A growing number of job applicants are lying on their CVs.

Employment screening company Powerchex found that nearly one-in-five candidates (17%) had discrepancies on their CVs, up from 13% in 2007.

Powerchex surveyed 3,876 workers to discover trends in CV fabrication.

The most common discrepancies included employment dates, qualification details and reasons for leaving past posts.

The survey found that women are more likely to lie on their CVs than men, and Brits have more discrepancies than applicants of any other nationality.

Job applicants between the ages of 21 – 30 were more likely to have discrepancies on their CVs, followed by candidates aged 31 –50. Applicants under 21 were least likely to have fabricated details.

Graduates from lower ranked universities fib more on their CVs than those from prestigious institutions.

The subject studied by an applicant also has a bearing on their propensity to lie, with 21% of humanities students fudging CVs, compared to only 6% of maths graduates.

Alexandra Kelly, managing director at Powerchex, said: “What this survey shows is that graduates from lesser-known universities may feel they need to alter their background to compete.

“It also appears that the academic discipline studied at university level has a significant impact on the honesty of job applicants.

"Graduates of maths or maths-based subjects were found to be the most honest when it came to job applications.

On the other hand, students of creative writing degrees appeared to carry this practice on when it came to writing CVs.”