The economic recession has created an ultra-competitive landscape for the unemployed and/or those seeking a career change.  Increased competition for a shrinking number of career opportunities have forced many active candidates to take a second look at how they’re competing in this tight market. 

This process in and of itself is not such a bad thing for employers or candidates.  Employers are able to find higher qualified talent more readily available than ever before.  Candidates are being forced to hone their skill sets, networking strategies and their career planning which will undoubtedly pay them dividends in the longer term.

One of the negative impacts of the recession is that we are seeing a growing number of candidates that are getting increasingly desperate at how they compete.  Two areas seem to be most common – factual changes to the resume and bogus academic credentials. 

Qualifind invested in candidate tracking software back in 2000 and as the technology has evolved, we have continued to upgrade.  Modern applicant tracking systems allow search firms and corporations to build historical data on candidates.  These systems allow the retention of earlier copies of resumes that were submitted in many cases several years prior.  When a current resume is entered into such a system, they are often tied to the older resume by name.  We find that we have to pay particular attention to comparing such resumes side-by-side.  Such comparison often reveals where candidates have made significant changes to dates of employment in order to mask gaps in employment. 

One of the greatest lapses of integrity seems to be candidate’s reporting phony academic degrees.  U.S. based background screening firm EmployeeScreenIQ recently released a new report, “Smoke, Mirrors and Resumes:  The Growing Threat of Diploma Mills” which is also in line with our findings.  EmployeeScreenIQ states that they are finding an explosion of candidates that are listing bogus academic credentials and also in candidates that are purchasing degrees or credentials from “diploma mills”.

The company conducted a test where they requested a master’s degree in economics for its president and COO, Jason B. Morris.  A prominent diploma mill offered to send him a “genuine” diploma for $75 and for an additional payment of $75, the company would provide verification of the education by phone or e-mail.  EmployeeScreenIQ states that they received the diploma within seven days and that it featured raised seals and was printed on the high grade of paper typically used for framing an academic degree.

Many of these so called “diploma mills” have names that are closely related to accredited institutions, so it is important to do your due diligence in the hiring process!  EmployeeScreenIQ provides the full list of these bogus organizations and you can download the free report at:  http://www.employeescreen.com/whitepapers_articles.asp

Warren Carter is an Executive Recruiter in Qualifind, Inc. You can share your responses with Warren by e-mail at: wcarter@quali-find.com  Qualifind, Inc. provides professional and executive search services for specific disciplines and industries throughout the U.S. and Mexico. We are a U.S. based firm with our corporate offices in San Diego, California. We have branch offices and recruiting staff in the U.S. (i.e Chicago, Austin) and Mexico (i.e. Monterrey,  Mexico City).