CV and reference checking

• At least one third of all CVs contain false information ranging from inflated salary claims to fake degrees?
• 34% of employers do not check a candidate's background because it is ‘too time consuming' and 87% of employers do no take up references at all?
• The average cost of recruitment in the UK is £2,500 per employee; or £4,800 if you include indirect costs?

These sorts of numbers are highly illuminating and provide a compelling ROI for employers taking more action in this area. I have long felt that outsourcing this work to specialists is the way to go (indeed, HireScores.com has a specific category in its supplier Directory covering this range of services.

I read the average cost of recruitment numbers with some interest since I think that they are significantly under represented - as can happen with averages. Many jobs, particularly hard to fill and business critical ones cost a great deal more than this to fill. And in addition there is a large, and continuing cost of induction and quality. If your new employee takes 6 months to settle into the role fully this is 6 months of lower effectiveness and productivity; if your recruits are not high performers this is a cost that will remain with you for as long as they do.

*** statistics courtesy of Golightly (www.golightlyuk.com) who provide profiled referencing and CV verification services. Golightly is a specialist research, screening and verification consultancy based in the South West.