Apprentice candidate Lorraine Tighe lied on her CV but claimed it was a misprint

We recently commissioned research, released yesterday, that discovered that as a nation, we are mostly quite truthful on our CVs… until we need a job.

Following this, our Chief Executive Stephen Studd was in demand for interviews yesterday, which you can view on a number of news sites such as The Metro, the Mirror’s video news and Virgin Media.

Given last night’s dismissals on the TV show the Apprentice, where one of the contestants who Sir Alan Sugar fired, Lorraine Tighe, was accused of lying on her CV and admitted it was “like a graveyard of skeletons” it can be a serious issue. So what can employers do?

We can point towards ActivePassport as a solution for both employers recruiting staff, and candidates looking to ensure their credibility, as it offers a verified record of qualifications, training, employment and volunteering.

While our research found that hobbies were the most likely thing that those questioned would lie about, this was followed by salary and secondary education qualifications, which could certainly impact upon the recruitment process. We also discovered that the recession has sparked an increase in lies on CVs.

Do you think it’s acceptable to lie on your CV? Have you ever done it and would you be more tempted now because of the high unemployment rates? Take our quick poll or leave us a comment below to share your views.

Last week saw National Apprenticeship Week, an opportunity to celebrate and recognise the essential role that Apprenticeships are playing in today’s business world, ensuring that the workforce has the skills it needs in order to remain competitive, even in difficult economic circumstances.

Local school pupils, college students, training providers and employers joined representatives from SkillsActive and sports stars such as Sharron Davies MBE, Dame Kelly Holmes and Mickey Bushell to participate in a varied programme of presentations, talks, meetings and activity sessions. These ran throughout the week in London, Brighton, Bristol, Bolton, Buxton, Telford, Wellingborough, Sunderland, Harrogate and Benfleet.

Some of the events were organised and run by the apprentices themselves, with one event in Northampton seeing 170 young school children taking part in a multisport festival put on by 30 Young Apprentices. 

The Young Apprenticeship also programme received praise this week from the apprentices and employers alike, following SkillsActive’s evaluation of the programme between September 2006 and July 2008.

One of the London event’s focussed on the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence, and was hosted by former Commonwealth Games gymnast and TV presenter, Gabby Logan. Over 100 AASE athletes attended, and were able to attend workshops, discussions and a Q&A session with former elite athletes. The workshops proved especially popular, and althletes were given advice from Dame Kelly Holmes on “What it takes to be a champion”,  Barry Shillabeer presented elements of Rebecca Adlington’s gold medal winning strength and conditioning programme, and Sky TV presenter Graham Little offered up media training. 

We managed to find a few minutes to catch up with Gabby and ask her about the AASE programme and the impact it is having, and what impact it might have had on her sporting career had it existed when she was an elite athlete.

We also spent some time travelling round the country to interview current and past AASE athletes, those involved in delivering the programme, representitives of National Governing Bodies of Sport and the head of Performance Sport at UK Sport about their views on AASE:

Of course, we’re not the only ones who are throwing our weight behind the importance of Apprenticeships. Sir Alan Sugar has recently been starring in TV advertising (see below) to raise the awareness of apprenticeships, a video which also features Luke Power. Luke of course was Young Apprentice of the Year in 2008, studying his Young Apprentice in Sports Management, Leadership and Coaching at Eltham Green Specialist Sports College.

For anyone looking to find out more about apprenticeships in any form, you can find out more on our website or on the national apprenticeships website.