Hiding a few facts on your CV to get that dream job won't harm you. It will not cause damage if you exaggerate a little, like extending a job’s tenure to cover three months of unemployment. It’s not deception - just a bit of tweaking. Even Yahoo’s former chief executive Scott Thomson fudged his resume, including a degree in computer science that was in fact, a bachelor of accounting. Everybody does it, including Thomson, and it's fine if not taken to the extreme. Right?
Well, HR disagrees.
And that's where even Yahoo’s Thompson went wrong - and lost his job.
Companies are paying for a person with specific qualifications and experience as is mentioned on the CV and fudging it is a serious offence. Thus, Thompson was fired as CEO after it was found he padded his resume with lies.
As in any country of the world, UAE companies are getting serious about checking CVs that are tainted.
“We get CVs checked regularly, especially for mid to senior positions. Candidates often lie about their last drawn salary. However, there have been cases where people have forgotten to put assistant before manager while mentioning the details of their previous employment or claiming to hold an MBA degree for an A grade B-school whereas it was just a B-level institution,” said the HR manager of a bank without wishing to be quoted.
Employment background check is fast becoming a trend in the country and people who fake their CVs are likely to face the repercussions, say recruitment experts and employment lawyers in the UAE.
“These are increasingly common [background checks], especially by multinational employers who will often appoint an external organisation to carry out background checks on all potential applicants. Employers have to be mindful of data protection laws and also regulations relating to credit information and history of an individual. If an employee begins employment and is then discovered to have lied or forged documents then an employer could terminate employment,” Sara Khoja, Partner at Clyde & Co told ‘Emirates24|7’.
Background checks are more common for senior positions as these people are critical in the running of businesses.
“There are always reference checks for senior positions (both official and unofficial). These checks are made both by the executive search company and by the hiring company. Most discrepancies are found before the (the person is placed). If the fraud is discovered after the hiring process, the employee can be sued and fired as well,” said Konstantina Sakellariou, Partner, Marketing & Operations Director at Stanton Chase.
“All professional employers take references as it is best practice and a simple way to reassure that they are hiring the right person. In majority of cases, if it is found that a candidate has fabricated references, then this usually would lead to dismissal,” added Hasnain Qazi, Middle East Business Manager at Huxley Associates.
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