Increasingly, investigative firms are being hired by U.S. companies, who want to hire truthful employees and who are eager to avoid costly lawsuits arising from crimes committed by workers hired without reference checks. Surveys suggest that as many as one-third of all resume writers exaggerate their accomplishments, while up to 10 percent "seriously misrepresent" their background or work histories. In some fields, such as sales, the numbers are even higher.
So many people are getting by with inflating their resumes that sometimes honest people feel like they also have to do it just to keep up. Typical "enhancements" include the addition of fictional degrees, bogus job titles, vastly inflated responsibilities and changing dates of employment to bridge periods of unemployment.
The Internet, with its many links to questionable firms offering embossed, certified "diplomas" for sale, may even be contributing to resume fraud, according to a corporate investigation firm in New York. Some resume lies, such as phony degrees, are easy to track. Other fabrications, particularly those that just stretch the truth, are harder to detect.
Most companies will only give you dates of employment, and that's it, no details!