Lying on a CV about qualifications - new laws - it will not end well

It is not unusual for people to exaggerate their achievements on their CV. However, when this goes as far as lying about your qualifications on your CV, Linkedin or Twitter bio, the risks are just not worth it. At best, the offender will be excluded when the hiring company gets to the qualifications check part of the hiring process. If the company fails to check, makes the hire and finds out later, they can and probably will fire the offender. Even worse, thanks to the National Qualifications Framework Amendment Act, there is even a chance the offender could face jail time.

Forbes Magazine has reported that this is not unusual, even in developed countries, and they rightly wonder how people will think this will go undetected. Every one of our clients asks us to do do pre-offer checks ensuring false qualifications are detected. Forbes also reported how this lie can haunt one for the rest of their career. If the company does an audit and finds deception, they will probably fire all the offenders, even if the offender is the CEO.

A large, listed South African company did an audit some years ago, and to their shock, they found a good number of offenders, many of whom were senior and performing well. Since they had fired previous offenders, they had no choice but to fire the recently detected offenders. Even if there is no audit, a disillusioned employee may report the offender.

The simple solution is to tell the truth on your CV and engage someone to help you write your CV. If we have an opportunity for you, we will write your professional CV in conjunction with you in order to best reflect your academic and work experiences to date. We believe this should be a collaborative document that best represents you.