Is That Promising Applicant Genuine? Weeding Out The 50% Of CVs That Aren't Accurate

We all want our CVs to present us in the best possible light. But emphasising the positive in a job application is very different from coming up with glowing references or a string of previous positions that simply aren’t true. Steve Girdler is managing director EMEA at candidate due diligence company HireRight, which screens potential new employees to make sure their job applications accurately represent their employment history. And, he says, over 50% of applications checked by HireRight contain what he tactfully refers to as “anomalies”. For some companies, such “anomalies” may lead to taking on someone who isn’t up to the job – for others, it may lead to even more serious issues such as security breaches or reputational damage. Making an external check on a promising candidate has become routine in the US and is becoming more widespread, especially as more companies hire from across the world – HireRight is one of the world’s largest providers of employment screening services and covers territories and markets in the US, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, South America and Africa. As Girdler says, “If people are going to have access to company systems, those companies need to make sure the people they’re hiring at all levels have the right levels of integrity and honesty to do the job.”