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.”