The startling revelation in our March edition that employers are being bombarded with fraudulent resumes and dishonest job seekers has drawn some timely advice from Australia’s “Human Polygraph” Steven Van Aperen.

Mr Van Aperen, of SVA Training and Australian Polygraph Services, was responding after almost 70 per cent of Rewards members admitted having interviewed or hired someone who lied about their qualifications or achievements.

An expert in behavioural interviewing, Mr Van Aperen can pick a fibber a mile off, having honed his skills while working with the Victoria Police, FBI and LAPD. He will be the special guest at a 30th Anniversary breakfast celebration for Beilby in Melbourne, later this month.

Mr Van Aperen said interviewers could detect lies from potential candidates by observing telltale behaviour such as:

• Listening for a change in tense when someone answers a question. When someone swaps from past to present tense it may indicate they are embellishing the truth.
• Watching for facial reactions – people’s faces will generally tense if they are lying.
• Watching for what people don’t say, rather than what they do!

“People will generally lie by omission in a job interview, particularly about length of service, position held, remuneration and reasons for leaving a previous job. They will carry out selective editing to embellish and promote themselves,” he said.

“Interviewers need to become more analytical. All the information on the prospective employer has come from them – we need to not only listen to what they say, but also watch for changes and contradictions in their behaviour.”

Beilby Chief Executive Martin Nicholls, agreed saying the survey results were not surprising, but should serve to prompt companies to review their recruitment processes.

“People have been fudging their resumes and lying about their salaries for years. But many employers seem to be less than vigilant about authenticating qualifications and substantiating prior career achievements which highlights the issue,” Mr Nicholls said.

“To avoid these costly mistakes, businesses need to train staff to interview properly, to conduct thorough reference checks with the right people, and to check academic certificates and past achievements.”

Mr Nicholls said many interviewers did not undergo formal training, which could result in the wrong person being selected for the job.

“Organisations need to design thorough recruitment processes and train interviewers to adhere to these processes to minimise the risks involved with recruitment,” Mr Nicholls said.

“The cost of a bad hire is expensive to everyone involved - it is generally accepted to be in the order of 3-5 times the salary of the individual.”