Lawyer Cecilie Wille Søvik specializes in CV cheating. She sees a clear tendency for more and more people to cheat with their CV and diploma.
– It often starts with a small, white lie, but can have fatal consequences, says Wille Søvik in the interest and employee organization Econa.
She is glad that none of their members have been suspected of this as long as she has been in Econa.
– EXPERT: Lawyer Cecilie Wille Søvik is a specialist in CV cheating and sees that this is something more and more people are doing. Photo: Josephine Røtnes / Econa
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After profiled health peaks, CEOs and top politicians have been caught cheating on their CVs, one would think that this was something people had stopped with.
But on the contrary.
The number of people who are background checked when applying for a position increases every year. While the number of candidates who are not hired after such a check has remained stable at around 10 percent. Ergo, there are more who cheat.
– Where you look, you find, you might say, says lawyer Wille Søvik.
Econa is clear in its recommendation: Express yourself as truthfully as possible, to avoid the issue at all.
Forged the diploma
Recently, one of the many cheaters noticed how big consequences this can have.
A 32-year-old man then applied for a job as a teacher at a school.
But the school management sensed owls in the bog.
The man’s diploma, from the general teacher education at the University of Southeast Norway, turned out to be forged.
– SECURITY: The University of Southeast Norway sends out such diplomas after completing their education. Photo: Hege S. Riege / USN
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The man was recently sentenced to two weeks in prison for forging documents.
TV 2 has been in contact with the 32-year-old, who does not want to comment on the verdict.
– Not acceptable
Director of Communications Reidun Mangrud at the University of Southeast Norway (USN) confirms that a diploma from their school was recently falsified.
– When we hand out diplomas, we give a guarantee that the recipient has a certain competence. We can not accept that a false diploma is used to qualify someone for a position, says Mangrud.
The university therefore chose to report the matter.
– This is a sad story, and of course sorry for the person in question, she says.
– REVIEWED: Reidun Mangrud states that USN reported the person for forgery of the certificate. Photo: Nils Kalve / USN
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She points out that in this case it was a case of forgery of physical papers, which should no longer be possible.
– Now we are fortunately over to digitized diplomas, which makes forgeries more difficult.
A clear increase
General manager Hans Erling Stausland in Semac, who is the largest in the country on background checks, sees a clear increase in the number of people who receive remarks and are not hired after a check of their background.
– The proportion of remarks has increased significantly this year and last year, when we compare with previous years, Stausland says.
– MORE CHEATING: Hans Erling Stausland in Semac believes that great competition for positions can increase the risk of cheating. Photo: Semac
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He can not say that all the remarks concern cheating, but believes this is a good indicator that the proportion of cheating is increasing.
– In the first quarter of this year, we have had 70 percent growth in the number of background checks. At the same time, the number of candidates, who are not hired after such a check, has remained stable at around 10 percent. That says a bit, says the Semac boss.
The experts believe it is difficult to answer why more and more people are taking the chance to cheat on their CV.
But fierce competition in the labor market can be a cause.
– There is now much tougher competition in the labor market. This means that it is increasingly important to appear in the best possible way. Great competition for the positions can increase the risk of cheating, he says.
– Scary
Although the proportion of background checks of jobseekers is increasing, experts are surprised that many companies do not follow the authority’s recommendation and carry out background checks.
– It is frightening how many companies do not have a conscious attitude to carry out a background check of people they are considering hiring for key positions, says Kristian Thaysen.
He is the general manager of the consulting company Agenda Risk and is working to expose CV cheaters.
– REVEALS: Kristian Thaysen believes companies expose themselves to great risk by hiring job candidates who, among other things, deliberately embellish their CV. Photo: Bård Gudim
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Thaysen believes that if someone cheats on the CV, it is rarely an “innocent miss”, but rather a type of behavior that is symptomatic of what kind of employee you have actually got on board.
But if you are going to do a background check, there is something you should be aware of:
– When you carry out a background check of a candidate, it is also very important that you meet the requirements of the Personal Data Act and do not check things that are not relevant, the investigator says.
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