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THIS week education minister Angie Motshekga announced a matric pass rate of 70.7%. This means that out of the 799 306 fulland part-time candidates that sat for their examinations, only 565 109 passed, reflecting a 5.1% drop in the average pass rate from 75.8% in 2014.

Ina van der Merwe, CEO of South African background screening market leader, Managed Integrity Evaluation (MIE) notes that many of these matriculates will be competing for jobs along with recently graduated students and the country’s 5.4-million unemployed (according to Statistics South Africa’s latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey).

Temptation to lie about your qualifications or results on your CV may be heightened. It is, however, quickly becoming standard practice for businesses to screen prospective employees during the hiring process which often includes verifying South African Matric and Senior Certificate qualifications.”

To help job seekers improve their chances of finding employment, despite perhaps having failed or not achieved their desired results, Van der Merwe shares the following tips:

Apply for suitable positions: Remember that not every job requires that you have a matric certificate, so make sure that you respond to vacancies that advertise this.

Get experience: Many employers appreciate practical experience as valuable skills can be learnt in this way. Volunteering your time is one of the easiest ways of gaining experience.

Obtain references: Be sure to include the names and contact details of teachers and employers who can provide personal character references.

Be honest: Ensure that you are honest in your CV as well as in your interviews.

Remember that lying about your qualifications can seriously harm your chances of finding a job in future, more so than not having a matric certificate,” says Van der Merwe.