Imagine buying a bachelor’s degree online for several hundred dollars and using the falsified document to apply for a job. At the same time, falsifying the CV to create a whole new persona.

This is CV Fraud, the act of providing exaggerated, fictitious or misleading information on a job application or in a CV/Resume.

CV Fraud is rampant, as many job seekers are so desperate for a job, to change positions, or perhaps put themselves higher on the corporate ladder, that some are choosing to cut corners.

Honesty isn’t the best policy… for some.

As society becomes more competitive in the workplace, educational qualifications and work experience count, many job candidates, from college graduates to top-level executives, are committing CV Fraud.

According to the FBI, around 500,000 people in the United States have falsely claimed to have college degrees.

In the UK, it is prevalent for many job seekers, or those who are gainfully employed, to have lied about their work experience, education or other required credentials and licenses.

In Australia, the problems with CV Fraud have been noted higher up the chain. Telstra announced earlier this year it would let go its Chief Technology officer, Vish Nandlall, as the MBA he listed from Harvard University was falsified. After that experience, Telstra started doing thorough checks for its most senior staff.

Also in Australia, department store, Myer, sacked their general manager of strategy, Andrew Flanagan, after just one day of service. His employment history was fictional. Andrew’s CV said he was employed at a senior level in a company which owned the fashion label Zara, and worked in higher positions at Tesco in England and Walmart in the US. Apparently, he didn’t.

Even Yahoo was not sold with former CEO Scott Thompson. He lasted five months in the job when someone discovered that the computer science degree he allegedly received, as fake.

Who’s not honest.

CV Fraud happens in many countries, and in many industries. A survey conducted in where revealed that in the sectors of financial services, hospitality, IT, healthcare and medical, and retail contained more than double the amount of ‘lies’ than in an average CV.

The nature of recruitment is time-consuming when you consider having to read through every application against the a set job criteria.

Recruiters spend on average 6.25 seconds looking at a CV before deciding if the person is a good fit for the job. They look at the current title and company, previous title and company, and start and end dates for the previous and current position.

This is where significant fraud/cheating can go undetected.

Many companies are now looking to LinkedIn for further certification from an applicant’s CV. However, this isn’t always accurate either.

With CV Fraud on the rise, employers need to further screen job applications to discern lying, exaggeration and fraud.

CVproof will ensure a seamless screening process, where the employer knows who they are hiring, with access to certified educational and professional background data.

We’ll discuss all benefits of our platform in next week’s article. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, you can visit our website to download the white paper, and get all the details on how to sign up for the pre-sale (now open) and the ICO early next year.

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