CV Fraud: Common Lies Found on CVs
What are the common lies?
Salary history
It’s an unwritten rule in the workplace that a new employer should never pay you less than your current salary. Lying about salaries appears on both sides of the scale: Some candidates would boost their salary in order to request a higher salary at the new company, but there are also instances where candidates would decrease their salary since they’ve previously been turned down for a position on account of being “too expensive”.
Misrepresentation about education and qualifications
This is perhaps the most common lie told on CVs. Often, the higher the pay and status of the position, the more likely candidates are to add “a little bit of fluff” to their CV. But where is the line exactly? It seems as though it’s unclear; even some of our officials have been found guilty of fraudulent qualifications!
Past job titles
It’s one thing to update your cover letter to present you as the best candidate for the job, it’s an entirely different matter if you change your job title! There’s been incidents where recruiters would suggest to a candidate that their current title should be altered to best suit the position available.
References
Being able to put someone with a doctorate up as a reference surely does look better than listing your primary school teacher. Candidates sometimes lie about their references and how they know them – or whether they exist at all!
Credit and criminal records
Ex-offenders often have trouble landing jobs. Whether this is fair or not is an entirely different debate. But because of this, candidates with criminal records would often try to hide their criminal past.
Gaps in employment
Candidates could lie about the duration of unemployment, whether they were unemployed, and also the reason behind their unemployment.
Age
Be honest, would you be willing to hire someone who is 5 years away from retiring? Due to this reason, many candidates lie about their age.
