With r\u00e9sum\u00e9 fraud making headlines more and more, executive search firm Odgers Berndtson has listed some of the most common lies told on CVs, and has advised on how to avoid getting caught blind by lying candidates.<\/p>\n
In recent months, a number of South African businesses and institutions have been struck with scandals involving senior executives who lied about their education and qualifications levels to get a\u00a0job.<\/p>\n
Most recently, Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) suspended its chief engineer – who subsequently resigned because of the furor – amid allegations that he falsified his qualifications.<\/p>\n
Daniel Mtimkulu headed the engineering team that designed new Afro 4000 locomotives delivered to South Africa in January, at a cost of R600 million.<\/p>\n
He reportedly claimed to have an engineering degree from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), before studying in Germany to get his doctorate. Wits, however, said it did not have any record of Mtimkulu attending the university.<\/p>\n
Other notable examples include Pallo Jordan, a former South African cabinet minister, who claimed to have a doctorate from the London School of Economics, when he did not; Hlaudi Motsoeneng, SABC COO, claimed to have a matric certificate, which was untrue; and Ellen Tshabalala, former SABC chairperson, who claimed to have postgraduate degrees from UNISA, which remain elusive.<\/p>\n
Read:\u00a0CV fraud in South Africa at record high<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Odgers Berndtson\u00a0noted\u00a0that the days where poor behaviour would be disregarded if you were a high performer are long gone – and from an organisation\u2019s point of view, false r\u00e9sum\u00e9 claims “not only waste time and money in selecting the right candidate, but can also result in embarrassing publicity and unwanted reputation issues”.<\/p>\n According to the firm, the most common r\u00e9sum\u00e9 lies it found were:<\/p>\n “It\u2019s not just on CVs that people bend the truth \u2013 in our experience, more than half of the information on LinkedIn about a candidate is completely unreliable: it is either out of date, inaccurate, or exaggerated,” the firm said.<\/p>\n “The problem is that people don\u2019t realise just how career limiting r\u00e9sum\u00e9 fraud is \u2013 the information age we live in makes it highly unlikely that embellishment of skills or experience will remain undetected for very long.”<\/p>\n Odgers said that instances of resume fraud are on the rise, and the only way to make sure you’re not being duped is to do proper homework on executives.<\/p>\n “In short, you can never do enough homework before appointing a top executive in your organisation. Never rush it because you are eager to fill the position \u2013 check everything, however unimportant it may seem,” it said.<\/p>\n Suspended Prasa chief engineer resigns amid fraud allegations<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Beware fraudulent matric certificates in SA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n CV fraud in South Africa at record high<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n
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More on CV fraud<\/h3>\n