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The dos and don'ts of CV white lies

29 Jun 2007

The dos and don'ts of CV white lies Those little white lies on your first graduate CV really aren't worth it, according to employment experts.

Recent research by Times Online has confirmed what we all suspected - although you might get away with the odd bit of 'truth-dodging' when selling yourself to your new employer, such tactics usually catch up with us in the end.

Several employers at law firms in the UK commented on the importance of CV accuracy.

Michael Leftley, an employment partner at Addleshaw Goddard, said: "It is hard to get away with lies on a CV for two reasons.

"First, honesty and integrity are far higher up the business agenda now than they were perhaps ten or fifteen years ago, and secondly, the wider availability of information means you are more likely to be found out."

However, Juliet Carp, an employment specialist at Speechly Bircham, emphasised that some fibs are more serious than others, explaining that "It depends on your seniority, what you do and what the lie was about".

Some personal information seems to be particularly sensitive and employers may take this into account when dealing with certain emissions or 'inaccurancies'.

For example, David Harper, head of employment at Lovells, emphasised: "If you are talking about disability it starts to get very tricky and depends on whether the request for medical information was relevant to employment.

"The employee could claim that it wasn’t a reasonable question to ask, the information is private or not relevant to the role."

The evidence also suggests that employers usually keep CVs on file long after applicants start work - and many refer to them long after the event.

On balance, it seems that most of the time, the truth will out.

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