Work Experience? Sure, I’ve done that: Job Seekers CV Fraud

The job market these days is a tough one, and surely no one would blame you for listing that week you helped with your Dad’s filing as ‘administration experience’ or making that summer you spent cleaning the offices down the road sound like ‘experience of a fast-paced office environment,’ but what if there was no nugget of truth in that CV polish? What if bumping up your CV had nothing to do with what you did at all?

HR experts in Bangalore have reported rising levels of people who fake work experience in order to get a step ahead in the job market. People who have been jobless for over a year are faking certificates in order to entice prospective employers, and, as Kris Lakshmikanth, managing director of search firm, HeadHunters India, explained, ‘There are many people who graduated in 2009, 2010 and have not managed to get any employment. Having zero work experience puts them out of favour with most employers. Hence some are ready to go to just any extent to bag a job.’

According to one HR official from a mid-sized company in the city, he recently interviewed a job seeker who claimed to have worked in a call centre, even producing a letterhead of that company on which his tenure and role were mentioned, and the signature of the HR manager of that firm. ‘I have worked as a HR for decades now. I suspected something fishy with this candidate. Only after grilling him thoroughly he confessed to the lie. He had indeed worked in that firm, but not for 18 months as the letterhead claimed, but only for three months as he was asked to leave. Of course the designation on the document was also dubious,’ he reported.

Corporate wellness experts say that nearly 10% of CVs carry some element of a lie, and this is increasing due to the frustration of not having found a job and the desperation to get one. The reason could also be due to companies who demand work experience unfairly: ‘Even if you graduated, say, in June and have not yet found a job, you can get sidelined by companies,’ said Aneesh G Laikar, managing partner of executive search firm StarChase.

Bhupesh Gupta, director of recruitment firm Krizalis Consulting, agreed, ‘Companies limit their recruitments and go to only famous colleges. Students from lesser-known institutes have to then find jobs by themselves. And getting a job in the open market without contacts turns out 100 times tougher than through campus placements.’  Laikar added, ‘Companies need to change their mindset and look at unemployed people or those who have lost jobs with an unbiased approach.’