The UK’s largest background-checking operations team, BackCheck, announces today that more candidates are being caught out for lying on their CVs since the recession started.
In the 6 months between September 2008 and March 2009, compared to the same time 12 months ago, they have found the following:
Banking and Telecommunications:
- 54% increase in lies regarding references and employment history
- 50% more lies on education history
Healthcare
- 50% increase in false references
- 20% continue to give inaccurate information regarding violent-crime history, theft, fraud, driving offences, drug offences and integrity.
Retail
- At least a third and in some cases 100% more candidates have given false references
- There has been a slight increase in the number of candidates failing to give accurate information about their criminal history, from 5.5% – 6.25%.
Chris Hawkins, assistant vice president of operations at BackCheck, says:
“In recession, more than ever, employers have their pick of candidates, they want impressive CVs, and the sensible employers are checking that what is on the CV is true. The message from our research shows that the only way an employer can be confident of this is to check the facts with a professional background-checking company.”
