Graduates and jobseeking students should avoid pumping up their CV to impress employers.

Onrec reports job applicants tend to exaggerate their skills when times get tough, but they should resist the temptation to embellish their skills.

Employment background screening company Accu-Screen claims during its 14 years of keeping records on CV lies, spikes correlate with economic downturns and weak labour markets.

The top seven falsifications are:

1) Job title
2) Dates of employment
3) Salary
4) Criminal record
5) Education (such as bogus degrees)
6) Professional qualifications
7) "Ghost" company (self-owned business)

Although a CV is about self-promotion, it should always be accurate to your working experiences. The firm reports jobseekers typically inflate job titles in order to apply for more senior positions, with the thought that those positions offer more prestige and higher salaries. However, job titles aren’t only about status and income from the employer side – they come with an expected level of experience and skills which simply won’t be matched in the workplace. It won’t be long before CV lies become workplace failings in reality.

It’s also very easy for companies to check employment history, educational background and criminal history, so it is wise to keep these elements truthful and leave out any grades you aren’t happy about rather than try to over-compensate by upping a grade a few levels or adding qualifications. Employers will take a dim view on this, as they will if you lie about a criminal record. According to legislation, employers must be fair in their recruitment and so an element of trust that they will hire you based on your skills first is vital.

Kevin Connell, founder of Accu-Screen, advises jobseekers to "Look at your resume and really scrutinise it.” Proofreading for errors and content, and determining what you want the document to say about you are vital. Connell states you should “Put yourself in the employer’s position as you’re doing this. You want to make sure you’re zoning in with laser-target precision on the job you want."