By Dorcas Karuana,
Writing a carefully-constructed CV is a vital part of any successful job search. When writing your CV, it’s important to frame your work experience in the best possible light.
Simply listing the tasks you were responsible for in previous roles won’t make you as competitive as someone who demonstrates they went above and beyond their job description, detailing their personal achievements. But how far would you go to make your CV look good? Would you lie?
Well, many job seekers have been caught for providing false information on their CVs for as long as people are desperate for employment. Sometimes, total falsifications are avoided and, instead, half-truths written in CVs. All this in a bid to land a role in a company, business, or government.
Here are the most common lies people include on their CVs in an effort to get a job offer.
1.Salary – A large number of employees do lie about their salaries. Remember that when you are found out you may be fired even if the organization you have been hired into find out you lied about your pay at some time in the future. It is very easy for you recruiting company to find out what are being paid. They may ask the previous company you worked for to give them the salary. They may ask you to provide three pay slips for a comparison with what the information they get from your previous employer.
2. Work History
a. Duties – Very many people lie about their work history. This is easy to spot in the interview and if you do happen to get through the interview, hope that you are a fast learner and can catch up with the work you are required to do or again you may find yourself out of a job when your probation period ends and you are not confirmed.
b. Dates – With the Kenyan job market the way it is at the moment it is understandable that you may have gaps in employment. Some candidates stretch their employment dates thinking that it will make them look more favourable. This is a misconception as most recruiters are cautious and my rule out a candidate that added time to their work history to look good.
c. Giving themselves elaborate job titles – This may be forgiven as many of the job titles are evolving. Jobs like office secretary and are now referred to as Office Administrator, Administrative Assistant or Personal Assistant. You may find in some organizations they have unique job titles that are peculiar to the industry or company. In such cases the candidate may mention the more common one explaining in the meeting the specific job title. Others simply just fib. Experience recruiters will be able to spot this and bring it out in the interview. However, if you put yourself at a level higher than you are, you may find you have “promoted” yourself beyond your capabilities. When you start working and can’t perform, then it will be obvious you fibbed
3. Foreign Languages – Many people lie about their education. For some just having a brief conversation with them can let you know something is not right. The one that I find constantly of CV is languages. Many people list foreign languages on a CV. I’m lucky enough to be able to pick up languages and whenever I switch the interview into the language they claim to speak. Many candidates look at me as if I have not spoken to them. Others say, “What?” A few answered in English and there were only two that could actually speak the languages stated on their CV. If you can’t speak it well enough to get around town or to do business then it may be wise to leave it off your CV.
4. Education – This may be difficult to spot, however a simple call to the institution the you studied at will provide the recruiter with knowledge of your performance in school, whether you finished and also let them know whether you attended that school. Credentials, the worst thing I remember hearing was the story about a gentleman that went to a dentist for a filing. This dentist studied in a foreign country but had the title dentist. Assuming that the qualifications were the same as those required for the dentists in Kenya. He started his treatment ended up loosing 3 teeth and feeling on the left side of his face. He was luck as for some odd reason his facial muscle moved. The damage to her face was irreparable and the amount of money the family spent just to restore
5. Criminal charges – People that have faced criminal charges or people that have been sued for one reason or another may find that they may feel that they may not be the first choice of an employer. For this reason they may be compelled to lie about this. Some industries require that practitioners in that field need to have a certificate of good conduct to show that they are clean.
Most employers require that employees are honest while they are making their job applications. It is surprising to note that very many people lie in their job search. Some lies are small, harmless, so the candidate may think. It is important to remember that a lie, even a little one points to a larger issue. One of a lack of integrity. That I believe may be reason enough for an employer to strike your name off the shortlist. A job search is hard enough, do it the best that you can.
Dorcas is the Head of Recruitment at Corporate Manpower East Africa.
Email: dorcas(at)corporatemanpower.co.ke