Is That Distance Learning Graduate Degree On That Resume Legitimate?
Although it seems too petty to contemplate, resume fraud is on the rise and has been for several years. This is one indication of how bad the economy is going that people will put just about anything on their resume in order to get a job. And if you hire an employee who does actually have the distance learning graduate degree he claims he has, this is a bad reflection on your company and it will suffer as a result. So, how can you tell whether the distance learning graduate degree listed on a candidate's resume is legitimate?
Does The Course Exist?
One of the easiest ways to weed out the fraudsters is to check with the website of the school listed on the resume to see if they even offer the course your candidate claims to have. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity to list that they have a distance learning graduate degree from Harvard University and you discover that Harvard University doesn't offer any distance learning graduate degree programs.
Did The Candidate Attend Class?
If the job is a really important one, then you need to be sure that the candidate is not committing resume fraud. If the job is for nigh shift stockperson at Kmart, you really don't need to go through the trouble, but a personal assistant to the CEO, you better. Although it might seem creepy, you must do a background check on the candidate.
You could contact the college mentioned to see if the person did, indeed, get a distance learning graduate degree. But you may run into problems. You are better off contacting a background check service that specializes in discovering who actually went to what school in their lives. National Student Clearinghouse is paid service recommended by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). You may be able to write the bill off as a business expense on your taxes. Be sure to talk to Accounting before you use the company's credit card.
You can't skimp on this. Bausch & Lomb sure wishes they had verified the resume of their CEO, Ronald Zarrella. He claimed to have an MBA from Stern School of Business. He didn't. You can just imagine how happy the stockholders were when that bit of news leaked out in 2002. He had been at the helm of Bausch & Lomb for ten years. Although technically never fired, he "volunteered to resign".
