State School Students Forced To Lie To Get Jobs

Aug. 10, 2009 - PRLog -- The Powerchex Annual Pre-employment screening survey, which considered 4,735 job applications to firms in the financial sector, found that one in five state school students would lie on their CV to land a job. Only 16% of their counterparts in independent schools felt the need to do so.

“This is statistic is one that must be understood. State school students are certainly not inherently less honest. But on average they may go on to become less qualified than students from independent schools, and, in today’s the ultra-competitive job market, appear to feel the need to make false claims in order to get hired,” said Alexandra Kelly, Managing Director of Powerchex.

These findings add to the concern about social mobility across the country, an issue which has come to the fore following the government report Unleashing Aspiration that was published on July 21. “It is not ability that is unevenly distributed in our society. It is opportunity," said Alan Milburn, former Secretary of Health for Labour who chaired the report.

“The fact that job applicants from state school lie more often suggests that it is harder for them to clinch these sought after jobs in the financial sector. Hopefully the government can move toward rectifying this as soon as possible,” Kelly added.

This year’s survey also shows that the better the university an applicant attended, the less likely they are to lie on their CV. Less than 10% of candidates who graduated from Oxford and Cambridge made lies or embellishments, compared to 24.8% of candidates from universities ranked outside the top 100.

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For more information please contact:

Deva Gilroy Sen
0207 767 2425
dsen@powerchex.co.uk
 
Notes to editors:

Tables and graphs of data are appended below; for a copy of the full Powerchex Annual Pre-employment Screening Survey, please contact Powerchex or Deva Gilroy Sen.

The survey analysed 4,735 financial service job applications submitted between June 2008 and May 2009. It compared trends in major embellishments and false information including: professional qualifications, criminal records, university degrees, job responsibilities, employment histories and dates.

The Shell Technology and Enterprise Programme carried the survey out on behalf of Powerchex.

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About Powerchex:

Powerchex is the UK’s premier pre-employment screening firm for financial institutions. Based in the City of London, Powerchex checks the background, employment history, criminal records and professional qualifications of applicants on behalf of financial institutions. It sets the industry benchmark of 5 days for a background check.

Powerchex has won a business of the year awards for three years running: DBC & East London Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year 2009; NatWest Business of the Year Award 2008; NatWest Service Business of the Year Award 2007.