Hirescores.com, the UK’s leading recruitment agency review site, has anonymously asked people currently in employment if they lied during the recruitment process with their current and previous jobs and found that 69 per cent had.

The site conducted research to see just how many people had lied to get a job, and why they felt the need to do so.

Hirescores.com asked 1,277 people who are currently in employment whether they had told untruths to secure a position.

They found that 69 per cent of candidates had lied in some way to get their job.

Of the people who admitted bending the truth during the recruitment process, 36 per cent said it was their referee they had lied about.

More than half of people who had used a false referee admitted they had used a member of their family, while a quarter said they had used a best friend.

Nearly a third of those who had lied said it was because they had left their last place of work on bad terms.

When Hirescores.com asked employees whether they had lied on their CV, it found that nine in 10 people had bent the truth in one way or another.

Of the people who admitted lying, a quarter said that they had altered a secondary education qualification, with half saying that they did it because they didn’t think they would get called up on it as it was so long ago. A third said it was because they hadn’t achieved the correct grade to get their job.

Hirescores.com also found that of the people who lied on their CVs nearly 50 per cent had lied about their hobbies and achievements.

A quarter said they were regular gym goers or more active than they actually were. Half admitted they had lied about playing musical instruments and speaking different languages to spice up their CV.

Of the people who lied about their hobbies and achievements half said it was merely to make themselves more interesting and not to actually get the job.

Lisette Howlett, MD of Hirescores.com, said: “I think that many people have lied to get a job in the past, and these current statistics show that people are still doing so.

“I can see why people would consider lying as in this economic situation jobs are few and far between, but by lying in the present you could end up jeopardising things in the future if you are caught.”