Employers are being increasingly careful about who they take on. Recruiting a new member of staff is expensive, both in terms of time and lost revenue. Sacking someone isn’t always easy either, so it makes a lot of sense to make sure you get the right candidate. Unfortunately, employers can’t take anything people say on face value. People can and do tell lies. It’s easy to verify someone’s nationality by looking at their passport, or their qualifications by looking at certificates. But how do you verify their employment history, and why should you bother anyway?
Why bother checking employment history?
We’ve all done it, or have been tempted to do it. Surely it wouldn’t harm to describe your position as “team leader” when you were the only person in the team? Or extend your time in a management position by a few months? Unfortunately, from an employer’s perspective it really does matter. Firstly, it raises general questions about how honest you are. If you’re prepared to lie about job titles, what else might you be lying about? Employers may also state that they require a certain number of years experience in a job advert. If you’ve adjusted your employment history to show you have more experience, then you could fall flat on your face if thrown in at the deep end. It’s an expensive mistake, especially if the recruiter then has to start advertising all over again.
How to verify a CV
Recruiters will usually start by checking your CV against any other information you’ve provided on an application form or online. If you’ve put that you were in a job for 6 weeks on the form and 6 months on your CV, expect questions. Recruiters usually make calls to places you’ve worked – or claim to have worked – and ask them to verify your dates of employment and job titles. This is not the same as taking up a reference. The recruiters aren’t asking for opinion on your timekeeping or reliability. It’s purely a fact checking exercise and most companies are more than happy to share this information. They are not breaching your privacy, or data protection rules, by doing so. If there is a genuine reason why you don’t want anyone contacting your old employer, then state this at interview. Most employers are interested in what you’ve been doing over the last five years. If it’s a very senior position, they might go back further.
Advice for Candidates
Above all – be honest. Don’t be tempted to exaggerate job titles or responsibilities as you run a high risk of being caught out. Many candidates are tempted to stretch periods of employment to cover for a couple of months when they were out of work. This isn’t a great idea. It’s usually best to be very honest about your periods of employment. If questioned about the gaps, state that you were job hunting, travelling or on maternity leave as appropriate. Having a few weeks when you were out of work is a better scenario than being caught telling fibs.
