Recognize fake or inflated household staffing resumes?
Ask any HR professional or a hiring manager, and they will tell you about the numerous inflated or fake resumes out there. Studies even prove that out of every five resumes, one turns out to be fake. In many cases, for one job vacancy, there turns out to be almost 70 to 80% of applicants with specific skill sets. For example, while applying to a household staffing agency, many claim to have all the skills required to be hired, but only a few will possess those skills.
As an employer, hiring the wrong candidates with fake resumes can be a stressful situation and not much to show for it in reality. However, you can save a tonne of money by steering clear of such individuals that can cause much loss to your company. Here are some ways you can recognize fake or inflated resumes.
Some red flags to look out for
1. Unclear personal information
- Personal information includes the applicant’s contact number, email id, home address, social media links, website, etc. These are mandatory for any resume. As an employer, if you notice that certain resumes do not have all this personal information provided right at the beginning, it could be a red flag. It’s one of the first indications that the resume might be fake. As a private staffing agency looking for skilled applicants for a job profile, it is best to steer clear of such resumes.
2. Unclear dates
A resume must include the applicant’s previous jobs, projects, and other activities. These must be accompanied by the dates within which the applicant did the job or project. If a resume does not have these dates or there are discrepancies in the dates mentioned, it could be another instance of an inflated resume. Ambiguity is a skill that fake applicants often master and utilize to make their way into a company.
3. Unexplained gaps in dates
The dates might even be mentioned in the resume, but if you notice certain unexplained gaps in them, that too is a red flag. Unexplained gaps might also be between two jobs or projects when the applicant might be on a parenting sabbatical or something else. If she has not mentioned those gaps and the reason for the gaps, as the employer, you must be suspicious of this. There can be a chance that it’s a fake resume where the applicant is hiding something. A professional household staffing placement agency such as Muffetta Household Staffing Agency https://muffettahousekeeping.com/private-household-staffing-agency will supply you with qualified candidates and their resumes.
4. Questionable job titles or positions
In today’s world, many new companies, especially startups, have unique job titles. The applicant might have occupied such a job title previously. While that is acceptable, she must be able to explain adequately what the job title means and what kind of work the position comprises. There is ample possibility that the job title is a fabricated one. Therefore, probing into these resumes is important before hiring an applicant. There are a number of additional important do’s and dont’s to be considered when hiring household staff. https://muffettahousekeeping.com/household-staffing-position-interview/
5. Periods of self-employment
An applicant might have undergone periods of self-employment when they worked as a freelancer or in a business of their own. As a potential employer dealing with the HR personnel department of a domestic staffing agency, make sure you question these periods of self-employment and retrieve as much details from the applicants as possible. They must be able to account for the business and prove it existed. Failing to do so, you can reject the application right away.
6. No explanation for leaving previous job
Candidates with a speck-less reputation will never shy away from sharing their reason for leaving a previous job. However, it is suspicious when an applicant is reluctant to provide any explanation for the same. If the latter happens, you must verify from the previous company why their ex-employee had left. At times, behavioral problems in the applicant might come under the spotlight upon verification, which can prove crucial to your hiring decision.
7. Feel and look of the resume template
As an HR personnel with much experience hiring candidates, you will have a well-defined intuition for things like a resume template. However, it’s also about the experience. The more you see resumes, the better you can differentiate authentic ones from inflated ones that boast of unrealistic achievements and experiences.
8. Too much information
You can figure out an inflated resume when there is too much information in it. If the applicant has presented an unending list of all their skills, you have reason to be alert and watch out. Most of these skills might just be written in the resume to impress those hiring, and the applicant might not possess them. Verify with the candidate about these skills and ask for proof. As a household staffing agency, you must have a complete understanding of the applicant’s real skills.
9. Identical resume formatting
While most resumes have a general format, certain aspects still make them stand out from the rest. If you receive a huge number of resumes with identical formatting, there is reason to be alert as most of them might be copies of a single resume. In such a situation, it is difficult to figure out which are authentic and which ones are fake. The best thing to do in such a situation is to reject all the identical ones. Anybody truly interested in the job profile must put in the effort to make their resume stand out.
10. Unclear references
Fake references are a common characteristic of most resumes. Applicants feel that the employer will never care to check back with the reference provided. Hence, they make fake references and provide the information simply because its mandatory for any resume. In addition, individuals often use the contact information of proxies like friends or family as references. One way to understand whether the references are fake or real is to question the applicant directly about them and observe whether they answer hesitantly or not. Another way to confirm is to check back with the references provided.
11. Inflated salary details
Applicants often provide inflated salary details to impress the employer and to get a higher salary for the job they are applying for. In addition, they often write the salary and bonuses together as their annual package at the previous company they worked at. This, however, amounts to fraudulent resumes that must be questioned and, if not found satisfactory, discarded.
Final thoughts
The job market is challenging, especially for young applicants desperate to get a high-paying position in a profit-incurring company. This desperation and a certain level of ignorance often lead to creating fake resumes with a lot of inflated and unreal information about oneself. As an employer, you need to hire only the best for the company. This means you need to read through resumes with great detail, and suspicious information must be questioned. Do not hesitate to reject applications full of extra information and discrepancies. Your responsibility is towards your company, and hiring a capable professional for the job profile is a task you must accomplish. A trusted private staffing agency like Muffetta Household Staffing Agency can help you to move seamlessly through the process of securing quality domestic staffing candidates for your home https://muffettahousekeeping.com/household-staffing-agency/.
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