In a telephone survey of 400 US hiring managers, the Information Technology Association of America found that demand for IT workers has reached an historic low, with only 493,000 anticipated positions over the next twelve months – down from 1.6 million at the start of 2000.
“If the demand for IT workers is an indicator of business growth, our survey results are not encouraging,” commented ITAA President Harris Miller.
The pressure on IT workers seeking employment is increasing and a worrying trend is revealed by a recent survey from investigations and intelligence consultancy The Risk Advisory Group (TRAG). It found that more than half of CVs submitted by job applicants in 2002 contained lies or inaccuracies.
IT contractors, a significant portion of the sample, were particularly liable to lies or omissions.
According to TRAG the results came from a detailed analysis of 2,700 of the investigations conducted during the year. The most common inaccuracies on CVs were in employment history (79% of candidates with discrepancies), academic history (40%) and financial and personal background (30%).
Bill Waite, chief executive of the group said in a statement:
"Much of what we uncover is simply the result of mild exaggeration or inadvertent error, rather than malicious intent. But there is a growing tendency for people to feel they can cheat their way in.
"Companies that do not screen job applicants should ask themselves the question: would I think so highly of prospective employees if I knew they were concealing relevant information from me?"
The advice is to take more care in hiring employees – after all, a bad hire could seriously affect company performance.
Steve Bailey, CEO of RWC plc, a UK company that provides background checking services, warns that less than 2% of employers undertake in-depth background checking, so candidates have nothing to lose in lying.
“Around 25% of candidates withdraw their application when they are made aware that in-depth background checking of their CV will happen if they are shortlisted or selected,” says Bailey. “And here’s what we find: 28% of all CV’s contain minor inaccuracies, but 8% are seriously flawed and 2% are works of pure fiction.”
“At RWC we are actually seeing businesses being targeted by candidates,” he added. "These characters, sometimes working in teams, have a deliberate pre-planned intention to undertake criminal acts once employed. Very recently we saw Sir Terence Conran’s bank account being raided by five employees of his bank."
He continues:
"Nigerian criminal gangs are operating within the financial community working well-publicised but still effective scams. But, this is just the stuff that gets into the press, generally companies can’t afford the publicity and hush it up, letting the wrong doers walk free.”