2022 UK Study Uncovers Almost One-third of Employees Lie on Their CV

Sometimes, the hired employee may not live up to the qualifications or experience given in the CV, meaning they must have lied to get the job.

10:10 20 July 2022

Finding the perfect candidate for the job can be quite challenging if you are a recruiter for any company. Firstly, there are so many applicants to choose from, and everybody offers something unique.

 

It's easy to get lost in all this. But if someday you get a CV for the perfect employee you need, it might look like a blessing. However, sometimes, the hired employee may not live up to the qualifications or experience given in the CV, meaning they must have lied to get the job. 

 

It can be quite confusing why people would lie on their CV, but the fact is that almost one-third of people lie on their CV, as uncovered by StaffCircle. Good qualifications, experience, and multiple skills are preferred in most reputable jobs. So it is not difficult to understand why some people need to lie on their CV to get their dream job.

 

How Much Do People Lie on Their CV?

Out of 1,500 respondents, 32% admitted to having lied on their CV sometime in the past. Furthermore, it was shown by the survey that certain age groups are more likely to lie during the recruitment process than others. The most likely to lie on their CV are the people aged 25-34 years. After that are those between 35 to 44 years old, and then comes 18-24-year-olds who will likely lie on their CV. 

 

Pros and Cons of Lying on CV

Lying on your CV may give you an advantage over other candidates. Although an unfair one, in the long run, it is not very beneficial. For example, 93% of the respondents who lied to land a new job said they had not been discovered after acquiring the job, and 40% of those who lied to get a job were still in that position when surveyed.

 

However, lying on the CV should be avoided at all costs as it is not only unethical but not very beneficial either, as 45% of those who had lied believed they would have got their desired job even without lying, which makes you ask - what was the point of even lying in the first place? 

 

Furthermore, more than half of the liars admitted that lying didn't give them an advantage during recruitment. Being untruthful was not helpful for the short and long term for the respondents since 23% of the respondents who had lied revealed that they no longer had their job and had to leave within 6 months of being hired. 

 

Lying also seriously damages an employee’s credibility for future jobs. 14 of the 1,500 applicants who admitted to lying during the hiring process had to face legal action.

 

How Employers Can Improve the Recruiting Process

The survey highlights the distinct problems that employers and genuine candidates encounter. Many companies still struggle to detect lies told during the recruitment process. Inconsistencies can be found and highlighted by evaluating applicants during the recruiting process and as part of a bigger organizational skill repository.

 

Businesses need to focus more on the process of recruitment. Background checks can ‌achieve this, but they can also be time-consuming since it might not be possible to uncover every lie in this way. Therefore, dedicated performance management software may be the perfect tool. 

Employee reviews and regular feedback sessions might help you get to know them better and identify any performance issues or skill gaps they might have. This way, you can truly assess your employees based on their performance and if it lives up to what was in their CV.

 

Additionally, when it comes to recruiting an employee, companies might want to find out how reliable an employee is in terms of not being absent all the time, and one of the best thing for a company to do as part of their performance management strategy is using the Bradford Factor calculator.

 

Conclusion

The StaffCircle survey shows that many companies' employment practices are ineffective and that candidates occasionally exaggerate their qualifications, experience, and talents, indicating that companies still have work to do to prevent disappointing and costly recruiting errors. 

 

Employers can reduce the probability of mistakes by using competency-based hiring techniques to ensure the selected candidate possesses the skills necessary for the role. Employees must continuously develop their skills, carefully assess the career path they want to take, and avoid lying on their CV because it will be counterproductive over time.