Honesty is the best policy

Honesty is the best policy in the job market
For those who have recently completed their tertiary studies, this is the period to start doing some serious job hunting. THE start of a new year is often a time when many make the decision to place a renewed focus on their growing careers and perhaps even seek new job opportunities. For those who have recently completed their tertiary studies, this is the period to start doing some serious job hunting, in the hopes of finding suitable employment opportunities – in what is a very tough economic environment locally.

Focusing on your CV is a good starting point. Whether you are seeking a new job just for a change or wanting to enter the workplace for the first time, there are some critical aspects to consider when putting your CV together and getting it out there.

Background screening

Did you know that more and more businesses now check-up and look into potential candidates? Sure, this process not only ensures that the company hires the right candidate for the available job, but given the tougher economic situation businesses are operating in, most can’t afford to make a ‘hiring mistake’ and therefore this process is very stringent. This usually involves undertaking checks on the CV submitted, the qualifications the candidate states having, past employment opportunities and so on.

Therefore, it is critical to ensure that all the information included on your CV is factual and truthful. While it may be tempting to ‘embellish’ certain aspects of your qualifications or work experience, lying on your CV is just not worth the risk. In fact, if the company you are applying to should undertake a background screening analysis based on the information included in your CV and comes across any untrue information, this in effect is fraud, as you have deliberately misrepresented yourself. The risk is that once this act is discovered a company is more likely to exclude you as a candidate for the job opportunity – and may even ‘blacklist’ you from applying for any future available job positions with the company. Moreover, if this is investigated further, it could even lead to a criminal record, which will follow you around for the rest of your life and impact any other future job opportunities you may seek.
“I encourage all job seekers to apply for positions that they are suitable for – where you have the correct qualifications and necessary work experience – or be honest about your need to learn. Don’t forget to include character references, where possible, and be truthful about what you can offer the organisation,” says Ina van der Merwe, CEO of Managed Integrity Evaluation (MIE).

The role of social media

Given the insight social media pages can provide on individuals – especially if the pages are open to the public – there is a growing interest from businesses to make use of these platforms as part of their basic screening methodologies. This is a great way to ascertain more personal information of a potential employee, such as their likes, recreational activities and possible hobbies, all to gauge their fit with the business’ culture.

If you are seeking employment, take this on board and ensure that your social media pages are once again truthful to your personality and do not compromise you in any way. While many of our pages are aimed at personal activities, outside the office or working space, these are still public platforms that hold your information and can be accessed.

The job market may be tough, but you should never be willing to compromise your credibility. Companies will see through this and it will impact any prospects you may want to explore.