The most common things South A

Image credit: Pixabay

The most common things South Africans lie about on their CVs

Unsurprisingly, the most commonly misrepresented section of the modern CV is the qualifications section.

The most common things South A

Image credit: Pixabay

The latest MIE report revealed that misrepresented qualifications have increased from 44,880 in 2016, to 50,618 in 2017. In most cases, applicants lie about their skills, job titles, responsibilities, reason for leaving previous employment, as well as their employment history. 

However, the recent adoption of the National Qualifications Framework Amendment Bill could make it that much harder for job seekers trying to embellish their qualifications and skills, as reported by Business Tech

The new bill introduces a register that will catalogue institutions and individuals who hold or have been found to have issued at least one fraudulent qualification. In each case, there would have to be a criminal conviction of fraud for the individual or institution to be entered on the register.

“The bill empowers the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) to establish and maintain separate registers for professional designations, misrepresented qualifications and part-qualifications, and fraudulent qualifications,” said the committee’s acting chairperson, Charles Kekana

“The SAQA is also empowered to evaluate foreign qualifications or part-qualifications and publish criteria for evaluating foreign qualifications or part-qualifications.”

The register will hold the following information for individuals and institutions:

  • Name of the holder of the qualification or part-qualification;
  • Description of the document concerned;
  • Status or reclassification of the document to be recognised as a qualification at a lower level on the NQF;
  • Nature of the offence and sentence on receipt of details from the relevant clerk of the court;
  • Name of the educational institution, a foreign institution or skills development provider who issued the qualification or part-qualification;
  • Details of a degree, diploma or certificate mill;
  • Date of confirmed misrepresentation by the SAQA or date of a finding by a court of law;
  • Any other relevant information.

Also read: This dude filled out his CV using Google autocomplete and the results are hilarious

Between 2009 and 2014, qualification fraud increased by nearly 200%. These were more than inflated job titles, but also included gross exaggeration of qualifications and experience. 

Other ‘little white lies’ also included the ability to speak a foreign language, the amount of time spent at a previous employer, and even lies about hobbies. The latter presumably out of fear of ‘appearing uninteresting.’