Most CVs seen by a risk management consultancy with a staff screening arm contained some form of inaccuracy, according to the firm’s latest survey.
Analysis of 5,500 CVs by The Risk Advisory Group’s employee screening staff found that 70 per cent contained inaccuracies. That’s up from 63 per cent last year.
Michael Whittington, Head of Employee Screening at the firm, said: “Many inaccuracies are minor, such as incorrect dates of employment, and could be put down to human error. Others, however, are downright lies where people lie about their qualifications or hide aspects of their past they’d rather forget – be it a criminal conviction or a sizeable debt.
“Regardless of whether the discrepancies are genuine slip-ups or deliberate mistakes, the end result is the same; employers who do not have adequate screening procedures in place could be making important hiring decisions without all the facts. We already know that the business repercussions of making the wrong hire can be huge. Hiring someone who doesn’t have the experience they claim to have can cost a company time, money and, potentially, its reputation. With organised crime and insider fraud on the rise, businesses could also be opening themselves up to infiltration, data hacking and security breaches.”
While men and women are equally likely to lie on their CV, 25 to 32 year-olds emerged as the worst offenders, according to the firm. Academic experience (or lack of it) and employment history are two of the most common areas for inaccuracy.
He added that the firm is seeing more employers introduce measures to validate the background of prospective hires. “For example, financial services companies are increasingly requiring that their suppliers have the same high level screening processes in place – particularly IT consultancies and law firms.”
To download the firm’s ‘CV Lies 2016’ report, visit http://news.riskadvisory.net/2016/10/cv-lies-2016/.
