Lies, deceit and the CV
In a startling ruling, the Supreme Court has ruled that it is a breach of human rights for a convicted criminal to have to disclose their past convictions and cautions in any job application.
The case that was referred was a relatively petty crime of an individual stealing a pushbike as a youth.
As a result, eyebrows were raised at the blanket ruling that all crimes, including those of significantly more impact, could and should be kept from prospective employers because such a disclosure was a breach of human rights.
The phrase ‘being economical with the truth’ probably fits more than an outright lie but this lack of disclosure could be both damaging and embarrassing for employer and employee alike. Indeed the lack of disclosure and the trust lost with it is likely to be a larger bone of contention than the committing of the offence in the first place.
So maybe not lying, but not being truthful at the same time.
In contrast comes a more prevalent and long running employment issue.
The Higher Education Degree Datacheck (Hedd) is an annual survey into the legitimacy of qualifications and degree fraud. Each year, on a fairly consistent basis it is claimed that one third of employees invent, embellish and lie on their CVs.
In the latest survey:
- 11% falsely claimed to hold a degree,
- 40% had inflated their grade.
- Significantly more fraud occurred amongst graduates of more than 10 years ago than recent ones
- Whilst increasing number of falsified documents were being used, and freely bought, to justify the erroneous claims
Few employers ever think to check the accuracy of claimed qualifications with the awarding institution but with nearly a third of any workforce on average likely to have significantly embellished their CV now is the time to take reference and background checks far less lightly.
We’ll take an honest and open ex-criminal any day over a stone cold liar.