Editor’s note: This article was first published in April 2013, and its references to the economic crisis, such as graduates trimming their CVs and many companies closing, reflect Spain around 2013.
Probably more than 90% of candidates lie at some point during a company’s hiring process. Some tell the usual lies, others simply hold back certain information, and the most common thing of all is to inflate our skills or knowledge.
46% of CVs contain false information, and, ironically, in times of crisis many recent graduates are trimming their CVs so as not to be told “you are overqualified for the position we are offering”. The most common lies on a CV, the ones that sometimes force the interviewer to play detective, are the following:
1. Lying about education, training or courses
More than 20% of candidates lie about their education or additional courses. Look no further than Scott Thompson, former head of Yahoo, who was hired thanks to a degree in computer science from Stonehill College. His only degree was in accounting, and that lie helped him get into Yahoo, something he would not have managed had he been completely honest. Many candidates list courses on their CV that they never took or never finished, or language levels they do not have.
2. False dates, salaries and job descriptions
30% of candidates lie about dates and inflate the salaries they earned at previous companies. The crisis has caused many companies to close, so it is now easy for a candidate to lie about the job they actually did there, and hard to check, because the company has shut down and no longer exists. You can say you handled marketing when in fact you did not. Or perhaps at some point you were in charge of bringing coffee to meetings with suppliers, and that entitles you to write that you managed client hospitality services.
3. The best references are the ones that don’t exist
More than 15% of candidates give fake references. You can say you worked for a company that has since closed and give the phone number of your supposed boss, who might be your brother, a friend or your father. Does the recruiter really know who they are talking to? In other cases, candidates name as a reference some important figure who would rarely take a call. Imagine giving Amancio Ortega (the founder of Zara’s parent company, Inditex) as a reference, saying he recommends you personally. Not even journalists manage to talk to him, so I doubt a recruiter could confirm that Amancio Ortega has never heard of you.
4. Taking advantage of recruiters
However innovative your hiring system may be, and however hard you try to catch candidates out with psychological, strange or creative questions, I’m sorry to tell you, dear employer, that Google already has that information, and it is available to anyone who wants to prepare for your interview. In other words, you will come across candidates who aren’t worth two cents but who will answer your questions so well that you end up believing they are the company’s salvation. (Read: Google-style job interviews could be costing you good workers)
5. Intimidating and manipulating recruiters
Some people know how to win others over, and a recruiter is no exception. Sometimes the job interview turns into a sales pitch, and, as luck would have it, some candidates are such good salespeople that it is hard to tell them we are not buying. The chances of a recruiter being fooled during a hiring process tend to be very high, and they grow as candidates become more desperate.
Rigid red lines in HR do not help in choosing the best candidates either. In a way, it is companies themselves that are crying out to be lied to, since they tend to punish honest candidates. We may eventually conclude that a job interview should be like a driving test: a “theory” part full of formalities, where candidates can lie or tell the truth, and a practical part where they have to prove their worth, so we can at least check that they can do what they claim they can do.
Further reading
- Job interview etiquette: a protocol for the battlefield
- How to spot a bad worker before you hire them
- The best excuses for being late for work
- Awkward job interview questions of doubtful use
Featured image: Enrico Mazzanti (1850–1910), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
