Most job seekers lie or cheat during the hiring process, study finds

From little white lies to outright whoppers or sneaking answers for assessments, most recent job seekers admit they have used dishonest tactics before in order to land a gig. And some say they use such methods every time.

That's according to a new study from ResumeTemplates.com, which found seven out of 10 people who applied for jobs within the past two years acknowledged either lying or cheating in some way during a hiring process.

In the survey, conducted this month of 1,250 recent job applicants, 22% of respondents said they had lied on a résumé, and half said they had given a false reference.

Twenty-two percent admitted they had cheated on an assessment, while another 15% said they had cheated on a phone interview, 13% during an in-person interview and 11% during a video interview.

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While 29% of those surveyed said they had never cheated during a hiring process, 15% confess to always (5%) or often (10%) doing so, while 20% admitted to bending the rules (or truth) on occasion. Thirty-five percent said they "rarely" engage in such behaviors. 

Of the folks who acknowledged cheating on assessments, 71% admitted Googling answers when it was not allowed, 37% utilized artificial intelligence bot ChatGPT when it was prohibited and 33% sought assistance from others.

"Competition from high numbers of applicants — coupled with more virtual forms of interviewing — are two major reasons job seekers cheat during the hiring process," explains executive résumé writer and career coach Andrew Stoner. "The proliferation of technological resources and the perceived low risk of being caught might be emboldening more applicants to take their chances."

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Stoner told FOX Business that beyond the study's findings, he believes the erosion of loyalty in the employer-employee relationship significantly contributes to the rise in job seekers cheating during the hiring process. 

"Today, workers tend to view employment as a transactional or temporary arrangement rather than a long-term commitment," he said. "This shift in perception may cause some to take unethical steps to secure positions."

Twenty-one percent of the group that said they received help admitted that someone else completed the entire assessment for them, and 47% confessed to having another person fill out "a lot" of it. Another 26% said another person helped complete some of their assessment, and 10% said someone else helped with just a small portion.

Among those who solicited others for help, the most common sources were friends (66%), followed by significant others (40%), mentors (40%), siblings (39%) and parents (28%).

"A phone interview is one of the easiest opportunities for job seekers to cheat — whether they are being supplied with answers or having another person actually complete the entire interview," Stoner explained. "My advice for employers to replace phone interviews with video interviews obviously adds a higher level of transparency and accountability to the process."

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Stoner noted that 80% of job seekers surveyed who cheated were initially successful in landing a job, but said they "were essentially playing ‘recruiting roulette.’"

"Approximately 30% faced serious professional consequences, such as having offers rescinded or being fired," he said. "My advice to job seekers: ‘Honesty is still the best policy.’"