CV fabrications are increasing, according to an analysis from the Risk Advisory Group.

The employment screening company, looked at more than 3,000 CVs and found 63 per cent contained “discrepancies”. That’s a rise of more than 15 per cent compared to a decade ago.

Logically this means that assuming only a few get caught, most people are lying on their CVs. The problem is then that if you are honest, upstanding and correct and you don’t falsify your resume, you are likely to be at a significant disadvantage when it comes to who is going to be chosen for interview. Mind you it does go a long way to explain why there are so many plonkers in senior positions in the workplace today……..

Anyway don’t try any of these fraudulent scenarios below as you may get caught…..

(1) A senior compliance applicant creating a fictional employment history to cover up past misdemeanours involving time served in prison for stealing client money

(2) A candidate building a website for a fictional school and arranging for a virtual office to answer calls acting as the school, all to create an inflated academic background in a desperate bid to secure a work experience placement with a leading bank

(3) A candidate creating a work history overseas to cover up the time he spent in prison for drug offences

(4) Candidates forging degree certificates

(5) Candidates presenting degrees from bogus universities in India, Pakistan and, increasingly, the UAE

(6) An elaborate tale of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro despite the candidate claiming to have been bedridden and unable to complete their A Levels at the time

(7) An intern claiming to be a senior analyst

(8) A BA exaggerated to a Masters degree

(9) Doctoring a friend’s degree certificate and passing if off as their own