedIn, MySpace, and Facebook. Although some of these sites are designed to connect with friends, Connell advises jobseekers to still examine what they’re saying about themselves. “Up to two-thirds of hiring managers have googled applicants, and they’re looking at MySpace pages,” he says.

This brings up another potential stumbling block to employment. A hiring manager may find someone else with the same name and similar credentials online and, if that person’s background is questionable, disqualify you. Or, as Connell points out, in rare instances, someone may have created a fake profile of you online. A British businessman was recently the victim of a fake Facebook page that threatened his reputation. He ultimately sued for libel and won.

In other words, it’s not only the lies jobseekers tell about themselves that can hinder a job search. Due diligence with regard to potentially false associations and accusations is also required. The message for jobseekers, then, comes down to this: Your reputation is yours to control.

AND THAT JOB OPPORTUNITY YOU SEEK?
IT’S YOURS TO WIN—OR LOSE.

Article taken from http://www.onrec.com/news/embellishing_your_work_experience