Graduates lying on job applications - graduate jobs

Research suggests a fifth of young people including graduates are lying on job application forms because of increased pressure to find work during the recession.

According to a survey of more than 4,700 applications made to financial firms in the past year, 19% of candidates lied on an application - up from 17% in 2008.

But the Powerchex poll found that people educated in state schools were 25% more likely to lie on their CV than those who went to private school.

Graduates from the top universities were also less likely to be untruthful, with just 10% of candidates who graduated from Oxford or Cambridge found to have a discrepancy on their CV, compared with 25% of graduates who attended universities outside the top 100 institutions.

The findings show that women were more likely to lie than men and that those under 21 are the most likely to be untruthful, with 18% lying or hiding information.

Alexandra Kelly, managing director of Powerchex, said: "The pressure of the recession on job markets seems to have led more applicants to believe that they should lie or make embellished claims to get jobs."