CV fibbers warning for employers

dod

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3711431.stm

CV fibbers warning for employers

Employers are being warned to be on their guard as most people lie in their job applications, a survey has found.

Research shows two-thirds of more than 3,000 CVs submitted by applicants contained inaccuracies.

They ranged from gaps in employment to outright lies about qualifications and fraud committed against past bosses.

Women in their early 30s were the worst offenders with 77% of CVs showing discrepancies, while men in their early 20s were the most honest group.

However, on even the "most honest" CVs, half of those checked had mistakes.

High-profile cases

Corporate investigations agency The Risk Advisory Group said the problem is worsening, with 2003 figures up 16% on the previous year.

The study comes in the wake of a number of high-profile cases of application fraud.

On Monday Ian Huntley's former girlfriend Maxine Carr was given a three-year community rehabilitation order for deception offences, including lying on job applications.

And Buckingham Palace has reviewed security after Daily Mirror journalist Ryan Parry was able to get a job as a royal footman.

The group scrutinises candidates' applications for employers - including banks and other financial institutions where regulators require a high level of checks.

Director of Business Development Alan Beazley said researchers have a well-honed feeling to detect when something on the CV is amiss.

Because people are asked for five to 10 years of employment, university, schooling and address records it is "inevitable that people are going to make some mistakes", he said.

But people also believe they will get away with it: "In quite a lot of cases there appears to be a systematic attempt to omit or massage information."

Under employment, people might say they left a project when they were made redundant, or worked somewhere they did not.

"People not declaring the true reasons for them leaving is pretty serious," he said.

In their personal details, applicants sometimes conceal previous addresses because of court judgements registered against them.

And in education, he said: "There is a great temptation to inflate their academic record".

In one case a woman said she had studied at Columbia University in New York, but they had no record of her ever having been there.

"We say look this is what we found, we can't bottom it out, you need to go back to the individual and challenge them on the report we have made," said Mr Beazley.

Brazening it out

The simple human instinct of survival of the fittest seemed to be the reason behind the lie.

"The motivation is probably that they want to get an advantage over other candidates, you want to appear to have done better in studies than you actually did," said Mr Beazley.

Plus there is the feeling applicants can brazen it out in a tough job-market.

"I think people feel they won't be found out," he said. "I have read other studies where people have been asked 'would you lie?' and the numbers are very high - three-quarters say yes.

"It's temptation, some people are just chancers."

While the level of checks on application forms may catch potential CV-fibbers, Mr Beazley did offer some scope for unemployed creative writers.

"It's essentially a marketing document.

"I have no problem with people presenting themselves in the best possible light," he said.

seamus

Heh, I love surveys like this. It's like investigators investigating themselves and being shocked with wat they find. Everyone edits their CV to make themselves appear better, and obviously leaves out information which would create a bad impression. You don't say things like "Repeated my first year exams but ended up getting the degree anyway", because it's not good for your appearance, even though it may be relevant to the employer.

My CV has no lies or half-truths, but one section is missing about 6 words which could mean the difference between getting the job and getting cut. They're not necessarily relevant, since they're implied by the preceding few lines, and are something I'd admit to in interview.

I do think that employers should take more care when hiring people though. Particularly positions where people will be trusted with safety, health and security. Or where the job is quite critical to the company.

There was a programme on the BBC a few years back where they set up a fake security company and held interviews. One specific question was whether you had any previous convictions, and was asked both on the application and in interview. Some ridiculous figure like 7 in 10 applicants said "no", but had records when investigated. Many had multiple offences on their record including stuff like Arson, GBH, etc.

For some industries, perhaps the Government should demand that all workers have their qualifications and certain parts of their profile verified, so if something goes wrong and the employer hasn't investigated, they become liable.

Imposter

But people also believe they will get away with it: "In quite a lot of cases there appears to be a systematic attempt to omit or massage information."

God forbid doing that to an employer who would never do anything like that with the job spec.

Wrestlemania

:cool:

Fudger

God forbid doing that to an employer who would never do anything like that with the job spec.

def nail on the head there !

A fav from my looking for job days cv was an "air freight aircraft dispatcher" for a college summer holiday i threw bags into airplanes........ as hard as i could i might add.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by Imposter
God forbid doing that to an employer who would never do anything like that with the job spec.

LOL