There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused historically high rates of unemployment, but it has also brought with it a lot of workers who falsely blame the pandemic for their job loss. Lying isn’t anything new when it comes to resumes – in fact, a CNBC study has revealed that 60 percent of candidates lie about mastery of a skill or a foreign language, 50 percent say they worked at a company longer than they actually did and 40 percent claim they earned a degree from a prestigious university that they either did not attend or were a few credits short of completing. Employers should go beyond background checks to verify the information and should consider certain red flags, such as a previous employer’s refusal to provide a reference. For those who will provide a reference, consider asking the same questions that would be asked of a candidate during a job interview. It’s also a good idea to cross-check information with a LinkedIn profile.
