Majority of companies encountering discrepancies during candidate screening

The overwhelming majority of companies around the world are coming across discrepancies when screening candidates before hiring them, according to a new report that has just been released.

This study is the 2025 Global Benchmark Report by HireRight, and its findings are eye-opening. The report surveyed companies across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, with 90% stating that their screening processes had flagged up discrepancies. These were not minor issues either, but rather serious attempts at fraud and CV inflation. The largest percentage of them – at 64% – concerned differences between the previous employment history claimed by a candidate and the reality.

A further 47% of the discrepancies related to the qualifications possessed by candidates. In 22% of cases, the screening process flagged up criminal convictions that candidates had concealed.

It could be argued that these findings show the importance of pre-employment screening – and also show it working well. It is a lot of work for internal HR departments, but companies can always use an outsourced HR consultancy for it.

Peter Cleverton from HireRight told People Management that:

“With nine out of 10 businesses in EMEA identifying discrepancies during the candidate screening process, it’s clear the challenges facing employers are intensifying – particularly as both identity fraud and AI-assisted job applications become more prevalent.”

Identity fraud was named as a serious issue by the companies surveyed for the report. Around one out of every five said that they had encountered it. Right to work checks are an important weapon for companies to use against it.