The rate of unemployment in South Africa is causing many job seekers to paint their CVs with false information.

It is in every jobseeker’s nature to want to present themselves in the best possible way. But some job applicants have taken putting their best foot forward to dangerous extremes by painting their CVs with experience and qualifications they’ve never had.

In 2015, Managed Integrity Evaluation (MIE), a background screening company conducted checks of over 470 000 qualifications and vetted an additional 300 000 between January and June 2016. The company revealed that South Africa is still faced with a huge problem of falsified information by job applicants. As this problem is perpetuated by a high rate of unemployment, and it’s leaves more and more job candidates in a dire situation where they are willing to take drastic measures to get a job.

Trade industry has highest CV fraud

Results from the period January to June 2016 revealed that artisan qualifications had the highest percentage of CV liars, and that the following held the greatest risk in terms of qualification fraud:

Read: Warning: The average CV contains more lies than you’d ever imagine

Candidates are oblivious

What’s more alarming is that candidates who are guilty of committing CV fraud are unaware of the consequences of lying on their CVs.

Candidates do not know that lying about their qualifications puts them at risk of not only losing a potential job, but it can also have detrimental effects on their reputation and future career prospects. More than that, people who have committed an offence of this nature are added to a blacklist shared among various organisations. Because telling lies on a CV is essentially fraudulent, if uncovered, individuals are faced with the prospect of jail time.  

Read: How the heck can I recover from lying on my CV?

Organisations are strict on performing background checks

Even in an increasingly competitive job market and a rise in unemployment, businesses are increasingly performing background checks on potential employees before hiring them. In 2014 alone, more than 2 million background screening checks were performed. This means that even though there may be fewer jobs to screen for, companies are stricter about ensuring they are hiring suitable candidates.

While it is understandable that the job market is tough and that even the most honest individual may feel the added pressure to make their CV stand out, it’s better to use the Job Descriptions on Careers24 to find out everything you need to know about a job you’re interested in, and take steps towards ensuring you’re the right candidate for the job.