Marco Laveda recently shared a super interesting post in which he reveals that 70% of people exaggerate or lie on their resumes. It’s a sad reality, and yes, many individuals do misrepresent themselves on their CVs and in interviews. At Joppy, we’ve seen this firsthand, and it clearly impacts the efficiency of our hiring processes.
The key to a resume is to emphasize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses, which is fairly standard practice. However, there’s a big leap from highlighting your skills to outright lying to secure a better salary or apply for a position that you don’t truly match. This approach is absurd and incredibly risky. What’s the point of starting a process if you lack the necessary skills for the role? Almost always, you’ll end up being “caught out.” And if you aren’t caught right away, you’ll be dismissed quickly if your performance doesn’t meet expectations.
This brings us to the importance of properly qualifying candidates during interviews, especially when it comes to assessing hard skills. This can be achieved through:
➡ Technical assessments or tests.
➡ One-on-one conversations with technical team members.
However, the root of the problem lies in conducting thorough initial pre-vetting. A correct analysis of what the candidate has discussed can help identify discrepancies in their CV, limiting errors during the initial screening process. It’s not an easy task, but it’s a challenge we all strive to meet.
Another dramatic issue in recruiting is the excessive reliance on keywords. Many Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and recruiters use them for quick filtering of applications, often overlooking the essence of the resumes. Candidates naturally understand this and adjust their profiles to match. Thus, part of the problem with these “lies” stems from the focus on keywords rather than the candidates themselves.
There needs to be a serious reflection on the part of recruiters: in the quest to save time (which is understandable), we are relying too heavily on keyword filtering. Analyzing a technical profile correctly is much more complex than that. We should prioritize building genuine connections and understanding the skills and experiences of candidates to ensure we find the best fit for each role. Let’s aim for a more nuanced approach in our recruiting practices!
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