While Africa’s economy is one of the world’s fastest-growing, the continent is also a center of rampant CV fraud, a South Africa-based background-screening company said.
“To avoid taking a financial and reputational hit while exploring all [that] Africa has to offer from a growth perspective, it is essential for businesses to know – and verify – their staff,” Ina Van der Merwe, CEO of Managed Integrity Evaluation, was quoted as telling business publication IT-Online. The cause of the high level of misstatement in resumes is the combination of Africa’s high unemployment rate and business globalization, which draws job candidates across borders, she said. While job and contract verification is difficult in Africa generally, it is even more difficult confirming resume details in a foreign nation, she added.
Van der Merwe said in a different publication, Businesstech, that the African job candidates most frequently discovered with CV discrepancies are people in “the trades,” such as plumbers, electricians and machinists. The other category are people seeking jobs from nations outside of where the job is located. “Unfortunately, our research shows that the vast majority of cross-border recruits are not being screened sufficiently,” she said.