I was deeply shocked by a recent survey that suggested 30 per cent of job applicants embellished the truth or lied on a curriculum vitae. Can the figure really be that low? I had always assumed CVs were riddled with evasions, half-truths and downright whoppers. As a cynic, the news that 70 per cent of workers are scrupulously honest has shaken my lack of faith in my fellow humans. The only consolation is that people often fib in anonymous surveys, just as they do on résumés, which means the real proportion may be higher。

　　最近一项调查显示，有30%的求职者在简历中美化事实或者造假，这让我深感震惊。这一数字真的可能这样低吗？我向来认定，简历中充斥着遁辞、半真半假的事实和彻头彻尾的谎话。作为一名怀疑论者，这则70%的员工都谨严正直的消息，动摇了我对人类的信心缺失。唯一能让我聊以自慰的是，人们通常在匿名调查中扯些小谎，就像他们在简历中那样，而这意味着，真实的比例可能会更高。

　　One prediction rang true from the research by the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors. It was that the incentive for mendacity is growing, as unemployment balloons and competition for jobs rises. In coming months recruiters will therefore be bombarded with CVs making claims more misleading than the kind that got Corpus Christi college disqualified from the BBC's University Challenge。

　　英国教育评估人特许学会(Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors)所做的研究中，有一个预测听上去真实可靠：随着失业人数迅速膨胀，及就业竞争加剧，说谎的动机在不断增强。因此，在未来数月内，招聘者将接到大量内容不实的简历，这些简历的欺骗性要比导致牛津大学圣体学院(Corpus Christi college)被取消由英国广播公司(BBC)主办的《大学对抗赛》(University Challenge)比赛资格的造假严重得多。

　　It was the same during the downturn of the early 1990s. Then, one acquaintance obtained a graduate traineeship at a large bank by bumping his third-class degree up to a 2:1. A journalist colleague meanwhile admitted to me that his degree from a top university was entirely fictional. Another contemporary explained away a year lost to bone idleness by telling prospective employers that he had been writing a field guide to the wild flowers of the Pyrenees. I might have lied on my own CV, if an east coast Scottish upbringing had not lumbered me with the subliminal conviction that I would burn for eternity in hell if I did。

　　这与上世纪90年代初经济下滑时期的情况相同。当时，我的一个熟人在将他的三等学位抬高至二等一级(2:1)学位后，得到了一家大银行培训生一职。一位记者同僚同时向我承认，他的顶尖大学学位完全是捏造的。另一位同龄人在解释游手好闲浪费掉的一年时光时，搪塞称他在写一本有关比利牛斯山脉野花的野外指南。倘若不是苏格兰东海岸的成长教育让我在潜意识里坚信，如果我造假，就会在地狱里永世受折磨，我可能也这样做了。

　　Charles Thomas of Kroll, a company whose services include background checks on job applicants, says that inaccuracies on CVs divide into three main groups. First, there are honest mistakes, typically made when candidates muddle dates. Second, there is deliberate fibbing about qualifications. Mr Thomas says: “A lie told 20 years ago to get a job can become part of the liar's reality. So he tells it again when he switches jobs, even though he has become a successful finance director。” Third, applicants close up suspicious gaps in their employment history. In one case investigated by Kroll, a candidate turned out to have spent a three-month gap in prison for fraud。

　　服务内容包括求职者背景调查的Kroll公司的查尔斯？托马斯(Charles Thomas)表示，简历不实大体分为三类。第一种是无意造成的错误，通常是求职者搞混了日期。第二种，是故意在资历方面撒些小谎。托马斯表示：“一个在 20年前为得到某份工作而撒下的谎，可以变成说谎者现实生活的一部分。那么当换工作时，他还要再讲一遍，尽管他已成为一名成功的财务总监。”第三种，求职者为了填补工作经历中可疑的空白。Kroll调查过的一件案例中，一位求职者有3个月的空白被证明是因欺诈罪而关在监狱中。

　　About 65 per cent of businesses take up references for shortlisted job applicants, according to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Fewer than half said they found out anything useful. This is hardly surprising now that the fear of litigation prevents past employers from saying anything more revealing than: “Yes, Derek worked for us. He has a beard and knows a bit about databases。” Less than 40 per cent of businesses bother to check academic and professional qualifications。

　　英国特许人事和发展协会(Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development)研究表明，约65%的企业会参看入围求职者的推荐信。不足一半的企业表示，能从中得到一些有用的信息。这并不令人惊讶，由于担心会惹上官司，昔日的雇主们不会揭露真相，除了：“是的，德里克(Derek)曾为我们工作。他留着胡子，对资料库略懂一些。”不足40%的企业会费心核查教育和职业资历。

　　How can the honest candidate compete? The recession means that one job advertisement in a broadsheet newspaper can attract up to 700 applicants, reports Owen Morgan of Penna, a human resources consultancy. A junior HR officer will typically whittle these down to a long list, spending no more than 15 seconds examining each CV. The helot may simply run a key word search on CVs submitted electronically, freeing up a few minutes for a fag break. Kerwin Hack, a counsellor at HR consultancy Fairplace, therefore suggests larding CVs with phrases extracted from the job ad。

　　诚实的求职者怎样去竞争？人力资源咨询公司Penna的欧文？摩根(Owen Morgan)报告称，经济衰退意味着，报纸上一个招聘广告能吸引多至700名申请者。人力资源部门的低级员工通常会精减出一份初选名单，他们阅读每份简历的时间不超过15秒。这个没地位的人可能仅对电子版的简历进行一下关键词搜索，空出来几分钟时间抽支烟。人力资源咨询公司Fairplace顾问克尔温 ?哈克(Kerwin Hack)从而建议，从招聘广告中摘取语句来点缀简历。

　　When I last encountered Mr Hack, he was discouraging a redundant investment banker from using the words “I really need the money” in an application for a new job. The cultural artefact that is the CV is undergoing rapid change, so there are other elements applicants may safely omit. Date of birth is one. If you are over 40, you will increase your chance of an interview by leaving this out. You will not get the job, but at least there will be free coffee and biscuits. The “marital status” category is also dropping from use. If you are female, “just married and already ordering nursery curtains” positions you poorly anyway. “Leisure and hobbies” is another superfluity。