How truthful is a CV?

For many candidates, exaggerating skills on a CV can seem harmless, some may even perceive it as a necessity to land the job. A recent survey has in fact revealed that 55 percent of UK employees have done so, with a quarter naming a friend, rather than a boss as a reference.

Research showed 68 per cent of hiring managers said they would rule out even considering an applicant for interview if it was clear they’d lied or over-exaggerated.

How can you spot if an applicant is lying?

Although the majority of employers are clearly clued in to the fact that applicants may get ‘creative’ with their CV it doesn’t appear to stop people continuing to do so.

If you’re facing the interviewing process soon, follow these simple steps to spot an over exaggerated CV.

1 – Set a task

It’s not uncommon for an interview process to include a simple abilities task. If you think a candidate may be overstretching their skill set, it won’t hurt to ask them to complete an exercise that will demonstrate these talents.

2 – Be inquisitive

Part of the interview process will always include an applicant talking through their past positions and experience. Something that could make you questions this is if their experience level matches their previous job titles. If they are unable to recall key details or stumble when talking about their roles and responsibilities, this could be a key giveaway that they may have fabricated the position or over sold their role.

3 – Listen carefully

Interviews can tend to be full of overly exaggerated descriptive phrases and buzzwords. However, listen out for candidates that use a lot of ambiguous phrases like ‘familiar with’ or ‘involved in’ as these can mean very different things. You may need to delve a little deeper to find out the true extent of a candidate skill set and experience to find out if they will be skilled enough for the role.

4- Confirm your thoughts

It is standard protocol to ask successful candidates to provide references, so if there is still any doubt about their authenticity previous employers should be able to help you out and reveal the true extent of their experience.

If you are looking for support or have any questions, get in touch with the team at Rapid Recruit today and ensure you get the perfect candidate for your team.