Job-seekers falsify CVs in tight market

Desperate times call for desperate measures – and for determined job-seekers that sometimes means falsifying your CV in today’s highly competitive environment. “Recruitment is not what it used to be,” says Kim Botti, director of Lee Botti & Associates based at head office in Johannesburg. “With candidates often applying for jobs online, we have noticed people taking ‘chances’ in over-selling themselves to ensure that they secure employment. Recruitment has become investigative work, where verification checks are essential requirements when submitting details of a candidate to a potential employer.” She points to a number of instances of misrepresentation where references are falsified, payslips doctored, and employment history and reasons for leaving a company altered. She believes recruitment agencies are now more crucial than ever because they’re able to conduct the necessary checks. “With over 34 years in the industry, we have seen significant changes. In the past, all recruitment advertising was placed in the print media. Candidates would provide information and details that were taken for granted as being truthful and correct. Often offers of employment were concluded on a gentleman’s handshake and a verbal agreement was considered binding.” So while technology has added a more immediate dimension to the recruitment market, the role of the recruitment agent is now more critical than ever as a means of verifying the information supplied. “We offer a variety of checks which can now be conducted, be it credit, criminal and qualification, but invariably the verbal reference checks are still considered to be the most crucial,” says Botti. “This is not only to verify details of employment, but to confirm skills and abilities, as well as verify written letters of reference and reasons for leaving. In many instances, we are providing staff to those clients whom we also approach for references on previous employees, and it is vital that in the interests of supporting the industry as a whole, concise and honest references are provided.”