The incidence of fake resumes has escalated, and so has misrepresentation. Here’s a decoder on this worrying trend.
X’s resume was stellar. Updated courses, skill certifications, work experience at three Fortune 500 companies. He was the perfect candidate, and hired. A few months on, a power point presentation found his expertise lacking. Background calls by HR found that he had lied. He was fired.
Hired, then fired. In the Silicon Valley, there is a phrase, “fake it till you make it.” In web series Dropout, one witnesses this with now indicted former biotechnology entrepreneur and convicted fraudster, Elizabeth Holmes. However, in the real world, people are taking this quite literally by faking their resumes, even their interviews. Misinformation is clogging the staffing ecosystem, and it shocks even the most seasoned of employers.
One can argue that a highly competitive market, and the stress of getting a job in today’s layoff-rife environment might have prompted this trend. Yet it begs the question – where honesty lies in today’s work culture? Not very high, according to various surveys that say almost 78 percent to 80 percent candidates misrepresent themselves in resumes with the most common areas being experience, education, skills and duties.
News of an IT major sacking around 6 percent of its employees over failed background checks is just the tip of this “fake” iceberg. As online and hybrid work turns zoom calls into board rooms, this fracas is acerbated by the work from home culture. Thus, the need for background checks has catapulted.
Rachita Vyas, co-founder, Elance Group, a hiring firm says, “Fake CVs are a very common occurrence. Today, fake interviews where candidates lip sync are prevalent too. In fact, today, over 50 percent candidates shortlisted are refused by IT companies due to this misrepresentation.”
Recently, the UP Government was shocked to find that over 3,000 to 4,000 teachers enrolled in the State’s Basic Education Department had fake educational qualification certificates.
Anil Ethanur, co-founder, Xpheno – a specialist staffing company has decades of insight into recruitment practices, and chronicles this misrepresentation journey, “Incidence of misrepresentation and inflated resumes are an outcome of the hyperactive hiring that key hiring sectors engaged in 2021 and early 2022.”
With attrition on the high, he says, employers are desperate to hire to replace and expand. “Wage wars and offer trading are a daily occurrence. As employers and recruiters exponentially tilt wage scales, it was natural for candidates to exaggerate and pad up their profiles to squeeze more out of the negotiation.”
Dr Vimala Seshadri, leadership coach and facilitator observes that often people pad up resumes because a job is more important than what they are good at, “I say, it’s not about getting the job, but getting the right job. This makes them embellish resumes. My son just did an interview for a chef’s position at a five star, and he had no experience. He was scared, and asked, ‘Mum, what do I say?’ I told him to be honest, and brave. He got the position.”
The case of an engineer hired in the US by an IT major who was later found out to have fibbed his qualifications, has made firms vigilant. But it is a logistical nightmare. Ethanur feels that the anonymity of WFH, virtual hiring and onboarding has impacted the market, and added to this ease of misrepresentation.
“I have never lied on my CV, but the general outlook is to market yourself well. So, I might have exaggerated some of my KRAs,” says a techie on condition of anonymity.
Dr Seshadri offers another point of view – the lacuna of resumes as whetting tools, “Companies want to hire people who want to work. Thus, they start looking at basic details. But, often, they miss out on the person, their integrity quotient. They are too busy looking at basic metrics. That is why today, there is rampant quiet quitting, and quiet firing too.”
While the IT sector sees over 80 percent CV misrepresentation, and other sectors contribute 20 percent, the likelihood post-pandemic has increased the burden on the background checker… Thus, today, the norm is to hire a background check vendor or primary verification firm.
For candidates seeking employment, that sense of integrity and honesty is vital. “Genuine candidates miss out on opportunities due to such practices. To overcome it is difficult, but companies can be more cautious with checks, and candidates should be honest,” adds Vyas.
An HR manager at a hospitality firm says, “I see a red light on any unexplained gaps in employment. Irrational career moves and unusual titles.”
Ethanur adds, “The level, intensity and width of verification varies hugely based on the sensitivity of the role or project the talent is hired for. Often statutory and regulatory requirements of international clients necessitate a stringent BVG process. Beyond IT, there are other sensitive sectors like banking, aviation, healthcare, insurance, research, development, etc.”
Project manager Suma K took a two-year break from her corporate career. When sending out her CV for a role, she was advised to pad up the break with skill-getting, courses, etc. “I was told to sign up for online courses, to get certificates. I did, and I learnt so much.”
Courage over honesty
Dr Vimala Seshadri, leadership coach and facilitator
It’s your integrity that is important and the best definition for that is professor Brene Brown’s, ‘Courage over comfort.’ It’s not about being honest but being courageous.
The most common misrepresentations
Extension of job tenures, a distortion helps the candidate hide a gap in employment or a short stint that otherwise sticks out like a sore thumb on the resume.
Padding expertise on key skills, and tools is common and so is overstating and overrating oneself as an expert.
Resumes peppered with keywords linked to hot skills.
Experience and education qualification often finds lacunas in what is written and what is the actual truth.
Words that are strict no-nos
Quick learner, raring to go, objective, goal-oriented, people person, etc
Employers, be warned
Watch out for common misrepresentations – industry exposure, role in a project, responsibilities managed, leading and managing teams, etc.
In tech, it’s common to see inflated narrations of a short exposure on small projects.
Ideally, when it comes to resumes, short stints represented as in-depth can be a quick study.
It is a good idea to do a tool test.
A subject matter expert interview can also lend insight.
Did you know
=Most HRs scan a resume in about six to seven seconds.
=Sending your resume between 6 am and 10 am in the first few days of a job posting can help.
A 2022 study of around 1,000 people showed that 36 percent admitted to lying on resumes while 93 percent said that they knew someone who had lied.
A 2020 survey of 400 hiring managers and 400 applicants found that 78 percent of applicants
lie on resumes.