Your candidates are lying to you - and getting away with it

How far would your candidates go to secure that perfect job? While you might expect the occasional white lie about experience or small exaggeration of technical skills, some are willing to take dishonesty to the next level with outright lies and fake references.

Adzuna.co.uk conducted a survey of 3,587 participants either in, or looking for, employment. When asked if they had lied on their CV, a whopping 37%, or just over a third, admitted to doing so at some stage in their professional career. Of those that had lied on their CV, 83% said they still got the job, with 43% stating that their lie directly contributed to them bagging the role. 

However, 48% of lazy HR professionals admitted to not always checking an employee’s qualifications, with a third (35%) stating they believe that the responsibility for uncovering CV lies sits with recruitment agencies.

Upon closer inspection, candidates were most likely to lie about their skillset, e.g. being proficient in Excel (43%), their work experience (39%) and their education (35%).