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Rise in Job Applicants Lying on Screening Questions Sparks Employer Frustration

ended 20. November 2025

Scott Gallacher, Director at Rowley Turton, has highlighted a growing trend of job applicants misrepresenting their experience or qualifications on screening questions — despite these claims not appearing anywhere on their CVs.

Gallacher says the mismatch between screening answers and CVs has become noticeably more common.

“I’m increasingly seeing applicants claim experience or qualifications in the screening questions that simply aren’t on their CV. It’s puzzling. What do they hope to achieve apart from frustrating the employer who then has to manually weed them out?” said Gallacher.

He says the false claims waste time for employers and do nothing to help the candidate.

“You think you’ve found someone with the background you need, then you check the CV and the supposed experience just isn’t there. It doesn’t help them — it only undermines trust from the outset.”

Gallacher stresses that honesty remains the strongest strategy:

“Most good employers value attitude and integrity just as much as experience. Being upfront gets you far further than ticking boxes you don’t genuinely meet.”

❓ Questions for Other Experts

Although Gallacher is reporting this trend from his own experience, he’s keen to know if others are seeing the same thing:

  1. Are other employers or HR professionals noticing this rise too?
  2. What do you think is driving applicants to exaggerate at the screening stage?
  3. Is this linked to the current job market, automated application systems, or something else?
  4. How should employers respond to maintain an efficient and fair recruitment process?

 

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Kate Underwood
Founder & Chief People Strategist at Kate Underwood HR and Training
Even as a small business, you need a solid hiring process because yes, people are still lying to get through the door. We’ve seen candidates ace screening questions, then fall apart on a five-minute call or fail a basic task. It’s not just cheeky, it’s a waste of time. Screening, phone interviews and proper skills tests are essential. Don’t assume anything, because we all know where that gets you. Also, keep an eye out during online interviews. That innocent-looking “note taker” on screen? Some candidates are actually using bots to feed them answers as you ask the questions. Seriously. In a small team, one wrong hire can create a lot of problems. And if someone is already bending the truth before day one, that tells you everything you need to know. Honesty and attitude still go further than any perfectly rehearsed answer.
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Sandra Wilson
Owner/Director at Cottrell Moore Limited
This is a growing trend unfortunately, however I believe it's coming from a place of candidate frustration, as many applications appear to be overlooked by employers if they are not ticking every requirement box on the job description. Employers are overlooking attitude and character in favor of workers who can make an immediate impact on their business. Sadly this stems from the rising costs of employing people and it will only get worse following the budget and an economy that is free falling!
Employers know in the long run it is much better to recruit character and train skill but in the state our country is in, it is just not commercially viable at present and I fear it is only the tip of the iceberg and we are heading for it at great speed in the titanic ship that our Government is steering in a blind ignorance that the ship can't sink!!
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Colette Mason
AI Ethics Consultant at Clever Clogs AI
Of course candidates are lying on screening questions. Automated application processes strip away every human touch point: the warm handwritten cover note, the thick ivory paper, the small ways people used to stand out. When you remove all the tools that let candidates show who they actually are, they have no option but to game what's left.

Let's talk about the other side of this mess. Many companies can't even send a "thanks but no" email, let alone some feedback on how to improve. When employers ghost candidates like they're disposable, it's hardly surprising those silently written off want skew things in their favour.

Corporates have built recruitment systems that make people feel like numbers. They strip away the human signals, refuse basic courtesy, then complain candidates aren't playing by the rules. Lying and ghosting isn't the strategy anyone wanted, but it's the system we've ended up with.