UKTV
Written: Tuesday, January 17, 2012Job hunters are going further than ever before to land a new role, research has revealed.
Researchers found six in ten adults are happy to lie their way through an interview to bag their dream job and quarter admit to embellishing their CV.
Four in ten adults think it's more important to be able to 'blag it' than it is to have a great C.V.
So it's not surprising that a third of UK adults have applied for a job they are completely unqualified for.
The poll by Dave was commissioned to mark the launch of comedy series Suits, which starts tonight at 9pm on Dave, and sees a quick-thinking college-dropout blag his way into a top New York law firm.
The survey also shows that Brits are more than happy to fib about their age to impress a potential boss, while others have faked being married in order to seem a better fit for a role, one in twenty have even lied about being able to play golf when in fact they have no idea.
Steve North, the General Manager for TV Comedy Channel Dave, said: ''It's a really tough time for people trying to find work and job hunters are going to great lengths to bag their perfect job.
''Having the skills to fit into a workplace is often more important than having the right bits of paper.
''People tell white lies when applying for jobs as we see to full comic effect in Suits, taking bolder steps to beat the competition - while I never condone lying, plenty of people know how to be resourceful in a bid to get the job they want.''
Other candidates claimed they'd travelled to countries they'd never actually visited, lied about the length of time they were in a job or, remarkably, even pretended to have children in order to land work.
Many job hunters confessed to lying about going to university, or taking up smoking because they thought it would increase their chances.
It also emerged that one in ten Brits have completely made up a reference, using a friend or family member to give a glowing account on their behalf.
Sneakily dressing up their education and level of experience was common for many job hunters.
The study also revealed that some candidates are coming unstuck in their bid to land a job because of how they are viewed online - profile pictures of bikini shots, drinking booze or over the top poses are the biggest no-nos when it comes to job hunting.
More than one in ten Brits know someone who has been rejected because of a Facebook faux pas.
However a quarter admitted to getting savvy and editing their online presence - removing content they thought could be harmful, so they don't damage their chances of landing their dream job.
One in three have even 'googled' themselves to make sure they're coming up trumps in employer searches.
A tenth of Brits go even further to get noticed - claiming to have done something 'quirky' like sending their CV in with a present, making their application eye catching or even performing a stunt to stand out.
