It’s the episode of The Apprentice everyone looks forward to, when the remaining candidates face the interviewers, their CVs are scrutinised and the liars are caught red-handed. But how many people lie, or at least embellish, their work experience and skills? According to LinkedIn-based research by Adecco, the UK’s largest recruiter, one in 10 people have lied on their LinkedIn profile. Ten per cent have lied about their qualifications and 9 per cent about job titles, while 9 per cent have told the odd fib about their age, 7 per cent about their university and school and 5 per cent about the length of time in a particular job or experience. 

For some, the figures are not surprising. “You always get some people fabricating information on their CVs. In a challenging marketplace, people want to get a foot in the door,” says Alex Fleming, managing director of Adecco UK. But the key to catching them out is having a good interviewer who can adequately scrutinise the details of a candidate’s skills and experience. “An interviewer who has knowledge of the sector that a specific job is for can ask the relevant questions,” adds Ms Fleming. This ensures that those fabricating CVs can be weeded out. The key is to find any gaps in a CV and dig into these: if someone has not outlined exactly what they have been doing, dates, length of time in or out of a job and education, then it needs investigating. Adecco uses two interview techniques, one is competency-based and the other Ms Fleming calls strength-based. The first method teases out whether someone really has the relevant skills and the second involves firing short quick questions that make candidates think on their feet. “Liars can’t answer so fast,” she says...........

Questions

1. Why do people tell lies on their CVs? 

2. What is the difference between an ‘embellishment’ and a ‘lie’? 

3. What interview questions can help to reveal the accuracy of a candidate’s CV? 

4. How can social media be used to check a candidate’s experience and qualifications? 

5. From the techniques presented in this chapter, which ones would be useful in establishing if the candidate has the knowledge and skills, as stated in their CV?