[Russ]

With news that Maxine Carr is in court for amongst other things, lying on a job application, is anyone else surprised that this is illegal? Of course, I can see how it would be morally wrong, but breaking the law? Let's face it, there are far worse things you could to than being 'creative' on a CV. I certainly would not lie on a job application now but the past might have been a different story.....

I understand that if someone applied for a job which called for specific professional qualifications (solicitor, the medical service, teaching etc) then of course honesty in that field would be essential. Imagine if you'd studied for 5 years in uni only for your job to go to someone who dropped out after a year but claimed they graduated? Plus how safe would the clients/third party be with someone who was not properly qualified?

However for general, everyday jobs such as sales, (some) callcentre work, office positions etc is it really bad enough to be a punishable offence? As long as someone can do the job, should it matter? With the government eager to get as many people off the unemployment list and in to work, should they really be worrying so much about this?

Perhaps employers set their standards at an unreasonably high level? Naturally they want the best people for the job but is the presence of qualifications the best indication of that? They have interviews to find this out but would people without qualifications get as far as the interview?