There are lies, damned lies and CVs — even in facilities management. Jobseekers shouldn't make it up and employers should check it up
The facilities management industry is not immune from the CV tweaking by job applicants highlighted by a recent survey. In the poll, conducted by opinion poll company MORI, 14 per cent of individual jobseekers thought there was nothing wrong in enhancing their curricula vitae when applying for a new position. The most common untruths related to leisure and the individual's current salary level.

Thankfully, the least likely information to be falsified on a curriculum vitae, were the individual's qualification and the individual's current job title.

Perhaps those who think there is nothing wrong with this practice of embroidering their CV to gain that new post, ought to be made more aware of the fact that it is a criminal offence to obtain employment through providing false information. It constitutes fraud to the value of the salary that is received by the individual in the new position.

Providing false information constitutes fraud to the value of the salary that is received by the individual in the new position

The best advice for individual jobseekers is tell the truth; highlight the positive aspects of your career that are relevant to the position applied for, but do not ever provide false information.

As for employers, their best bet is to stick to the procedures of any professional recruiting operation. Ensure that all applicants have their references checked by calling the referees provided for at least the last two previous employers and the applicant's current employer. Make any offer of permanent employment conditional upon a satisfactory probation period, and receipt of satisfactory references from the last employer. The level of reference checking by hiring companies is surprisingly very low.