Is honesty the best policy when it comes to writing a CV? For some people, there is no doubt that the answer would be a solid ‘yes’. To land on a good job and maintain personal integrity, it is imperative for candidates to tell only the truth in their resume. However, the fact is, not everyone shares the same thought, considering the practice of CV fabrication has become somewhat a common secret done by many candidates.

Owing to one and another reason, a candidate risks his own integrity by listing false information or exaggerating their skills in the CV. Whereas, if they get caught lying and cheating, this could have a bad impact on their personal brand image and affect their future employment. For example, their candidacy can be rejected and even black-listed when they re-apply at the same company in the future.

Recent independent research survey commissioned by specialised recruiter Robert Half revealed that one in four CIOs in Singapore have rejected IT candidate because of dishonest information on their CV. However, while IT jobseekers in the country have been caught lying on their CVs when applying for job, the survey suggested that Singapore’s IT jobseekers remain the most honest when compared to global findings.

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According to the survey released on Monday (Jan 8), more than one in four (43 percent) Singaporean CIOs have disqualified a job candidate from employment consideration after they discover dishonest or exaggerated information included on their CVs. However, when looking at the bigger picture, more than two thirds (69 percent) Brazilian CIOs expressed the same sentiment, followed by Australia (67 percent), Germany (66 percent), Hong Kong (63 percent), Belgium (60 percent), the UK (47 percent) then France (45 percent). These statistics indicated that Singapore has the most honest IT jobseekers globally.

Related to the findings, Managing Director of Robert Half Singapore Matthieu Imbert-Bouchard said that honesty remains to be the best policy during the job application process. While a job seeker might seem to be the best-fit for the position, once their dishonesty has been discovered, the candidate’s professional credibility will be been irreversibly damaged and highly reduces their chance of successfully landing the job. He also added that wide use of online transparency and social media has also made background checks much easier to do, leaving little opportunity for candidate to lie.

Surveying a total of 1,117 CIOs globally, the research noted that among the most common areas where job applicants were telling lies on their resume including, technical skills (63 percent), work experience (56 percent), duties performed at previous job (38 percent), educational background or qualifications (31 percent), leadership skills (28 percent) and project management skills (28 percent).

Mr Imbert-Bouchard said, “While jobseekers may not specifically intend to deceive potentially employers, even minor exaggerations can have serious consequences, not just for the position at hand, but also for throughout one’s career. If they’re successful in securing the job and are found to have lied on their CV, it will most likely result in termination, damage the candidate’s reputation, and eliminate the option of obtaining a positive reference for future employment.”

“Instead of falling foul of temptation, a more beneficial option is to seek guidance from a career expert who specialises in IT job applications, who can help build a CV that stands out amongst other candidates,“ he added.

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