Andrea Leadsom proves that lying on a CV has never been so risky

Andrea Leadsom, the would-be Conservative party leader, has recently been alleged to have lied on her CV about her career history. Despite her claims to have ‘managed billions of pounds’ and ‘managed for the investment team at Barclays’ it seems that she did not, in fact, manage any funds or teams. Perhaps her mistake was to embellish the truth so publically, leaving herself open to contradiction by former colleagues.

It seems that in all walks of life, ‘stretching the truth’ on a CV to impress a future employer is regarded as commonplace or even expected. Yet with modern social score checks and reports, exaggerating or downright lying on a job application form or CV can be very quickly and easily discovered.

Employers are increasingly turning to social media checks to uncover the truth about prospective or existing employees’ lifestyles, levels of trustworthiness and values as well as to verify their qualifications, experience and identity. A social media report is based on masses of data gathered from all forms of social media (such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook) that together paint a picture of a person’s personality, conduct and integrity. References made on social media to wild weekends, use of ALL CAPS and even the identity of contacts on a person’s social media site of choice can provide a surprisingly accurate depiction of their suitability for a particular job role.

HR departments now more commonly ask employees for permission to view their social media scores and may reject out of hand any employee who declines to grant this permission. Once permission is given, an employer has the authority to check the veracity of claims made on a CV or application (or in interview) as to past experience and qualifications. The information they glean about that person’s personality from the social media check will aid them in deciding which candidate will be most likely to fit in with their existing team and meet the expectations required of the job.

According to research by CV Library, an online job board, in excess of 28% of candidates admit to lying on their CV. With the increased use of social media checks by employers, this number may well decrease. Employees can check their own social media score by obtaining their Social Report and Score from Credit Angel. There are tools available to clean up past indiscretions and improve one’s social score and it is surely better to be aware of what data is out there before exaggerating or lying at any stage of applying for a job.

A Credit Angel spokesperson comments, “Social reports are now being commonly sought by employers as well as lenders and landlords, all of whom want to know more about a person whom they are being asked to trust. By checking a person’s social media footprint, they can tell at a glance what that person will be like to work with as well as being able to check their honesty by comparing the information in their CV or application against the information that is easily visible through their social media usage. Employees should check their own score and report before committing anything to paper that they might later be found to have lied about or exaggerated.”