Employers at risk of fraud from foreign jobseekers' CV lies

Employers who do not cross check job applications from foreign jobseekers have a one in three chance of employing unqualified staff, potentially putting the business at risk of "fraudulent, dishonest or inappropriate behaviour", according to new research.

Steve Girdler, HireRight’s managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: “The recent change in law allowing Bulgarians and Romanians the same rights to work in the UK as other EU nations, has shed light on the increasingly international make-up of this country’s workforce.

“But with greater choice of talent comes greater complexities. To help ensure organisations employ a qualified candidate who does not pose a risk to the business through fraudulent, dishonest or inappropriate behaviour, organisations must have a robust screening process which treats national and international candidates with the same level of rigour.

“Clearly this is not currently the case in many organisations.”

The company also revealed that its latest Candidate Health Check found that more than half - some 54pc - of all job applications checked in the final quarter of 2013 contained an inaccuracy. However, as the economy improves and the jobs market picks up, this is down 9pc on the previous quarter.

The most common subject to try to slip something past a potential employer is job history, representing a third of all instances where applicants deviate from the truth, closely followed by educational achievements.

“It’s interesting to see that as UK recruitment picks up, people are being more truthful (or at least careful) in their applications,” Mr Girdler added. “But let’s not fool ourselves. More than half of the applications we receive still contain inaccuracies, showing it is vital to check that people - wherever they have lived or worked - are exactly who they claim to be, will be able to fulfil their job responsibilities and won’t pose a known risk to the business.”

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