Almost a quarter of IT professionals say underhand tactics are acceptable to land a job, according to a poll from The IT Job Board.

The poll found that 23% of people said such tactics were fine, as long as they didn’t hurt anyone.

The poll also shows that 62% of IT workers would keep details about a job they are applying for secret from their colleagues to avoid competition for a role, while 79% would try to gain inside secrets about an organisation and its recruitment process to get a job.

More than half (58%) of candidates would flatter or compliment their boss to get a pay rise or promotion over their colleagues and just over a fifth (23%) would claim colleagues’ ideas as their own.

Just under a third (32%) of people would create a problem so that they could fix it and “save the day”, giving them extra kudos with their boss and direct colleagues.