When a hiring manager is shuffling through a stack of résumés, it can take some time before the ideal candidate pops up, but, even with that perfect résumé, there's a problem: How does the hiring manager know whether the résumé is truly reflecting an accurate job history?

Unfortunately, many employers have found out the hard way that inaccurate resumes are more common than one would think, and this is where pre-employment screening becomes a major component of the hiring process, says Sharon Sellers, president of SLS Consulting in Summerville, S.C.

"Dishonesty on résumés can vary from anywhere from fudging a little bit on their activities or their duties at their last job," Sellers explains. "It also might be as strong as someone saying they went to a college when they never walked in the door, so you have that entire gamut. You should not assume what you see on paper is completely honest."