Net tightens for CV fibbers

The challenge of finding a job has inspired generations of first time job seekers and new graduates to produce works of literary and imaginative brilliance on their CVs. At the hand of a skilled CV fibber, two weeks picking kiwifruit on an uncle's farm can transform into six months supervising the packing shed of a large orchard, managing staff, and devising new quality control systems. If the uncle is willing to give a glowing reference to a prospective employer then the lie becomes almost foolproof.

Many people will own up to being economical with the truth on their CV. Little white lies - such as stretching a few dates to turn six months without work into one month - hardly seem like a big deal. Nor does saying you enjoy regular rounds of golf - without mentioning that it is on the television. The fibs told on CVs range from missing out information on credit history, fraud, previous addresses, job titles, qualifications and details of employment dates and gaps in employment.

High profile CV waggers include Britain's Jeffrey Archer, whose time in Oxford town working on a post graduate diploma morphed into an MA from Oxford University on his CV. Closer to home, John Davy went to prison after lying on his CV to get a job at Maori Television before leaving the country.

The demand for transparency in New Zealand recruiting was recognised by Sally Mooney, co-founder of Australian Background, a Sydney-based business devoted to checking resumes on behalf of employers. She has recently started up New Zealand Background here.

Mooney says security is essential to the business of the company and that no resumes are checked without the consent of the applicant. "We are not an investigation service."

She says the results of a survey her company carried out on 1000 management and non-management applicants (with their permission) found that 21 per cent of their CVs were fraudulent.

Mooney says that changing dates to cover employment gaps was the most common fib, but omitting criminal records also factored highly. "While we found that one in 20 people had a criminal record, of those, over 60 per cent chose not to disclose it."

The research also found that 44 per cent of people convicted of fraud, theft or embezzlement had been convicted at least once before. One of Mooney's recent background checks on a person applying for a role in banking revealed that he had more than 100 convictions for theft and dishonesty.

"If we hadn't checked his CV, he would have been given the job," said Mooney.

She is keeping a keen eye on how legislating against CV fraud will progress since it was made illegal to lie on personal documents such as CVs in South Australia.

"It will be interesting to see if the other states follow suit," she said.

Dale Gray, the general manager of Momentum Consulting in Auckland, says that CV lying is not something that he commonly uncovers and says that any agency worth its salt will undertake probity checks.

"We conduct checks on work experience, background, qualifications and credit. Also we conduct behavioural event interviews where we ask candidates to tell us about specific experiences; for example when they had to deal with a difficult staff member. We get them to think on their feet. If there is no depth to these practical examples then a candidate would quickly be found out."

Gray generally checks references from the last two positions a candidate has held.

"But that is getting harder as there is a new generation of worker that is moving from job to job more often," he said.

The checks do not end there. Gray also believes that it is worthwhile to 'reference check the referee' and candidates, particularly for executive jobs, are required to undergo psychometric and skills tests.

Would he like to see lying in documents such as CVs legislated against in New Zealand? "It would appear quite draconian for our industry and to be honest, I don't see a prevalence which would warrant those measures."

First time job seekers often face the conundrum of not being able find a job without relevant experience and vice versa. Can a few small fibs be justified in order to get into the job market?

Kathryn Fletcher, a client liaison officer at Future Grad Student Jobsearch at Auckland University, has the responsibility of helping students find skilled work.

"I don't think I have ever come across a situation where a student has lied on their CV. On the whole, people are truthful and are just trying to present themselves in a positive light," she says.

Fletcher says that people will sometimes change the official titles of jobs that they have had to spice up their CV. "One student, who had a job as a garbage sweeper, put down 'particulate extraction engineer' on his CV.

So where to draw the line? Fletcher believes that changing job titles, bumping up salaries, covering employment gaps and making up hobbies or interests are unacceptable practices, but omitting very short term jobs, particularly if they have no relevance to the position applied for, is acceptable. "If you've had a job in retailing for a month and you really hated it, then don't include it on your CV."