Majority Of Applicants Lie On CV's

More than half of British workers would lie on their CVs to snare a dream job, according to recently published research.

In the survey, 73% of men admitted to stretching the truth on their CV compared with 56% of women. In total 64% of workers surveyed said they would not think twice about misleading a potential employer to get a job and office workers seemed the most likely to lie.

Of the 64% of people who admitted to lying on their CV 16% were office workers, 15% were students, 14% were manual workers, 14% practised skilled trades and 10% were retail workers. (31% listed themselves as other trades).

Exaggerating wages topped the poll as the most popular untruth with 47% of men and 34% of women admitting to inflating their salaries in a bid to increase their income for their next job. Jobseekers will also go to any length to convince employers they have the right attributes for the job with 27% lying about qualifications, 24% inflating their level of experience and 26% stretching the amount of time spent in a previous job, the poll found. Hobbies are also a grey area with 24% of workers admitting to being creative in this section and more so women than men, according to the survey of 375 people by The Job Channel on behalf of Multimedia Television Plc.

Company chief Angus Drever said: "I think these figures are understated. Add on 20% and this will probably be a more accurate figure. The problem is that people lie about lying on their CV. "Employers however are becoming wise to the ways of fibbing job seekers, with many being trained by recruitment psychologists to spot a liar.

"In this climate any employee sacked for lying on their CV will have a tough time finding a new job," he added.