#OZREC 13: Lessons From The Myer Reference Check Debacle

In the news last Monday was the embarrassing report of Myer having to explain an executive hire who had, allegedly, faked a solid part of their resume. When it was discovered that the candidate had not worked for a company they professed to have been employed by, Myer acted quickly to terminate employment.

This event happens regularly within business – embellishments through to outright lies occur on resumes, and when found out, employers have every right to terminate employment.

What makes this situation that much more interesting is that not only was the role a very senior one – Group General Manager of Strategy and Business Development – but Myer itself had trumpeted the snaring of who it believed was the Managing Director of one of the largest fashion retail conglomerates in the world. The day after that announcement, the large fashion retailer went on record to say it had never heard of this MD and most importantly, he was never a part of their business. Further enquiries, both internally at Myer and with the executive search firm hired to source the candidate, found this was indeed the case, that the candidate had blatantly lied, and subsequently had their employment terminated

So what lessons are there for recruiters? Plenty.

Questions:

1. Main lesson for recruiters from what happened at Myer / Quest
2. Do Background Checks only mean Reference Checks?
3. What should Myer have done differently?
4. How to see through an over-embellished resume or a slick candidate?

Our moderator/host is Scott Brown of Scott Brown Recruitment

Scott Brown comes from a 15 year career in recruitment with a further 2 in training and development. Starting Scott Brown Recruitment in 2009, he has developed into a trusted advisor on internal hiring process, systems and strategies.

From Job Network, through to multinational firms, running national accounts for tier one clients to internal recruitment management, Scott has seen and done it all.

Turning his experience into blogging, speaking and advice, Scott will never really get over recruitment!

Image credit: Sunhereald