My last role was a fixed-term contract which has now ended. I’m applying for jobs and I’m considering putting that I stayed in the role for longer than I actually did, essentially to reduce the employment gap on my CV/application.
I know obviously this wouldn’t technically be accurate, so I’m not asking whether it’s the “right” thing to do morally. I’m more wondering how likely it actually is to be picked up.
When employers take up references, does whoever is doing the referencing normally compare the dates that come back from the previous employer against the dates on your original CV/application?
For example, if I put that I worked somewhere until a later date (or that I was still there) but the reference came back confirming an earlier leaving date, would HR generally notice/query that?
I’m assuming at larger organisations the person doing the pre-employment checks often isn’t the hiring manager and may never have even looked at your CV, which is partly why I’m wondering.
Has anyone actually done this, or worked in HR/recruitment and knows how closely these things are cross-checked?