Some companies will research anything these days!

Recent research has been done in relation to the things people post on their CV and as a direct result employers are being warned to be on their guard as most people actually lie when they apply for jobs (Now theres a surprise he says sarcastically!)

The 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.

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.

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.