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United Kingdom >
About Aon UK >
Media Centre 2007
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UK workers confess to embellishing the truth to land a job
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LONDON, 15 January 2007 – Nearly one in two UK workers (48%) will exaggerate the truth when they make their job applications, according to research commissioned by HR Consulting company Water for Fish, an Aon Consulting business. Also, with the New Year being renowned as the most popular time for workers to job hunt, the research shows that men (52%) are far more likely than women (42%) to not be completely truthful.
The research, which surveyed 1,006 working adults across the UK, asked what respondents thought would be the most common reasons for people to exaggerate the truth within job applications. Respondents thought that people did it “to get noticed and impress” (65%) or because “they worry that they do not have enough of the right experience” (63%). Over a third of people (37%) thought it was because “everyone else is” doing it and a fifth (20%) thought that it was because “people tell them they should”. The results also highlighted an interesting gender divide in that men were most likely to suggest that exaggerating the truth is “to get noticed and impress”, whilst women say it is because “they worry that they do not have enough of the right experience”.
When asked what areas respondents might think about exaggerating the truth in when applying for a job, the most popular areas were personal interests (43%), reasons for leaving a job (38%), previous job responsibilities (38%) and previous pay (30%). Interestingly, some would even consider covering up about their age (4%) and length of time in their previous job (10%) in order to try and influence the interviewer, although this is information that employers should not be asking for following the introduction of the new age regulations in October 2006. The results highlighted specific demographic divides in that younger people were generally more likely to think about exaggerating in most areas, although most popular amongst them were personal interests (57%) and previous responsibilities (52%), and those over 55 were most likely to consider lying about their age (11%). It also showed that women were more concerned with exaggerating about their personal interests, whilst men are more likely to embellish the truth about their previous role.
Whilst many admit to exaggerating the truth, worryingly 10% of those that owned up also confessed to giving entirely false or misleading information in interviews. The research also showed that of those that confessed, younger people were more likely to give false or misleading information, with 18% of those under 25 compared to only 4% of the over-55s.
Commenting on the survey, Nicola Mindell, Director at Water for Fish, said: “There is an enormous amount of pressure on people applying for jobs, especially highly competitive ones, to make sure they stand out as the best person for the job. However, lying in interviews or giving false and misleading information are not the answers and will not in the long run benefit anyone.
“Nonetheless, it seems unavoidable that nearly half of people think it is acceptable to exaggerate to get a job. Therefore, employers need to consider ways of making sure that the candidates they are interviewing are actually right for the job. Focusing on asking detailed and probing questions about specific aspects of people’s past roles, whether in the labour market or through their studies, in the case of younger applicants, enables employers to check out people’s experience more thoroughly.
“Employers need to steer those with less relevant job experience away from feeling that they have to be economical with the truth in order to impress. Instead, they should encourage them to think broadly about their skills and experience, whether gained through previous employment, their education or outside work pursuits. It is important to also note that given the introduction of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, which came into force on 1st October 2006, employers should ensure that they are not asking applicants for date-bound information such as their age or length of service in the job market, and, indeed, should be discouraging applicants from volunteering this information.”
Notes to editor:
About Water for Fish
Water for Fish is a leading people and organisation consulting company that helps private and public sector clients shape their organisation to achieve their business goals. It does this through three service areas; Transformation - achieving the right shape and feel of an organisation; Assessment - getting the right people in the right roles; and, Learning - developing people in line with an organisation's ambitions.
Aon Consulting acquired Water for Fish in January 2006 to strengthen its Human Resources (HR) Solutions business, offering the firm a strong platform from which to build on its market share in the HR Consultancy area. The combined operation, under the Water for Fish brand name, is run from Aon Consulting’s existing offices in London and Farnborough, and the Water for Fish office in Henley, bringing Aon Consulting’s regional network of offices to 12. Ben Thornton, previously Executive Director in Aon’s HR Solutions practice, heads up the new Water for Fish group.
About Aon Consulting
Aon Consulting is a leading human capital consultancy, helping organisations of every size to attract and keep the employees they need. We advise on all aspects of employment, including health-related insurance and risk; employee compensation and pensions; human resource strategy planning; job design and change management; and staff assessment and legal issues. Aon Consulting is a division of Aon, one of the UK’s largest insurance brokers and providers of risk management services and a major force in reinsurance and the UK human capital consulting market. Aon Consulting Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
About Aon
Aon Corporation is a leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting, and specialty insurance underwriting. There are 46,000 employees working in Aon's 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Backed by broad resources, industry knowledge and technical expertise, Aon professionals help a wide range of clients develop effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions.
This press release contains certain statements related to future results, or states our intentions, beliefs and expectations or predictions for the future which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from either historical or anticipated results depending on a variety of factors. Potential factors that could impact results include: general economic conditions in different countries in which we do business around the world, changes in global equity and fixed income markets that could affect the return on invested assets, fluctuations in exchange and interest rates that could influence revenue and expense, rating agency actions that could affect our ability to borrow funds, funding of our various pension plans, changes in the competitive environment, our ability to implement restructuring initiatives and other initiatives intended to yield cost savings, our ability to execute the stock repurchase program, our ability to consummate the pending sale of the Aon Warranty Group, changes in commercial property and casualty markets and commercial premium rates that could impact revenues, changes in revenues and earnings due to the elimination of contingent commissions, other uncertainties surrounding a new compensation model, the impact of investigations brought by state attorneys general, state insurance regulators, federal prosecutors, and federal regulators, the impact of class actions and individual lawsuits including client class actions, securities class actions, derivative actions, and ERISA class actions, the cost of resolution of other contingent liabilities and loss contingencies, and the difference in ultimate paid claims in our underwriting companies from actuarial estimates. Further information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company’s financial results, is contained in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Aon Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in respect of insurance mediation activities only.
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