According to research from UK-based employment background screening firm HireRight, almost two in three jobseekers had discrepancies in their applications in the first half of 2016.

Employment was found to be the biggest area for issues in applications, with 33% having errors when going through a background check. These discrepancies could be incorrect details about their work history, for example, an inaccurate job title, or an error in dates of employment.

Education slipped into second place for errors, with background checks discovering 32% of applications contained incorrect information regarding the grade, qualification, institution or course date.

The research showed the financial services industry to have a higher than average rate of discrepancies as 68% of applications in financial services were inaccurate in the first half of 2016, with a high of 71% in February.

“We’re in a time of economic uncertainty and the temptation could be to rush applications or exaggerate claims to beat the competition,” Steve Girdler, Managing Director for EMEA at HireRight, said. “More and more businesses are carrying out thorough due diligence so, for jobseekers, accuracy and honesty is absolutely key in order to ensure your chances of being hired.”

The research was based on analysis of more than 500,000 checks of 70,000 applications in the first half of 2016.