CVs

[Karnidge 2]

Do you have a CV?

I haven't needed one for a few years now and just about to update it.

 

Read this on the BBC about most people lying on their CVs

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3711431.stm

 

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Employers are being warned to be on their guard as most people lie in their job applications, a survey has found.

Research shows two-thirds of more than 3,000 CVs submitted by applicants contained inaccuracies.

 

They ranged from gaps in employment to outright lies about qualifications and fraud committed against past bosses.

 

Women in their early 30s were the worst offenders with 77% of CVs showing discrepancies, while men in their early 20s were the most honest group.

 

However, on even the "most honest" CVs, half of those checked had mistakes.

 

High-profile cases

 

Corporate investigations agency The Risk Advisory Group said the problem is worsening, with 2003 figures up 16% on the previous year.

 

The study comes in the wake of a number of high-profile cases of application fraud.

 

On Monday Ian Huntley's former girlfriend Maxine Carr was given a three-year community rehabilitation order for deception offences, including lying on job applications.

 

And Buckingham Palace has reviewed security after Daily Mirror journalist Ryan Parry was able to get a job as a royal footman.

 

MASSAGING THE FIGURES

Two thirds of CVs were inaccurate

Women in their 30s were the worst offenders

55% of CVs had employment discrepancies

36% changed academic details

Mistakes increased in the last quarter of 2003

Source: TRAG report

The group scrutinises candidates' applications for employers - including banks and other financial institutions where regulators require a high level of checks.

 

Director of Business Development Alan Beazley said researchers have a well-honed feeling to detect when something on the CV is amiss.

 

Because people are asked for five to 10 years of employment, university, schooling and address records it is "inevitable that people are going to make some mistakes", he said.

 

But people also believe they will get away with it: "In quite a lot of cases there appears to be a systematic attempt to omit or massage information."

 

Under employment, people might say they left a project when they were made redundant, or worked somewhere they did not.

 

"People not declaring the true reasons for them leaving is pretty serious," he said.

 

It's temptation, some people are just 'chancers'

 

Alan Beazley

Risk Advisory Group

In their personal details, applicants sometimes conceal previous addresses because of court judgements registered against them.

 

And in education, he said: "There is a great temptation to inflate their academic record".

 

In one case a woman said she had studied at Columbia University in New York, but they had no record of her ever having been there.

 

"We say look this is what we found, we can't bottom it out, you need to go back to the individual and challenge them on the report we have made," said Mr Beazley.

 

Brazening it out

 

The simple human instinct of survival of the fittest seemed to be the reason behind the lie.

 

"The motivation is probably that they want to get an advantage over other candidates, you want to appear to have done better in studies than you actually did," said Mr Beazley.

 

Plus there is the feeling applicants can brazen it out in a tough job-market.

 

"I think people feel they won't be found out," he said. "I have read other studies where people have been asked 'would you lie?' and the numbers are very high - three-quarters say yes.

 

"It's temptation, some people are just chancers."

 

While the level of checks on application forms may catch potential CV-fibbers, Mr Beazley did offer some scope for unemployed creative writers.

 

"It's essentially a marketing document.

 

"I have no problem with people presenting themselves in the best possible light," he said.

[green 0]

My CV is all the truth, honest. No need to lie

 

My first cv was a real stretch of the imagination though. I got caught out in an interview as well and was very embarrassed.

[rach 1]

I would never lie.

Just make sure theres a nice photo attached

[BagOfCrisps 24]

I had to do some interviews recently and it was funny reading all the CVs - and catching some people out in the interviews

[Ocean11 0]

Always best to tailor your CV to the job in question, keep it brutally short, and DON'T put your mugshot on it.

 

I've hired people before, and by God, they put some stupid things on their CVs, like they really don't want the job at all.

[kintaro 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Ocean11:
Always best to tailor your CV to the job in question, keep it brutally short, and DON'T put your mugshot on it.

I've hired people before, and by God, they put some stupid things on their CVs, like they really don't want the job at all.

But what if you're good looking?

[rach 1]

Yes, good point.

[BagOfCrisps 24]

I'm wary of 'brutally short' CVs. It gives the wrong impression. Same for overlong ones.

[oblivion 5]

I have only ever had one cv - when I left college.

[big-will 7]

I have hardly ever had to use it, but I keep mine up-to-date. It's interesting to look back on the cvs I made back 15, 10, 5 years ago. Quite embarrasing actually.

[taguchi 0]

Don't you think Japanese style resume is so easy oompared to freestyle overseas version?

[echineko 1]

Normal Japanese resume is very simple. I think many Japanese do not even putting sentence on it, just blank space. Not much information at all.

 

Is there not format of it in US, UK, etc like in Japan?

[Yuki's Passion 1]

Yeah, but Echineko, I *hate* how if you make a mistake you have to rewrite the CV What a pain in the A$$

 

P.S. Your handle name is great

[big-will 7]

We all like her handle.

 

I have seen some Japanese Cvs coming in to our office and I sometimes think they are just not completed there is so little info put on there. Either the people are just non-human or the concept of selling yourself is quite different here.

[BagOfCrisps 24]

If thats the case and hardly anything is written on one, how do people distinguish themselves from the new Suzuki?