你有没有尝试过追踪一份工作证明，却发现它如同蝙蝠侠一样纯属虚构，或是去核实某人过去的职位头衔，却发现那家初创公司已不存在？又或许，你见到的某位毕业自某著名商学院的应聘者实际上只参加了两周的管理研讨班，简历上列出的工作经历其实从未发生过。

背景检查和测试公司HireRight对3500名员工的最新调查显示，这些谎言近来出现的频率越来越高。数据表明：五年前，有70%的招聘人员、人力资源专员和招聘经理表示，他们在应聘者的简历中发现了某些不实之处。而在最近的调研中，这一比例增加到了88%。

当然，背后的部分原因在于某些公司招聘的新员工人数大幅增加。这些雇主中有近80%都在今年扩大了招聘规模。但是HireRight的全球客户体验副总裁玛丽•欧劳林认为，其他一些原因也导致求职者比过去更倾向于在简历中夸大事实。

首先，员工的流动性更大，同时从事的工作也更多。欧劳林表示：“我们发现员工离职率有了显著提升，在千禧一代当中尤其如此。此外，‘零工经济’现象也更加明显，人们会在业余时间兼任更多工作。”

不久以前，标准的七年背景检查通常只用检查应聘者过去的两到三个工作。然而，现在的一份简历甚至会在七年内列出七个、八个，甚至更多的工作。应聘者认为雇主不会追究所有工作的细节，这就导致了欧劳林所谓的“拔高工作头衔，或夸大实际工作内容”。

随着婴儿潮一代越来越多地退休并离开高级岗位，“我们看到X世代和Y世代的候选人开始追逐这些位置，但他们没有足够的经验或合适的背景。为了让自己看起来够格，人们倾向于夸大事实。”她补充道。

在简历中编造经历的另一个原因是，为在经济衰退时丢掉工作而感到尴尬。欧劳林指出：“应聘者认为失业是巨大的耻辱。所以他们会在工作经历中编造一些内容来添补那段空白。”

在简历上撒谎往往比承认自己失业要耻辱得多。讽刺的是，“雇主不认为在萧条期失业是什么大事。这件事完全可以解释。招聘经理真正关心的是你是否诚实。”（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正

Ever tried to track down a job reference who turns out to be as mythical as Batman, or verify a former title at a now-defunct startup? Or maybe you’ve met a candidate whose MBA from a prestigious B-school was in fact a two-week management seminar, or whose resume lists a job that never actually existed.

These fibs are showing up more frequently these days, according to a new survey of 3,500 employers by background-checking and drug testing firm HireRight. Consider: Five years ago, 70% of recruiters, HR staff, and hiring managers reported they had caught a misrepresentation of some kind on an applicant’s resume. In the most recent poll, 88% had.

The sheer volume of new hires at some companies explains part of the increase, of course. Almost 80% of these employers are bringing more people on board this year. But Mary O’Loughlin, HireRight’s vice president of global customer experience, sees a few other reasons why job seekers are more tempted to puff up their resumes than in the past.

For one thing, people move around more and wear more hats at once than they used to. “We’ve noticed a real jump in employee turnover, especially among Millennials, plus the ‘gig economy’ where people have multiple part-time roles at the same time,” she says.

Not long ago, a standard seven-year background check would usually cover just two or three previous jobs. Now, a resume might show seven, eight, or even more gigs during seven years. The assumption that an employer won’t pursue details about all of them often leads to what O’Loughlin calls “job inflation, or overstating what you actually did.”

And as more Baby Boomers retire and leave senior jobs, “we’re seeing Gen X and Gen Y candidates going after those positions without necessarily having enough experience or the right background,” she adds. “In order to seem qualified, people tend to exaggerate.”

Yet another reason for inventing whole chunks of a CV: Embarrassment about having lost a job to the recession. “Candidates think there is a huge stigma attached to unemployment,” notes O’Loughlin. “So they make up things to fill that gap in their work history.”

The irony, though, is that a spell of joblessness usually carries far less of a stigma than lying on a resume. “Employers really don’t see losing a job in a recession as a big deal. It’s certainly something that can be explained,” she says. “What hiring managers really do care about, though, is honesty.”