Graduate CVs: Embellish or Not?

Graduates from top-ranking universities are less likely to lie on CVs suggest the findings of Powerchex’s annual CV Survey. In fact, the survey, which was conducted by pre-employment screening firm Powerchex, reveals that 43% of applicants from the UK’s lowest ranking universities embellished their CVs, compared to just 14% of applicants from the Top 20 rated schools. “What this survey says is that graduates from lesser-known universities may feel they need to alter their background to compete”, says Powerchex managing director Alexandra Kelly. “There appears to be a trend that the lower ranked the university, the higher the likelihood of discrepancies on a CV”, she adds. Kai Peters, Chief Executive at Ashridge Business School agrees with Kelly: “The survey suggests that individuals with the discipline to get into good universities are proud of their performance and see no need to embellish their CVs.” The survey also reveals a link between the subject area studied at university and the frequency of falsifications. More specifically, graduates in the subjects of arts and humanities had the highest rate of discrepancies (22%) whilst mathematics based students tend to have the lowest (6%). Contrary to popular opinion, graduates in finance also had a low rate of falsifications (13%), second only to mathematics when it comes to being honest on job applications. It is not good news for some graduates however: “The survey suggests that those who pursue creative writing degrees extend fiction writing to their CVs” continues Kai Peters. This is however good news for business schools that have placed an emphasis on ethical behavior and integrity. Mark Zupan, Dean of the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester (recently ranked 3rd in the world for finance by the FT) comments, “Contrary to the common-held belief that finance students are less inclined to behave ethically, these results indicate that the exact opposite may be true.”
Article courtesy of Kennedy Information Recruiting Trends providing leading edge insights and strategies for the recruiting professional

Originally posted by Candice A