It sounds impressive: an important role in a key project, excellent knowledge of Excel, fluent Spanish. But not everything that adorns résumés is covered by reality. Sometimes the line between positive self-expression and lies is blurred, sometimes it is clearly crossed.
If, for example, activities and projects are invented or employment times are set months too long, this is no longer acceptable from the point of view of Manfred Schnapp from the “Recruiting” specialist group at the Federal Association of Personnel Managers (BPM). In his opinion, HR departments find out about the whitewashers and swindlers in the cases: “If a candidate presents himself better than he actually is, this is usually shown very quickly in the interview.”
According to a 2018 study by the personnel service provider Robert Half, more than 70 percent of German executives have already rejected applicants based on false information. Most often, lies are then about the technical competence, the professional experience, language skills or the amount of the previous salary.
In the USA, more than 70 percent of companies routinely employ so-called “background checkers” to check information from applicants. This is also due to the fact that it is unusual there to enclose many documents with the application. Job references are practically irrelevant. The certificates customary in Germany are controversial because of the assessments of performance and personality, but they have the great advantage of clearly demonstrating the length of employment, the position and the type of activity.
Certification certificates should be forgery-proof
Also because more and more applicants have studied or worked abroad, professional background checks are now becoming more frequent in Germany as well. Last year, Bayer AG introduced such reviews for all candidates who apply for security-related positions.
“In these cases, a background check serves to avoid economic risks or loss of reputation for Bayer,” explains Group spokesman Markus Siebenmorgen. Bayer thus “joined the practice of other DAX companies”. Information on training and professional experience would be checked, for example. Anyone who does not agree to this will not be considered for the position.
It is not known how often forged documents are used in applications. In addition to powerful scanners and printers for the home office, there are also special Internet portals that offer a variety of templates for reports and certificates to choose from – allegedly only for private purposes.
Most CV swindlers are likely to shy away from making themselves liable to prosecution by forging documents. Practically every year, however, individual cases of impostors become known who initially convinced with home-made diplomas, job references or doctoral certificates.
Career networks indirectly encourage fraud
Fake doctors keep making headlines. The fact that license certificates look different in each federal state makes it difficult to detect forgeries. The German Medical Association is therefore committed to creating a nationwide central register for approvals. In order to guarantee data protection, the federal government would first have to create the legal basis.
Digital professional networks such as LinkedIn or Xing indirectly encourage fraud in the CV. The main function of the user profiles is to attract attention, service providers have specialized in their optimization. “A lot of people try to include specific keywords that recruiters are looking for,” says Lars Eichhof, who is responsible for recruiting solutions at the international software provider Cornerstone.
“If necessary, the internship is supplemented by an invented machine learning project.” In order to accommodate younger specialists from sought-after professions, who often shy away from time-consuming applications, HR departments are content with a LinkedIn or Xing résumé instead of asking for solid evidence.
Cornerstone is currently developing a modern solution to ensure the truthfulness of applications together with 15 other companies, including SAP. The companies have joined forces to form the “Velocity Network Foundation”. The aim is to use blockchain technology to document all documents relevant to an application in a forgery-proof manner.
Blockchain technology helps verify flight licenses
In a very simplified way, information is stored in a blockchain as a chain of linked, encrypted blocks. Subsequent manipulation is practically impossible. The career blockchain should work in such a way that very different actors – educational institutions, companies and authorities – store references, certificates and references in it. Because this data in the form of a digital wallet only belongs to the person concerned, data protection problems are avoided.
When applying, the person can grant the company access to selected documents with a click, the authenticity of which then does not have to be further checked. “Young people in particular often change jobs, sometimes work as freelancers for companies or acquire certificates abroad,” says Eichhof. “How should you check all of this? An electronic wallet in which all activities and financial statements are documented would make imposture more difficult and thereby also accelerate the application process.”
The technology is already being used sporadically in the educational and professional sectors. For example, the job portal “Professionals.aero”, based in Geneva, uses a blockchain to verify flight licenses, for example. Since summer 2020, the Munich and Upper Bavaria Chamber of Commerce and Industry has also been issuing all vocational training certificates digitally and storing them in their “Cert4Trust” blockchain solution; from spring 2022 this will also apply to training certificates.
“It actually happens again and again that fake certificates are used. That’s why we receive weekly inquiries to check certificates,” says Armin Barbalata, Head of Digitization at the IHK Munich and Upper Bavaria. The new procedure has advantages for every single application: “HR managers can thus ensure without a doubt that the certificates submitted are genuine, with practically no additional effort,” he says. Other IHKs across Germany want to follow suit soon.