Do you know who you are hiring?
In today’s employment market, there are fewer qualified candidates applying for the jobs your company is trying to fill. Job candidates are very well aware of this. Having a smaller candidate pool will often encourage short cuts in verifying facts provided by an applicant.
There are many terms used to refer to the “white lies” appearing on a resume or application but whether you call it personal marketing, harmless exaggeration or just stretching the truth, it can be problematic if you don’t verify the provided information. One verification that is often overlooked is education.
Over time there have been many very public discoveries of education misrepresentation.
Laura Callahan, former Senior Director at the United State Department of Homeland Security falsified her education; Scott Thompson, former Chief Executive Officer of Yahoo lied about having a degree in accounting and computer science while actually only holding a degree in accounting; Steve Masiello, former Manhattan College basketball coach even lied about having a degree.
If a level of education is required for the position you are hiring for, or if your decision to hire someone is based all or in part on the basis of their declared education, be sure you verify that the information they have provided is factual and that the degree is from an accredited educational institute and not a diploma mill.
A small investment of time and/or money can mean the difference between winning and losing a negligent hiring/retention claim.
