Stretching the truth common in CVs

Employers have been warned to be vigilant about falsified CVs, as Tauranga recruitment agencies say they come across job seekers stretching the truth almost every day.
While most people are honest, it's common for people to embellish their CV by exaggerating duties in a role or the time spent in a job. Less common is falsifying qualifications or entire job roles.
Simon Oldham, sales and marketing manager for QJumpers, a national online recruitment services and software provider based in Tauranga, told the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend more than half of all CVs were embellished "in some way".
"The most common way is saying they were more responsible for something than they actually were. They say they were managing a team of 30, when they may have been part of a team of 30.
"It's things to make them sound better than what they were.
"Most of them are really small. You kind of expect people will talk themselves up, but it's when you get the serious ones saying they can actually do a skill that they can't do, or they had a role or a qualification that they hadn't - those are the most important ones to check."
Mr Oldham said it was critical to conduct reference checks, and also to confirm the referee was legitimate, not a friend or family member.
He recommended skill-based testing and in-house checks for sales and telemarketing skills, as well as computer skills.
"They will say they have an intermediate level of Excel, and you find they can't even do a chart or a graph.
"It's the employer's responsibility to see how they compare to the other candidates."
Ian Chitty, managing director of Tauranga's Personnel Resources/Temp Resources, believed the tough economy had made the problem worse.
"I think that generally in today's world, people that advise on CV writing are actually advising people to make it look as good as possible, and as a result the truth can sometimes be stretched.
"There's a lot of stretching of the truth. There are people putting information in which isn't 100 per cent correct.
"With people moving around the world and working in different countries, people realise it is harder to check out some of the information that is actually in a CV.
"They are probably assuming a potential employer won't spend a lot of time verifying the content."
Examples included people claiming they had been a customer services manager when they had actually worked on the front counter; or claiming they had worked for L'Oreal when they had worked on the L'Oreal counter at Farmers.
"It's important to check the references - the level of positions, the time frame the person worked there for, and what they did."
Mr Chitty advised employers to verify information provided on CVs, from qualifications to employment history.
"You need to go back to the appropriate body. A lot of employers are caught out because they are accepting the qualifications on face value."
He recommended assessing candidates on skills such as Microsoft Excel or MYOB rather than taking their word for it.
Just as important is information which isn't included in CVs - such as police convictions.
"We have had some cases recently where people have had police records, and they have given an explanation as to their criminal history but in fact the explanation was probably not as detailed as it should have been.
"We have checked out and found there's actually more to the story than they might have led us to believe."
Claudia Nelson, owner/operator of Tauranga-based recruitment agency The Right Staff advised checking all licences and registrations and obtaining copies.
"Everything needs to be checked. You never go by the word of the candidate.
"In our references we don't just take character references, but we firm up that they did work at the place they worked for the amount of time they say they were there."
Mrs Nelson had come across a candidate for a senior IT role who had "completely made up their CV". "The referee went quiet on the phone and said 'are we talking about the same person?'
"Had we not gone through our processes we might never have found out - he had a beautiful CV and interviewed fantastic."
Another candidate had falsified a reference on company letterhead, while one claimed to have sold his company when in fact it went into liquidation.
Mrs Nelson said it might sound "awfully mistrusting" to check every detail, but it was necessary.
"New Zealanders are lovely - they often go by the word of someone, which is fantastic, it's a shame you can't do it."
And once a candidate has lied on their CV, it was "the end of the road" with the company.
"You can't compromise your integrity. You are much better off to be open."
High profile cases of CV doctoring include chief defence scientist Stephen Wilce, former Immigration Service head Mary Anne Thompson, and Maori Television chief executive John Davy.
This month, an Auckland woman and a Hawke's Bay woman appeared in court accused of falsifying their employment histories in order to get jobs.
Employers and Manufacturers Association employment services manager David Lowe said small businesses did not have budgets for HR departments or recruitment agents.
"New Zealanders are very trusting and we are an honest society. We don't go around thinking the worst of people," he said.
The 90-day trial period helped reduce problems but employers needed to complete more thorough checks.
"It's always important to check references but also dates of employment and to put some thought into the people put forward as referees," he said.
"What is their relationship and how long had they been working with the candidate?"