Background checks root out job seekers' tall tales

You know who you are. The job hunter who littered his resume with untruths. Or the candidate who feigned a clean criminal record.

The temptation to lie while job-hunting might be strong given the tight economy. But liars beware: More companies are using background checks to vet job applicants. Telling the truth, however tawdry, can only help you get that job.

Take this example from Barry Nadell, president of InfoLink Screening Services in California: An InfoLink client, a hotel owner, did a background check on a potential hire, revealing a prior conviction for prostitution. She wasn't hired, but not because of her illegalities. She had lied on her job application.

Companies have good reason to distrust job applicants. Thirty percent to 40 percent of candidates fudge the truth, according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Remember University of Notre Dame football coach George O'Leary? He lost his job for lying on his resume about his academic and athletic background.

About 75 percent of businesses surveyed by the national outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. said they have been the victim of untruthful hires. The financial hit? About $7,000 for a salaried employee; $10,000 for a midlevel worker; and $40,000 to recruit a new senior executive, according to Recruiting Times.
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Companies, however, can't freely wander through a person's background. There are guidelines: Officials must get written permission from the applicant; they can use the information only if it specifically applies to the job; and they must give a copy of the report to the candidate if it prompts their dismissal. Did a potential hire, for example, once get convicted for assault - maybe decking a bar patron as a youth? Can't use it against him if he's applying for an engineering job.

What about an accounting candidate who declared bankruptcy? Feel free to reject that person. (Do you really want someone balancing your books who can't balance his or her own?)

Applicants must not lie about past indiscretions. But don't bring them up if you don't have to. "The first thing out of your mouth in an interview shouldn't be, 'I have bad credit,'" said Bob Banuski, president and founder of the Syracuse-based Amtek Human Resources Consultants, which has offices in Rochester.

At InfoLink, 38 percent of its searches in 2004 found problems in applicants' motor vehicle reports. An additional 23.3 percent lied about former employment. Eight percent tried to hide criminal convictions.

Businesses' fear that they will be held liable or lose money from bad hires has fueled growth in such services, Nadell added. From 1996 to 2003, the number of companies doing general background checks jumped from 66 percent to 82 percent, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.

Even InfoLink - a background checking company - isn't immune to fibbing job candidates. One such check revealed a warrant for a candidate's arrest. Another applicant lied about a burglary conviction.