Is Scott Thompson (recently ousted CEO of Yahoo!)  the only CEO or high-level executive ever to have embellished his resume?  Of course not.  He is, however, the latest to get caught.  Unfortunately, these falsifications and resulting dismissals happen more often than the honest job seekers, recruiters and employers out there would like to think.

Here are some of the more memorable high-profile fibs and firings:

2001- Sandra Baldwin lost her job as president of the US Olympic Committee after she was accused of having false academic information on her resume.

2001- George O’Leary resigned just five days after being hired as a football coach at Notre Dame, admitting that he lied about his academic and athletic backgrounds.

2005- David Edmondson, CEO of Radio Shack, resigned after controversy about his resume’s accuracy.

2007- Marilee Jones, dean of admissions at MIT, resigned after finally admitting that she had falsified her resume when she applied to work at MIT in the 70s.

2008- James DeHoniesto, chief information officer at Cabot Microelectronics Corporation, was let go after it was discovered that he did not have the bachelor’s degree he claimed to have earned.

The public attention of these cases (and so many others) apparently did little to thwart or warn the countless resume inflation artists out there; as the 2012 study below suggests, resume forgery is alive and well!  And, while the number of fraudulent resumes that gets public attention is relatively low, this study claims that more than half (53%) of resumes and applications are tainted with untruths.   Here are a few of the study’s* key findings:

• Resumes and job applications that contain falsifications 53 %
• College students surveyed who would lie on a resume to get a job they want 70 %
• Resumes that are misleading 78 %
• Resumes that state fraudulent degrees 21 %
• Show altered employment dates 29 %
• Have inflated salary claims 40 %
• Have inaccurate job descriptions 33 %
• Give falsified references 27 %

*These numbers were gathered by Accu-Screen, Inc., ADP, and published by The Society of Human Resource Managers (SHRM).

Another study by Marquet International, took a look at the most common areas lied about on the resume.  They found that most of the deception came in the forms of:

• Enhancing job titles
• Education exaggeration and degree fabrication
• Unexplained gaps and periods of “self-employment”
• Omitting past employment
• Faking credentials
• Fabricating reasons for leaving a previous job
• Providing fraudulent references
• Misrepresenting military record

These numbers don’t tell the stories of why resume fraud is such a problem, but I can take a guess.  I suppose there is an ever so slight chance that these things happen by accident.  Perhaps a typing error could turn a BA degree into an MA degree or a $40,000 salary to a $50,000.  But, sadly, the majority of these things happen with full intention.

Whether the candidate is too proud to admit past faults, too ashamed to look like a lesser candidate, or too desperate to risk another rejection, there is no moral gray area here.  No matter the case, it is better to be portrayed as and hired for who you actually are because eventually you’ll have to prove it!

OK, sure, college graduates have more than just a handful of cheap, mascot plastered t-shirts when they leave the hallowed halls of their respective colleges or universities.  They all will walk away with countless memories, a degree of some kind, debt up to their eyeballs and the hopes of a bright future.  But, where exactly are they walking away to?  Well, a 2011 study shows that a whopping 85% of them will end up back home!  (Thus, bringing a whole new meaning to the saying, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”)

Members of this “boomerang generation,” have been graduating and coming home to nest in their parents’ basements for years.  It’s not impossible for these grads to find jobs and move off to a studio apartment and financial freedom, but making the transition from college to full-time employment has been increasingly more difficult.  In fact, 53% of the class of 2012 will soon be considered either underemployed or unemployed—that’s the highest that percentage has been in the last 11 years.

Are these twenty-somethings to blame for ending up back where they started?  Perhaps.  Most likely it’s a combination of real-world jitters, a tough entry-level job market, and “the economy.”  Because I’m no psychoanalyst or economist, I’m focusing on culprit number two:  a tough entry-level job market.

When I graduated college, I found myself bouncing between seasonal jobs and internships (and, yes, a few relatives’ houses) before finally landing a “real” job.  Even though I had held a job nearly every day of my life since I turned 16, I was repeatedly denied entry-level positions because of a “lack of experience.”  Wrapping my head around this logic wasn’t easy.  How is one to gain said “experience” if one is never given the chance to gain it?  But, I digress.

The point is that I was not alone and my situation was far from unique.  (Remember, it was me and something like 85% of the others I’d graduated with.)  It wasn’t until several years and jobs later, that I came across OneDayOneJob.com.  This site was started by 2006 Cornell grad Willie Franzen who “quickly realized how frustrating the job search can be for new grads.”    He decided to use that frustration to propel this tool for helping other entry-level job seekers.  It’s a pretty simple, no-frills, website, but every day for 1,636 days he’s been highlighting a different US company that has opportunities for entry-level employment.  I personally subscribed to his email blasts in 2009, and, as promised, I have faithfully received one every day since.  Even though I am happily employed today, I still enjoy reading about other great companies and opportunities out there.

A few months after OneDay began, he started an off-shoot for internship seekers called—you guessed it—OneDayOneInternship.   Same concept, but this one gives helpful insight and tools for those seeking that ever so valuable “experience.”

Not only have the OneDay sites helped countless new grads move away from Sofa City, it has also helped employers connect with entry-level applicants around the country.  According to their website Franzen now has 8,000+ daily email subscribers, 3,400+ Facebook Fans, 3,600+ Twitter followers, and 90,000+ monthly unique visits.

With such a captive, targeted audience, you’d think that employers with entry-level opportunities or internships would be lining up to be the subject of his daily spotlight—and they are.  The trouble is that Franzen doesn’t sell that placement.  All companies featured are selected by the editorial team.  How do they pick them?  Well, we can’t say for sure, but it probably has to do with how positive the employer’s brand image is.

OneDayOneJob is not a recruiting agency. It is not a job search site (though it has that feature).  Rather, it is simply a promotional vehicle, introducing young job seekers to great companies.   Do yourselves a favor soon-to-be graduates and sign up for daily emails from OneDayOneJob or OneDayOneInternship.  You (and your parents) will be very happy that you did!

 (HireEQ is currently looking for entry level employees in Atlanta and International Falls, MN.  Contact us for details.)

Below is a screen shot of the calculator.  By default it is populated with average values based on some data collected from 2002-2004.  These rates have no doubt only gone up since then.  Even still, it is easy to see how much the average bad hire can cost an employer—especially in today’s economy!

According to this median example, a bad hire comes with bill of roughly $50,000!  Now, this is only an average.  I’m inclined to think that there are a number of factors not included in this valuation that could make a marked difference:  length of time employed, level of job (entry, junior, senior), and length of candidate search.

Either way, it is certainly an interesting look at how much the wrong candidate can cut into your budget.  Try out the calculator for yourself.  Do you think it’s about right?  Way off?

With so much of the “bottom line” on the line, it seems like the right hire just might be the best thing you can do to help your budget this year.  Depending on your business cycles, the summer may be the perfect time to examine or re-examine your hiring practices and candidate screening processes.  Are you doing everything you can to keep your new hire success rate up?  Or, are you seeing that it may be time to seek some professional help with the process?

We’d love to hear what you have found to be the true cost of a bad hire.

But, what about the internal image of the company–the employer brand?  This isn’t a new concept, but it is one that seems to be overlooked too often.  What is it exactly?  It is commonly defined, as the “sum of a company’s efforts to communicate to existing and prospective staff what makes it a desirable place to work” or “the active management of a company’s image as seen through the eyes of its associates and potential hires.”  And, whether business owners choose to be intentional about it or not, employer branding does matter.

But, why does it matter, you ask?  Well, Mister or Miss Employer, whether you are hiring or not, don’t you want people to want to work for you?  If the perception is that your company is the place to be, you’ll have no shortage of talent vying to work there.  Whereas, if the word on the street is that all of your employees are unhappy and planning their resignations (or mutiny), you might have a big problem on your hands.  More resignations than terminations are a direct reflection on your employer brand.

Maybe you aren’t too worried about it.  You’ve got bigger things to focus on.  Besides, job seekers these days are happy to have any job—they are too desperate to care about this so-called employer brand.  Right?  Not really.  A recent piece by USA Today paints a changing picture, claiming that for the first time since 2008 more people are quitting than are laid off.  (A change of seasons just might be coming!)

Thinking it’s time to evaluate your employer brand?  We think so.  Here are a few points to keep in mind:

A brand isn’t built over night. 

Culture shifts take time and buy-in.  Leadership must be on board with the culture strategy and be purposeful and committed to seeing it develop over time.

Employees can be your best or worst brand ambassadors. 

Without fail, people end up talking about work, outside of work.   Those who are unhappy with their work environments are typically pretty free about saying so to anyone who will listen.  Every negative word puts the strength of your corporate brand at risk.  If you sense an unhealthy environment, it is in your best interest to change it.

Though the public sometimes forgives, media and the Internet rarely let us forget. 

With websites out there like glassdoor.com, where current, former and prospective employees give feedback on a company, it’s pretty hard to escape a negative employer reputation if you have one.  No one expects a company to be perfect, but when it comes to attracting and retaining talent, it’s important to be mindful of what is being said about you.  Making yourself privy to such information might even help you to examine flawed systems and make improvements.

Perception is reality.

Argue against the concept and you’ll find yourself right back where you started.  It shouldn’t be the case, but it is.  People, the public, customers, clients, prospective hires–they all have eyes, ears, opinions, and perceptions.  If they’ve seen it, heard it or read it, there’s a chance they’ll believe it.

Back to our original question:  what does your employer brand say about you?  Were you aware that you had one?  Are you fighting to reinvent yours?

Let us know what your experience has been with employer brands—positive or negative.  We’d love to hear from employers and employees on the issue.

It’s true; the generic resume is alive and well!  Each week, we comb through hundreds of resumes.  From engineers to technicians to programmers and professional sales people, no group has proven to be an exception—candidates of all experience levels and backgrounds do it.  Time and again, we receive resumes that were obviously written for a different job, or they are so general it was clear that there was no particular job in mind at all.

Why the untailored resume is a bad idea.

Ever had a waiter try and serve you the wrong order?  One quick glance and you say, “That’s not mine.”  The meal is sent away before it even touches down on the table.  No matter how hungry you are, you are only interested in eating the bacon cheeseburger you asked for.  A hamburger would do, but you requested one with cheese and bacon on purpose.  No settling for a veggie burger either—no salads or chicken wings—you aren’t eating until that cheeseburger comes along, so you’re willing to hold out until it comes.

Same with a resume that is not what the position ordered, so to speak.  If it is vague or untailored to the specific job or company (at the very least), it is most likely an attempt that is dead on arrival.  Resumes like this signal one of two things to a recruiter:  the applicant is lazy and/or the applicant doesn’t really want the job.  Either way, like having a weak handshake or wrinkled suit, resumes of this breed do not make a great first impression.

Recruiters are busier now than ever before.

Hiring and recruiting efforts have changed drastically in the last five years.  Companies have had to lay off, restructure, consolidate and outsource in as many budget-saving ways as possible.   Whether recruiters are in-house or outsourced, they are all faced with a highly accelerated work flow today.  With an unemployment rate above 8%, there are more applicants to filter through and, often times, fewer recruiters left on staff to do so.

So, if recruiters are looking at more resumes than ever before, they really don’t have the time to spend on an applicant who failed to take their own time preparing it.

The common short falls.

Even with the wealth of information online about this very subject, job seekers, by and large, are still not getting the message. 

Believe it or not, we repeatedly receive resumes that:

• List some other employer or company name in the objective—not ours
• Say the candidate is looking for a job in industry “X”, when the position being applied for is in industry “Y”
• Do not contain the keywords or highlight required skills mentioned in the job ad

Our best advice.

1. Key skills and requirements are listed in job postings for a reason—use them!  If applicable to your skills or experience, incorporate the exact words/phrases into your resume.
2. Always update your objective to match that of the job you are applying for.  Like calling your girlfriend by the wrong name, this is a bad move.  Again, it signals laziness, carelessness and/or lack of interest.
3. Apply with intention.  We realize some job seekers have been unemployed for a long time.  Those who may have started out as conscientious, meticulous applicants have now grown jaded and weary.  But, like a flower among the weeds, a bit of effort can really go a long way.
4. Know yourself and what you can do and apply accordingly.  If the job is too far of a stretch, a good recruiter will pick you off right away.

This is now.  The now when hundreds of thousands of those who served then are back home fighting a different battle—unemployment.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are currently more than one million unemployed veterans.  Couple that with the fact that over the next five years, one million more veterans are expected to leave the military and seek civilian employment and we are left with some staggeringly large numbers.

It’s not that these veterans lack skills or intelligence; they have those things.  So why, then, are so many struggling to find work?  The problem seems to come down to one thing:  miscommunication.  The disparity can be blamed on both parties—on veterans who struggle to translate their experiences into a language that employers understand and on employers who, by and large, have not done a good enough job of recognizing the value these individuals can bring to their companies.  Veterans typically have an extraordinary grasp on key qualities like leadership, flexibility, calm under pressure, diligence and loyalty.  Though these are laudable traits, they are often buried between the lines on a resume rather than highlighted.

So, in March 2011, the US Chamber of Commerce set out to help bridge this gap through a movement they call, “Hiring Our Heroes.”  The inaugural push in 2011 sparked 100 job fairs across the country and this year, we’ll see some 400 fairs take place.  These fairs (and workshops) are as much about matching employers with candidates as they are about educating both parties on how to speak the same language.

As important as the education piece is, it doesn’t mean much if there are no jobs available. To counter that, employers across the country are starting to make job creation pledges for veterans.  Two of the larger corporate commitments this year come from NBC/Comcast and CapitalOne who have pledged to hire 1,000 and 500,000 veterans, respectively, over the next three years.  Even the famed rock band Kiss has announced that they are looking to hire a veteran to be a set carpenter for their upcoming tour with Motley Crew.

Eyes have been opened on both sides of the issue and more and more veterans are gaining employment.  There is still a long way to go (especially in getting smaller businesses to join in and pledge), but the wheels are turning and employers nationwide are choosing to standing up for the men and women who have stood up for us all.

If you are interested in reading more about some of the veteran-friendly positions we are trying to fill right now, please visit ivctechnologiesjobs.com.  And, to find out more about the dates and locations of all Hiring Our Heroes job fairs, be sure search the Chamber’s event calendar.

Nearly every job application or employment contract contains a disclaimer similar to the one above.  That statement will also mention something about the employer being an Equal Opportunity Employer, which is a moniker all employers are required by law to carry.  Any act of discrimination toward employees or applicants is forbidden by under the Equal Opportunity Employment Law.

These statutes are especially important to keep in mind during the interview process.  Because the interview is all about getting to know the candidate, some of these topics might seem only natural.  But, in order to maintain the integrity of your EOE status, the lines of questioning must stay within certain bounds.  A good rule of thumb is simply to avoid questions that include any one of the terms listed in the disclaimer above:  Race, Color, Religion, Ethnic or national origin, Gender, Sexual orientation, Disability, Genetic information, Age, Veteran status.

Sounds easy enough, right?  Well, it can be trickier than you think.  HR World put out a great list of questions to avoid, as well as some alternative questions that will help you get to know a candidate without violating any EOE laws.  A few of their suggestions are listed below:

Religion

You can’t ask:  What religion do you practice?  Which religious holidays do you observe?

What you can ask instead:  What days are you available to work?  Are you able to work with our required schedule?

Age

What you can’t ask:  How old are you?  How much longer before you retire?

What you can ask instead:  Are you over the age of 18?  What are your long term career goals?

Gender

What you can’t ask:  How do you feel about supervising men/women?

What you can ask instead:  Tell me about your previous experience managing teams.

Disabilities

What you can’t ask:  Do you have any disabilities?  How many sick days did you take last year?

What you can ask:  Are you able to perform the specific duties of the position?  How many days of work did you miss last year?

While the differences in the allowable/non-allowable questions are subtle, they are significant in the eyes of the law.  Your safest bet is to stick to questions that are purposeful and intentional.  Think about what you really need to know and what your base priorities are for a new hire.

With that, it is important to be very specific when developing the job description.  Any duties or responsibilities that the job will require should be clearly outlined so that when a question like, “Are you able to perform the duties of the position?” comes up, an applicant has the opportunity to answer honestly.   It is better to eliminate a candidate in the search process because of a duty that cannot be performed than to find out after the hire.  Unclear expectations can get employers into real trouble, so it is best to lay everything out ahead of time.

Those keys, along with your intuition should be all that you need to determine the strength, character and potential of any applicant without the slightest hint of violating either of your rights under the EOE laws.

Whether it’s because of a budget cut, a restructuring, or poor performance, terminating an employee (for the “average” employer) is never easy.  For one reason or another, you decided to employ this individual at one time.  You initially saw value in him or her and now you must somehow say that the value you once saw is either no longer there or no longer needed.  It’s a touchy, tricky situation, so we have compiled a few best practice tips to keep in mind.

1. Keep it about the employee, not about you.

Inc.com recently released a list of “The 10 Worst Things to Say When You Fire an Employee.”  For the most part, their advice centers on the principal that it is not about you (the employer) it is about the person being terminated.  Saying things like:

“Look, this is really hard for me.”

“We’ve decided we need to make a change.”

“We both know you aren’t happy here, so down the road you’ll be glad.”

“If there’s anything I can do for you, just let me know.”

Ouch, ouch, ouch, and OUCH.  The statements above just added insult to injury on four counts.  Not a single one of these sentences will actually comfort or ease the pinch that’s being felt by the employee who’s just been given an invitation to the nearest exit.  If you hope to separate on good terms with the employee (which you do—I’ll tell you why in #3), it is imperative that the termination be informational and matter-of-fact as possible.  A certain degree of empathy is reasonable, but it is important that you are not solely focused on consoling the employee or on making yourself feel better.

2.  Create a checklist and stick to it.

It’s a good idea to have a checklist in hand.  You don’t want to forget to say something, not have an answer, or, perhaps worse, send an employee out the door before collecting all of their company-issued property.  After realizing the value of something like this, Hire EQ created an Employee Separation Checklist* that we now provide for our clients as needed.  Our list is divided in two parts:  administrative tasks and payroll/benefits.

The administrative list contains things like:  deactivate e-mail and voice mail, collect keys, and communicate the departure to other staff members.  On the payroll/benefit list we remind employers to:  terminate benefits, provide COBRA information and terminate from payroll.

Bottom line here is that you want to be prepared and informed.  The termination can be hard enough without having to fumble through with uncertainty or delay the process because you failed to get all of the information prepared ahead of time.

3.  Keep final impressions in mind.

Former employees will move on to talk about their experience with your company.  It might not matter if you did everything right as an employer in the years that said employees worked for you—they will most remember the end–their final impression.  How you handle an employee’s departure might mean everything to how he or she goes on to talk, post, tweet, or blog about you.  And, in today’s socially networked world, all of those will happen—sometimes immediately!

 *If you would like to see the employee separation checklist, feel free to contact us for a copy.