The potential discrimination vs the 300 CVs is an awkward one. Maybe firing out a whole host of SD74s at employers wouldn’t make matters worse to increase scrutiny. Not that we should – i’m still toying with the suggestion that my private client tutor made 4 years ago – that young solicitors will have a great deal of trouble convincing clients that they are an authority on the law: suddenly [apparent] age discrimination has another easy justification: what do you make of that?

As for ‘experience’ being a bar to starting a job that doesn’t really need it then :
(a) remember you can challenge it if it’s age discrimination; and
(b) put yourself in the shoes of an employer with 300 CVs sat on someone’s desk.

The shame should really be on the employers for not being able to identify such embellishments! Why no requirement for proof of identity at your 80k example?! obviously age cannot be a factor in the recruitment process but once the contract is offered the lie could be easily realised! But in truth the worst thing is the job was basic enough for him to do without the experience anyway! Just like all my futile applications for employment/ family TC’s and paralegal posts: “there was simply a candidate with more experience”?? clearly 2 years as a PA and in an emp tribunal isn’t enough anymore: no wonder people are lying! :]

Such unbridled affrontery! Its a fine line, is it not, between kudos for bieng bold and,well, misrepresenting oneself to ones putative employers!

I cannot help but wonder how many BVC Graduates with a ‘Competent’ grade will promote themselves as ‘Very Competent’, or even ‘Outstanding’ in this Summmer’s pupillage wars?!

- A friend who invented running a marathon in order to flesh out the ‘interests’ section of his CV faced questions about his times and preparation from a runner on an interview panel, but nonetheless secured the job. He still works there, and it’s something of an open joke what happened.

- Meanwhile, another dodgy associate of mine managed to work in an £80,000pa IT job in the summer after A Levels by telling them he was a computer science graduate with two years experience in the workplace. This also meant having to increase his age by an incredible five years. He received no complaints about his work.

I cannot help but wonder if such desperate notions as telling porkies on one’s cv constitutes a salutory warning for those of us about to embark upon the quest for the Golden Snitch of Pupillage …..(eeeeeeeeee!!)