One in ten of us have lied on CVs publically listed on LinkedIn according to research from Adecco, the UK’s largest recruiter.
One of the City’s top lawyers has this week been forced to quit after being exposed for inventing large parts of his glittering CV, including degrees from Oxford and Harvard. Adecco research found that Mr O’Riordan is not alone in fabricating the truth.
The biggest fib, just like the City lawyer, is around our education. Incredibly, one in ten of us (10%) lie about our qualifications.
The research also found:
- 9% of us lie about our job titles;
- 9% of us lie about our age;
- 7% lie about our university;
- 7% lie about our school;
- and 5% about the length of time in a particular job or our experience.
According to Alex Fleming at Adecco:
“Your CV is your opportunity to communicate your career history and strengths to prospective employers. It should be as accurate as possible. Although the temptation may be there to smooth out areas of your experience and qualifications that aren’t quite perfect, we would always advise candidates not to lie. It’s often said that the truth will always come out in the end and so it’s much safer to concentrate on your real achievements rather than inventing fictitious ones.”