More than four fifths of HR professionals discovered that candidates lied during the recruitment process.
This is according HireRight’s, a global employment background check company, 2019 EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) Employment Screening Benchmark Report. Which found that 83 per cent of those in HR uncovered a lie from a candidate during the interview and application stages.
The most common CV inconsistencies the report found were surrounding previous employment history at 56 per cent. Just under half (49 per cent) lied about their educational past.
Over a third (37 per cent) even found lies regarding an applicants criminal record.
In addition, some businesses have not started to screen temporary and contract workers yet. With 32 per cent of companies admitting to not screening temporary workers and 42 per cent not screening contractors.
The report also found that 39 per cent of HR professionals know people within their organisation who rely on ‘gut instinct’ to recruit high-profile positions.
Only 18 per cent of EMEA business carry out adverse media checks on candidates applying for a job at their company.
The Financial Services are three times more likely to run adverse media checks, with 55 per cent of companies doing so.
Peter Cleverton, general manager, EMEA at HireRight, said:
The world of work is changing in many ways. In particular, the rise in temporary and contract work in EMEA has provided opportunities for businesses and employees to operate more flexibly. However, as our research shows, many businesses are needlessly opening themselves up to reputational risk by not treating temporary workers with the same level of rigour as their permanent employees.
The fact that most HR professionals are continuing to find discrepancies in candidates’ CVs once again highlights the importance of establishing a robust screening system. Employment background screening not only offers HR professionals an opportunity to streamline the recruitment process, but to manage brand reputation from a different side of the business.
The report asked over 4,000 HR professionals to share their experience and knowledge of their company’s employment screening and recruitment practice.
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.
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