Top ways candidates lie to secure a role

Lying on CVs is not uncommon among jobseekers - but the rate at which they get away with it is alarming

BY Emily Douglas 17 May 2018

Lying on CVs is not an uncommon or new phenomenon – but it is an aspect of recruitment that industry leaders need to keep a close eye on.

A recent report from CV-Library found that 92% of jobseekers have successfully gotten away with lying on their CVs, with a further 71% stating they landed a job as a direct result of that lie.

After interviewing over 1,000 employees, the report found that there are five distinct areas that candidates are most willing to deceive on; we’ve listed them below.

1. Dates of employment - 31.4%
2. Gaps in their CV - 27.1%
3. Salary (to secure a higher one) - 21.4%
4. Work experience - 12.9%
5. Responsibilities in previous job - 11.4%

“It’s clear from our findings that workers are not afraid to tell white lies on their CV in order to get a job,” said Lee Biggins, MD of CV-Library.

“For employers, this means recruitment teams need to become more vigilant when it comes to vetting and assessing potential hires.”

Despite these findings, the research uncovered that 90% of employees believe it’s ethically wrong to lie on a CV. A further 69% said that they lie because recruiters expect too much of them, with 63% fibbing to appear more qualified.

Over three quarters of workers interviewed said they’d panic that they would be fired if a boss uncovered a lie on their CV, with 86% saying that they’d be worried about being given a job they didn’t know how to do.

“Bringing on board someone that can’t do the job is going to be a waste of time for everyone involved,” continued Biggins.

“However, there will be cases where someone just isn’t right for the business once they join. In order to ensure that you hire the right people, be careful to only shortlist candidates that appear to match all the required criteria for the job.

“Nowadays, it’s much easier to discover when someone has fibbed on their CV, especially with the help of the internet. Don’t be afraid to push your candidates to reveal more, it may be that they’re actually a great fit for the business, but felt they needed to lie to look better.”