by Stacy Pursell, The VET Recruiter®
From all indications, more candidates than ever are being dishonest and/or misleading during the hiring process. This includes, but is not limited to, lying on their resume.
Just how bad is it? HireRight issued a report last year based upon a survey it conducted. According to the report, 85% of the 4,000 survey respondents (hiring managers) indicated that they uncovered a lie or a misrepresentation on a candidate’s resume or job application. That’s nearly nine out of every 10 hiring managers!
Even more shocking is the fact that the percentage was 66% five years ago. This indicates either that job seekers are being more dishonest more often or that they’re being caught in their deception more often. Either way, it’s not a great combination for employers that want to hire the best candidates and not those candidates who only say they’re the best.
Contenders vs. pretenders
So what can Animal Health Industry and Veterinary employers do to combat all of this apparent dishonesty? It’s almost to the point where it’s dangerous to assume that a candidate is being 100% forthright. How can you know for sure that they’re telling the truth? It’s certainly not easy, but there are steps you can take to help ensure that you separate the contenders from the pretenders.
The most obvious place to start, of course, is with the resume. There are a few tell-tale signs that can indicate a candidate might be less than truthful. We’ve covered these signs before in a previous blog post. The title of that post is “How to Tell if a Candidate is Lying on Their Resume.” In that post, we presented three big tell-tale signs of dishonesty:
#1—Missing dates or time incongruences on the resume
#2—Ambiguous description of skills
#3—Conflicting information from references
More than likely, there is a process that your organization’s hiring department follows when screening all new applicants. Or at the very least, there should be a process. The steps of that process vary, depending upon the organization and the position for which the job seekers are applying. However, it probably includes the following steps:
Comparing the information on the resume against the information on LinkedIn
This is a common practice for employers these days. The resume and the candidate’s LinkedIn profile are now being used in tandem to help hiring managers determine the seriousness of a job seeker’s candidacy. If discrepancies are uncovered, then it could serve as a “red flag.” I’ve seen hiring managers dismiss a person’s candidacy based upon such discrepancies.
Background checking
Many employers use third-party companies to conduct background checks on candidates who hiring managers are seriously considering. This step further helps to validate everything that’s on a candidate’s resume. It also helps to uncover things that might NOT be on the resume and that the candidate purposely omitted.
Reference checking
This step is typically done by the employer, often by the hiring manager or another company official. This is not a step that should be overlooked or dismissed. This is yet another opportunity to uncover discrepancies or omissions, the discovery of which could save the organization valuable time and energy. Everything that the references say should back up the claims of the candidate, including titles, employment dates, awards and recognition, etc.
A dilemma and one big danger
Animal Health Industry and Veterinary employers have a dilemma in all of this. While there is apparently no end to the number of job seekers and candidates who willfully misrepresent themselves during the hiring process, this a finite amount of time involved. Trying to stay one step ahead of dishonest job seekers can be a time-consuming endeavor, and that’s apart from all of the other important tasks that a hiring manager must undertake in their quest to find the best candidate for their open position.
In addition to this dilemma, there’s also a big danger involved. That danger is rooted in this current candidates’ job market. Simply put, there are more job openings and fewer qualified candidates to fill those openings. As a result, an Animal Health or Veterinary employer might become desperate in its attempts to fill a certain position. If that’s the case, then its hiring manager may start taking chances and risks that they would normally not take. And when you start taking more risks and more chances, you start making more mistakes.
The biggest mistake you could make? Hiring someone you should not hire. Hiring someone who has been dishonest about their qualifications, their experience, or their education. Hiring someone because you’re desperate to fill the position.
A bad hire can be extremely costly to an employer. According to a 2017 CareerBuilder survey, companies lost an average of $14,900 on every bad hire last year. Not only that, but nearly three in four survey participants also admitted that they’ve hired the wrong person for a position.
It doesn’t matter why you hire the wrong candidate, including if they were dishonest or misrepresented themselves in some way, the cost is very real. It’s very real in terms of time, lost productivity, and lost money—all of which are increasingly scarce to begin with.
This is why partnering with an experienced Animal Health or Veterinary search consultant or recruiter can benefit your organization. A search consultant has worked with thousands of candidates, including candidates who have been dishonest on their resume or lied about their skills or education. They know what to look for and how to handle such situations.
Not only can an Animal Health Recruiter or Veterinary Recruiter identify the best candidates in the marketplace and convince those candidates to consider your employment opportunity, but they can also help to properly screen those candidates. They can ensure that the candidates on your short list are all top-shelf, qualified individuals and more importantly, that they are candidates who are telling the truth and motivated to work for your organization.
No matter the state of the economy or the type of market in which we find ourselves, separating the contenders from the pretenders is crucial to enjoying consistent hiring success.
We help support careers in one of two ways: 1.By helping Animal Health and Veterinary professionals to find the right opportunity when the time is right, and 2.By helping to recruit top talent for the critical needs of Animal Health and Veterinary organizations. If this is something that you would like to explore further, please send an email to stacy@thevetrecruiter.com.
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