Job candidates in the financial sector are becoming increasingly brazen in lying when they submit CVs for job applications.
A study of more than 3,000 CVs submitted by job applicants during 2004 showed that 25 per cent of the CVs submitted ants in the financial sector contained false, or incorrect statements.
The study by employee screening specialists, The Risk Advisory Group (TRAG), also showed that each of these incorrect CVs contained an average of three lies, many by omission.
TRAG says the omissions from CVs include missing out information on credit history, fraud, previous addresses, previous directorships, job titles, academic qualifications and details of employment dates and gaps in employment.
The results show a marked increase in the lengths to which candidates, who set out to mislead employers, are prepared to go to adapt their CVs to make them more attractive to potential employers.
In previous years TRAG studies have shown that where any problems have been discovered with CVs there tended to be only one misleading statement.
Richard Prior, TRAG’s Deputy Managing Director, said: “These results are a warning to employers of taking too much at face value when hiring people. Clearly any candidate could make a mistake when preparing a CV, but three mistakes are unlikely and effectively mean that these CVs are bogus.
“We are constantly surprised by the lengths to which candidates will go to mislead employers when they are applying for jobs and this study shows that candidates seem to be taking the view that if they have lied once in their CV they might as well lie several times.”
