The accuracy of application blank work histories

Abstract

The application blanks studied were those submitted for sales and office positions over a one-year period to a building supply and engineering company. 3 items of work history were submitted to verification: weekly salary, duration of employment, and job duties. Results were that high agreement was found between applicant claims and verifications by past employers with respect to weekly wages, duration of employment, and job duties. Furthermore, there was no evidence of a relationship between validity of claim and recency of job; nor was there any apparent sex difference. There was, however, a difference in the susceptibility to distortion of items for the more recent jobs. Wages were more subject to mis-statement than was duration of employment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)