Would You Lie On Your Resume?

My advice? Don’t do it – don’t lie on your resume. If there’s a gap, address it honestly – there are ways to address gaps and to put some kind of positive spin on them. And don’t lie about titles, companies, education or anything else. At best you may end up in an interview and have to backpeddle off of something you’ve said in your resume. At worst, you’ll either end up losing your job offer in the background checking process or losing your job when the lies come out. Either way, its not worth it.

enjoyed reading through this, very best stuff, thanks .

If you have no work experience no one wants to give you that first chance. What am I suppose to do, I have a degree but it means nothing without the work experience

Resume Planet. That is probably one of the biggest hurdles for most people. No one will hire you because you don’t have experience but how are you supposed to gain experience if no one will hire you.

With out knowing what your degree is it is hard to give a specific answer. But the tip I was given was this. When asked about your lack of experience turn it into a positive. For example: “No I don’t have industry experience. And because of this I can be trained to your standards rather than bringing bad habits from another company.”

always tell the truth….Having to remember when and where you lied to cover things is not the right way to go…I’ve worked with liars and don’t like it…It does seem, however that they do get away alot until caught….

Alison, studies have shown that admitting to a lie when asked often puts you in better regard with someone than not having lied in the first place.

Admitting a lie shows weakness, and weakness is perceived as genuine, genuine is honesty. So what the employer is left with is better than the starting point.

Pretty sneaky, huh?

Sneaky, maybe. But, what if you get fired (which can happen) if you get caught in a lie? It’s going to be much harder to find another job if you were fired for lying…

I’m writing a feature on UK unemployment. I’d like your point of view on people lying on their cv’s. Would it be possible?

Regards Eddy

What about hiding qualifications to get a job? For example, I have a master’s degree in counseling, but I am also applying to customer service jobs until I can find the job I want. Is hiding the fact that I have a master’s degree considered lying?

Absolutely do not lie – - in today’s fast-checking electronic world – - you will be caught. It has been fun to watch the results of Susan Boyle’s amazing experience on Britain’s Got Talent. Good news can travel around the world more than 30 million times; bad news can do the same.

Never has it been more important to be sure what you say is the truth; how you say it is never inflammatory; and where you say it may be recorded and sent ’round the world (and faster than 80 days!!!)

I don’t think anyone should lie period. Whether it is on a resume or anywhere else. Lying will only come back to bite you later on. One lie begets another lie and so on and you will get to a point where you don’t know what the truth is. No one will be able to trust your words if you have a reputation for lying. Remember Chicken Little?

Tell the truth-be proud of what you have done. If you aren’t proud, do something to make yourself proud.

When I worked placement many many years ago the individual that trained me said, “Just like body tempature, people lie 98.6 percent of the time.” I didn’t (still done) want to believe that! But I have interviewed some folks that made it obvious in the interview that they had lied on the application and on their resume!! It’s a sad commentary about people, to say the very least.

Honesty and humility are qualities that will serve you well in the workplace and employers are looking for people they can trust who have these qualities. If you lie, even a little, on your resume, you’ve already betrayed that trust. With the tough competition in the job market these days, that’s enough to knock you out of the running for your dream job. More tips for grads at http://www.QwikSmarts.com.

Never lie. Sooner or later most lies come to light and then you are put in a worse position. If there is a gap, just tell why. Life happens and most hiring managers know this. If its education – never ever lie. I never have and I did have gaps during schooling. I just explained that I was working and earning money to go back to school during those times.

OMG, never…..that’s grounds for immediate dismissal if you get a job, and they discover you’ve lied.

The only untruth I think is acceptable is if you TRULY didnt remember the exact month you started/stopped working at a company. But I dont see a diff between April and March.

As to GAPS in resume, i’d rather have a gap as I do now – six months so far – active daily jobsearching with occasional day off (weekends always off!).

There is only one viable answer to this question. Never lie on a resume. One discovered lie cancels out all past and future truths in the eye of an employer and frequently colleagues. It is also true as Kay says that in this transparent and interconnected world that “what happens in Vegas stays on the net.” It can make you famous in a day and kill you in a nanosecond.

I’ve personally been on the receiving end of interviewing a candidate who lied on a resume. He had no idea his former boss at his last company was a previous colleague of mine. One phone call, one big problem.

BUT… neither do you have to tell the whole uncensored truth in all of its gory detail. Once you have been in the workplace for a while there are usually a few things you may not wish to highlight. Failing to mention a six month job that didn’t work out isn’t necessarily misrepresenting anything. You finished one job, took some time out, started another. If someone does ask about what happened in between as long as you haven’t lied you can say you didn’t feel it was relevant. Another reason for brevity in resumes.

So tell the truth, but not all the truth if you don’t wish to and the story is credible and defensible.

Lying is just not ok on a resume…I am a true believer that everything will come back to bite you, so why bother lying in the first place? In this day and age with all the technology, social networking sites, etc., it is really not that hard to find information out about somebody. Honesty, as always, is the best policy

Whether lying on a resume is right or wrong simply isn’t the issue anymore.When your family faces hunger or homelessness, you do whatever you can to win the increasingly-rare family-supporting job. You have no choice in our post-social safety net society, following years of exporting US jobs to foreign countries. So,put the question this way: Would you provide minor misinformation in the effort to get a job that you knew you could do,if your children depended on it?

Yes,I would,I have too feed my family,a friend of my works for the state,they hired a guy who was a sex offender,the only way they caught him was because was hassling,a women on the job.

DHFabian says: “Would you provide minor misinformation in the effort to get a job that you knew you could do,if your children depended on it?”

I guess that depends upon what you do, and how you do it. As I tried to indicate in my previous comment this isn’t black or white, it really is a gray area like the rest of real life.

If you think you can get away with it and you are willing to take the risk then you have made your call.

The question is what happens if you get found out? As an employer I would fire your ass in a heart beat. What happens to your family and children then? I would have no compunction about quietly letting my contacts know about your deception and lack of integrity.

Are you sure you would find the next job? Are you sure this would help your kids?

Is this the kind of judgment that I would hire or that your kids would respect?

Play your cards if you will, but make sure you are ready to own the consequences if you play them badly.

So you would fire someone, a family man no less, for a minor lie when he has been doing quality work for months or even years? Without compunction? You are exactly what is wrong with America. People like you are why applicants should not feel guilty about fudging on their resume.

Humans before businesses.

Anyone fudging facts on a Resume should be prepared to demonstrate and perform skills necessary to do the work being applied for.

@Longstone: Pathetic! – You would not simply seek to let the ‘offender’ go, but you would seek harsh penalties and retribution. Hell – why leave out a good caning? Everyday the wealthiest among us (and our own elected leaders) cheat us out of greed and lust for power and $ – everyday!. I say – lying on a resume (if like stealing bread) to feed your kids – you do what you have to – especially when there are few or no jobs.

@joey: Amen brother! here here!

I do not support lying on your resume. I know that applicants do it all the time, doesn’t make it right.

One thing I point out is that on the resume, the applicant is not signing anything that says what they have presented is the full and absolute truth with nothing omitted. However, on the company employment application, there is a statement they sign which indicates they agree they have just given the full and absolute truth with nothing omitted. This is why most companies ask for resumes when they are screening whom they will interview but once the applicant comes in, he or she will then complete an employment application as well. Most referencing is done from the completed application which truly gives the Recruiter more information anyway.

If I am phone screening an applicant from their submitted resume and I discover a lie, they are immediately removed from further consideration.

If you lie on your resume, it will only come back to haunt you at some point. We see it time and time again. At some point you will be asked to carry out a responsibility / task that directly correlates to your “falsification” and then what are you going to do? It’s only a matter of time, so therefore always be honest. If you need to improve your skillset then look for training, especially in new industries. I read an article about http://www.GreenFootJobs.com who are going to begin implementing training / cert resources to their site, which is all about green jobs. Let’s hope they do it the right way.

Agree with several others’ comments: Do not lie on resume – period, but realize resume is a marketing hook to attract reader to contact you. Disclosing every nut and bolt of your past is not necessary. Showcasing relevant message points that compel reader you are a fit to THEIR needs – important.

Although people may think it is overrated, honesty is the best policy.

Why does every link on google that comes up under HOW to lie on a resume want to tell me whether it’s right or wrong?

Just tell me how to do it, if I so choose.

I don’t need someone to adjust my moral compass for me.

When corporations stop being evil, I might feel more compelled to be honest with them.

Honesty in a den of thieves gets you what?

Morality is not an objective thing, especially when it comes to getting a job.

So next time, just write an article and play devils advocate. I bet you’ll notice the number of hits on your blog increases significantly.

I’m sorry, but I can’t tell someone how to lie on your resume, when I don’t think anyone should do it.

I don’t think it’s worth worrying about what might happen if you get caught either now – or the possibility of losing your job later – even years after the fact.

Um, #17, no one is under any obligation to teach you how to lie. If you’re looking for “how to lie” in a Google search and ending up with lots of articles warning you not to, perhaps the universe is trying to tell you something.

Besides, no one is trying to be your “moral compass.” There are lots of practical reasons not to – the first and foremost being, you could very well get caught.

To be quite honest…I have tonnes of experience in my related field and consider myself a hard worker who is always looking at exceeding in whatever I do. Having just been made redundant (on the last day of the year before Christmas break in 2008)..after two years which had left me gutted and questioning my abilities;I have now realised that there is no such thing as company loyalty and personal dignity.I have come across it way too often in the past and know now that good, honest hard-working people are not appreciated or valued. Those days are definately gone. In short, after experiencing what I have…YES I WOULD LIE!!….you would not believe how many times I have been in a workplace were I’m teaching managers how to do their jobs as I quietly achieve in a corner and go un-noticed. I guess the phrase “fake it till you make it” applies when you look at the fibs told by under-qualified, tactful applicants..(I guess I missed that subject throughout my years at school). To all the potential employees who have skimmed over my HONEST! resume with a quick glance and thrown it to the side…sometimes it is better to hire a quiet, solid achiever over a baloon full of hot air anyday..:-)

If there is a lie you can get away with then do it. Honestly human resources people are among the least intelligent people I have met in corporate America. The little keywords is all they know. Manipulate the keywords to match the HR needs if you have the skills and not the keywords.

NEVER! The truth will eventually surface. When you do lie, it’s just a timing game.

I Dont support lying on a resume for it will and shall not egt you far in life, but i dont condome not telling the truth on your resume either, as long as you can get away with it you might just might be successful at it, even if you are caught once on power theres no coming down only if you live the 8 years capable of running the job, then you step down with money and invest in a baseball team

It’s interesting how people who are against lying on a resume parrot the same mindless excuse.

The people who consider lying as an option seem to have more diverse and experience rooted opinions.

The real world doesn’t judge people based on how well they follow after school special cliches. If it did the world would be a much better place than it is now.

In reality, it’s a race to the bottom. If you don’t lie to give the competitive edge someone else will. End result, you’re out of a job eating dirt with your children smug in your moral superiority, while the person who lied and snagged the job comes home to a warm apartment and food on the table.

Now by this point some of you are angry at me for pointing out the obvious in such a dire context. Instead of being angry at the messenger, be angry at the politicians and business leaders who sold us out so that we have to compete for wages on the road to being at parity with 3rd world countries. Or the fact that lying has become acceptable in government and in business to the detriment to our society and econonmy. These people have dictated the rules of the game, a lot of us are just trying to play to maintain our livelihoods.

I completely agree!

In any communications you must maintain control of the conversation. Do employers lie? You bet. And not just to employees, but to themselves as well. Most of my career has been as a marketing generalist. I can wear many hats. But suppose I see a job posting for a Vice President of Public Relations. Is that in my skill set? Absolutely. But in this case, the employer is lying to himself with an irrational prejudice to only consider candidates who have focused their recent careers in a narrower discipline of marketing – public relations. This leaves me two choices: give up and move on to the next job posting or pander to the employer’s prejudice by focusing only on PR-related functions and, if possible, altering job titles to be more PR-specific. As I have worked for mostly small firms that are mostly unverifiable, this is a fairly safe alteration of the facts. Indeed, in my current job where I wear so many hats, I use several titles to suit the situation. As employers wade through hundreds of resumes for every job, they’re screening process is to scan for people to eliminate rather than people to keep. Now, you might be thinking, “what if you’re caught?” They probably will just dismiss you without further contact or, at most, they will mail you their standard “get lost” letter with no explanation. You are not entitled to a reason. If they question the discrepancy, I would explain I wear a number of hats and used several titles. If that fails to satisfy them, I’d thank them for their interest and end the discussion. They have disqualified themselves by getting distracted by non-issues and failing to focus on the 12 mission critical skills the job requires. Remember, a job search is a 2-way street. They have performance and accountability standards — and so do I. Like any good sales person, I need to qualify my prospect quickly, do a trial close and if I’m not getting a buying signal, cut my losses and move on to the next prospect.

this is the first post that I totally agree with. You will probably never read this to see that I’ve agreed since this was over a year and a half ago. But very well spoken.

And here is a second – I totally agree St. Lemons!

S Lemons gets it unlike 95% of other commenters..thanks for the tips

Go ahead and lie. Seriously… what’s the worst that could happen? You don’t get the job that you probably wouldn’t have gotten anyways. Make sure you have an in with your references or better yet – leave a pal as a reference and repay him with a few beer for singing your praises. In this day of and age of flux and disposable cell phones no one would think twice about contacting a person who used to work at a company years ago instead of the company itself. Easy Peasy. And THAT’s why I’m always on top. I play to win.

The reality is that honesty went out the window a long time ago. Employers repeatively ly to employees at any given situation by using any kind of propaganda they can think of at the time to accomplish what they want to at the moment. I would not recommend pulling one such as Christina Applegate in “Don’t Tell Mom The Baby Sitter’s Dead.” But you must do what you feel in your gut is necessary for the situation without bald faced lying. It’s a matter of survival anymore. If you have gaps in employment simply state you took some time for personal or family matters, because on the job, you are there to work, not there to enlighten them on all the details and dramas in your life.

YES IF YOU RELIZE IT OR NOT MOST RESUMAS ARE NOTHING
BUT LIES I HAVE SEEN IT HAPPEN OVER AND OVER AGAIN
AND MOST POLITIANS ARE NOTHING BUT LIARS I WOULD BET WILSON LIES PLENTY IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE AFTER ALL THAT IS THE AMERICAN WAY THANK YOU STEVE MELNICK

Hell yes lie. Don’t lie about something major like a degree you don’t possess or experience. Also if your job went out of business that give’s you even more lying room. Tell them you where a manager at your last job how the hell are they ever going to figure out the truth. Don’t forget that companies lie too. An example is when they say that there is opportunity to move up(lie). If you work hard you’ll move up(lie). We care about our employees(lie). or they will hire you for a job and keep tacking on responsibility with out compensating you. You weren’t even hired to do all those jobs just one job. (Fat lie)

I lied about my age to get my dream job and i got it. After many failed attempts to make my career change and being honest about my age and getting nowhere. Thankfully I look very young, put down that i was 10yrs younger and shock yes I got the job. Now im not sure what to do about filling in the employment forms, should i put my real age or the fake age and will they check it and question me???

If you are applying in marketing or sales ( or social media) lie, lie and then lie some more. But always make sure your back story is plausible and quasi- verifiable and most importantly you believe the story to be true. In short be a character for your employer or client. Nobody really wants a real person and all the messiness that goes with it. You won’t be seen as a person anyway, only as a line item in a payroll budget or an asset on a website.

Funny! Thats a great line “Nobody really wants a real person and all the messiness that goes with it. Could you imagine what that would look like on the resume.

You shouldn’t put age on a resume. It would be ageist of an employer to look at a person’s date. Sure, experience in a given field counts, but if they like you, they like you.

My unfortunate experience is this – most employers are the biggest liars on the planet. They commit accounting fraud, lie about promoting you and cut your pay and benefits. Worse still, they hire all of their “buddies” from college or from a prior company. These “buddies” are completely without skills or a work ethic. In the companies I have worked for, the “buddies” worked from their daughters home in another country, went to the Philippines on vacation to sleep with underage woman, were diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and did not take their medication, openly abused and berated the factory workers. All of these things are forgiven in the workplace if you are someone’s crony. Meanwhile, the rest of us have to jump through hoops to get a job that we are well-qualified to do, but no one told us during the interview we would have to kiss the buts of the cronies. So, while I am not a proponent of lying, no one on the hiring side is telling you the truth AT ALL. Some of them are downright corrupt. And HR is full of the laziest, dishonest, moronic people I have ever met. Wake up people – did we have a technology meltdown and and economic crisis over the last 10 years because honest people ran our companies? Don’t kid yourselves.

Zbiz, I was going to write something similar… but you said it best. Employers are the biggest liars… period. I have been hired by companies only to find out the hiring manager as well as the V.P.s leave knowing the company is a sinking ship about to be bought out and restructured. I am honest about what is on my resume. However, I do leave out positions that do not benefit me. My stint in the software world during the dot com era was a disaster. I regret I entered an industry where there is so much lying and backstabbing within the corporations. Should an employee lie..NO..but I understand why they do. Corporations have created a monster by their behavior. They reap what they sow.

To be honest lying got me my job….

I got a job working @ a fortune 500 company making 75k a year.

and the funniest thing it requires me to have a MBA which I dont have, I only went to a small community college for 2 years never graduated but the job i do is simple, and I think having a degree is useless… I was trained and had a lil knowledge of what I was suppose to do and learned….

and PS

Im Asian….

You shouldn’t use your real name in a forum stating that you lied on your resume…

I’m amazed the question is even asked, but I guess this is either a shift in our personal ethics or it’s been the long time truth. There was a study a couple of years ago that asked high school students if they would lie on their college applications. About 60% said yes and it was all because “we,” the system pushed them so hard to achieve. Your poll shows 46% who said they would lie. I guess if our Washington DC role models do it — lie–as a matter of course to get re-elected, then almost half of us are following suit to get what we want. Sad.

Absolutely not! to me, there is no reason to lie on earth. once something is not right, circumstances does not makes it right. so lies telling is wrong and will never be right in any circumstances

Well laa-dee-daah – I cannot believe the few that repsonded – Do what it take to get the postion that you know you are very capable of performing…. Yes, I’ve lied on resumes. Do any of you realize how many suggestions, out of your mouth, have been stolen by a supervisor? Let them tell the truth about how many times they’ve absconded with rewards and bonuses due to another. Paleeze, in the 21st century, what isn’t a lie?

Never tell a lie, if you are caught out you are doomed and it can be quite surprising who knows enough to be able to catch you out.

On the other hand there is nothing wrong in arranging the truth to your best advantage and leaving out facts which are detrimental. But if you leave an obvious gap then surely it will be spotted.

NEVER ! You will start a chain reaction and will personally lose your credibility..even if you get away with it. BE TRUE TO YOURSELF ! Ask your “Higher Power” to help

You should arrange your resume to highlight the requirements that the employer is looking for and demonstrate that you have these requirements. You should never, never lie. Morality is not at issue. You will not remember a lie, because it was a lie. If you try to remember lies from the truth, and have made a habit out of lying, you will end up being delusional and incapable of functioning in our complex society. You will end up with 3 square meals, but it will be in prison if you are lucky or the nut house if you are not.

I have always felt [that] if you deem it necessary to lie on a resume [or anything else] in order to obtain employment, that particular job is not for you.
I hate it when someone lies to me, and don’t imagine they like it either.
Add to this the fact that you may endanger the life of someone [including yourself] because of a falsehood, and it underscores the necessity for truthfulness.

Okay, so lying is not good, right, and all that jazz.
But honestly, people, we don’t live in the world of daffodils and teddybears, do we? And employers DO lie, a lot of the times…And they don’t like us doing it. Very double standarts, that.
But what can you say when an employer (most of them, nowadays…) say they’ll accept beginners WITH at least five years experience?! When do you get experience if no one going to hire you in the first place? Isn’t that the biggest lie of all?
My take on it? Funnilly enough, don’t lie. Simply because in all likehood you’ll be caught at it, and if you’re not one of the boss relatives, you’ll pay for it dearly (the relatives always seems to get away with it, somehow…weird, weird world.)
But don’t hesitate to stretch the truth as far as it would go, or hide the unflaterring bits. THEY do it all the time…If you’re asked a direct question, answer. But they can’t turn on you if they don’t bother to enquire.
No morals? Maybe. But, hey, don’t have a trust fund. Gotta eat.

I don’t call it lying, it’s spin baby!

It’s the new American Model!

If your competition is lying and you are not you will probably be at a disadvantage. After you are hired, if you are doing a good job, chances are that they will never check. If you do a lousy job and they want to get rid of you they may do a check on your resume to find some grounds to let you go. In today’s competitive market, a person must do whatever it takes.

I agree with the following posters who say the modern corporation could not care less about employees. I mean, we are called mere ‘resources’, no longer humans with families and hopes for the future. In some other countries there are more laws governing the treatment of employees and the conduct of corporations. Here, you can be let go for expressing certain ideas or for your after work activities. I think it behooves a person to make his own opportunities and to take advantage of situations if he can do it wisely. Are not competition and greed what runs a corporatist system like ours? How can companies conduct themselves in such a manner in the marketplace and expect their employees to be perfectly honest and above board?

LIE!!!!!!!

Use you discretion. My father got away within it and landed a senior job in education back in the 1960s. I can be worthwhile – but be careful. Paul

I don’t have to lie on my Resume, my own life experience speaks for itself. Also lying will always at some point be exposed., if you tell the truth there is only one version to remember. once Your create doubt with contradictions in what You offer Your credibility is gone. Don’t ever try to make anyone believe You have experiences or qualifications You don’t , You will pay a high price for that dishonest approach ! Make sure that before You apply for any job You actually do meet the qualifications and can perform the duties, if you can’t or don’t it will expose You even if You managed to get hired, termination will follow. fraud isn’t rewarded !

No

No was the simple answer. The long answer is is that I value my honesty over money, and I won’t sell it so cheaply.

I find it interesting that above “the son” knows that the father lied to get a job. Even if my dad lied about something, he would have never presented it to me in away that taught me that if you don’t get caught it is good, like this person’s dad taught him.

Lying on your resume is asking for trouble. Even if you really want the job and are desperate, it is best to tell the truth. When you fill out a job application, you are filling out a legal document which you sign. Either you lie on the application too, (which is illegal and grounds or termination) or you tell the truth. In the latter casel, the two documents are inconsistent – and employers DO check! Moreover, if you lie on both documents, you may get hired, but you’ll have a ‘time bomb’ in your personnel file waiting for someone to find it!

Yes, I would lie on a resume, to a degree, if I felt competent to do the job. Employers lie all the time about job duties, pay and benefits. They build jobs up in order to attract candidates.

I voted that it is not acceptable to ‘lie’ on your résumé.

However, I believe it is very important to follow-up with several caveats for why this may occur.

Omission
One of the challenges job seekers face is in the quantification and qualification of their results on the job. There may be several reasons that people are committing ‘omissions’ and ‘commissions’ on their résumés.

On the surface, it is very easy to state, “Placed 100% of job seekers”; but what does that really mean? If you work in my industry—you are a generalist—serving multiple populations of job seekers. It is a rare thing to place 100% of job seekers. A better picture may be, “Placed 100% of job seekers completing Worker Retraining courses in the first 6 months of the program year”. However, this is not enough information—especially if I applied to be an Employment and Training Specialist, Recruiter, or to conduct Recruitment Outsourcing.

Between the bullet or ‘success’ described, one should also know when this occurred (2001) and what type of high wage/high demand opportunities were available. Obviously, you cannot get into a great deal of detail; however, if you were to provide this ‘success rate’, you would want to construct a current (2010) success. One can easily see a disparity in the economic times, perhaps within the population served, and the point of service. Contrary to many reports on interviews, many employers really do know their industry. In 2001, I did have that result, working at a Technical College, with Employers signed on as Signatories to hire program completers (the job seekers I referenced). When you think about your successes, you must be able to place them within the business context and ensure their relevancy to the job search now. What I shared with you may be a success, but it is not the success relevant in 2010.

Commission
Another challenge, occurs when job seekers do not keep track of their advancements, success, and contributions on the job.

Inversely, people are either too humble—due to cultural or other environmental influences—or so experienced that they almost performed their jobs in rote—effectively forgetting how they implemented their core knowledge, skills, and abilities. When faced with the update, recreation, or initiation of our current résumé models—these people may not be able to create a framework to target their successes to the job. They actually undersell their contributions to the workforce and often search for jobs that do not lead to wage progression. This type of problem is almost a barrier to finding employment and creates immense frustration, when adapting to new work place cultures. No individual wants to be told what he or she may already know. Often, these people will find great dissatisfaction with their work, be under employed, laid off, and searching for work more often then others.

Now I wish to make an important point in this context. People are committing ‘omissions’ and ‘commissions’ by leaving out types of experience, achievements, successes, and levels of education. While this point may horrify some, others will understand. At some point in people’s careers, they may need a survival job. Case in point—2 years away from retirement, one of my bosses listed his MBA on the résumé and found a job that would allow him to make a highly positive contribution to the workforce and complete those final years required for retirement. When introduced at a meeting with executives, one recognized the individual for their Juris Doctorate—which shocked the people who work day to day with the manager. The individual left the information off the résumé not to lie, but to target the résumé to the needs of the employer. The employer did not ask for 45 years of experience or a Juris Doctorate. Therefore, where you may believe this is a commission, others will understand that too much experience may lead to an inability to find and obtain employment.

Contextual Framework of Omissions and Commissions
One final lead in to omissions and commissions may be exemplified by the use of sample résumés or sites like O*Net, to create résumés.

Sometimes, job seekers misinterpret the concept of transferable skills and force their skill set into the employer’s framework. In this vain, I would suggest that some job seekers do no understand their essential contributions to the employer’s bottom line. Further, I would pose that simply conducting a transferable skills analysis to ‘job titles’ versus the core skills it takes to do the job is very dangerous and will lead straight to someone ‘disproving results’ or finding ‘lies’ on résumés. It is important to know how to use sites like O*Net—to avoid searching for work by ‘Job Title’ alone—and applying as such.

Both Employer and Job Seeker can readily access O*Net as well as sample résumés. It is not just a matter of key-word searchable software. Employers and HR Managers know when they have seen the same résumé repeatedly. This brings me to a tangential, but relevant point. When you hire someone to write a résumé for you—they are using many tools to create a résumé that will ‘get you a job’ in a particular occupation or industry; however, many people do not work with the résumé writer. In fact, some résumé writers who will simply write a résumé targeted to the industry—without knowledge of your unique knowledge, skills, and abilities. If the résumé is the guide to the interview, how will you defend your achievements, contributions, and successes? Do you really know what is on your résumé?

The worst thing someone can do is have an individual write a résumé for you, without your contributions. Perhaps you have spent $1000 or more on this résumé, you may be hesitant to change it. Here is another problem—if your résumé is not targeted and relevant to what the Employer is asking for—how will you get the interview?

Please do not walk away from this article simply believing that simply 45% of people believe it is okay to lie on résumés. We do not know who the respondents are. What if the respondents were made up of like-minded individuals who understand why omissions and commissions occur? What if the surveyed group is actually a body of individuals who help people resolve those challenges. We just do not know.

There are simple solutions to these problems. Know your work, successes, and contributions—write them down and constantly update your résumé and credentials. Understand how you have made a difference. Learn to search for work that needs to be done; as opposed to searching for work by job title. Be in control of your job search—remember; everyone is in business for himself or herself—ultimately. Upgrade your skills, while on the job. Never assume that you will not have to conduct a job search. Do not make assumptions about what employer’s value; research the hidden job market and keep in touch with our changing workforce. Always, always network.

Thank you for your time.

To Your Greater Success!

Jade-Natalie Duffy
jadenatalie.o.dubhthaigh@gmail.com

I think it is appalling that any would lie on their resume, barring one issue — perhaps age. It shows they lack ethics to falsely say you worked a job or have a skill you do not. When you are hired, the company loses because they invested in you believing you were skilled in a particular area. Better to be in a mode trying to gain the skill than to fabricate your skill. The issue of age, is maybe a little more touchy. While it is against the law to not hire because of age, we know businesses and corporations do it all the time. As well as weight. My theory on age is: if you look younger than you really are, dont fess up to your age. Dont try to pass yourself off as 10 years younger, just dont make it a big issueW! Focus on your skills, accomplishments, that you read, and that you can learn.

Here is a case in point about NOT Lieing on your Resume: I have an extensive background in education, and in art, and volunteer at some key institutions. For one job I applied for, and eventually got hired at, they check every place I worked, called every gallery still in business, AND the reserach institution I volunteer at. They could NOT BELIEVE someone with my qualifications had just applied for their business; and they were pleased to hire me. While not every small business does that kind of check, THEY MAY!! And in the corporate world, expect it!! Imagine if you lost a job because of lieing on your resume?!! What a disgrace that would be!!!

James (17) you are a morally bankrupt individual. I would NEVER consider hiring you as you have no integrity to begin with, and you are apathetic about the moral consequences. People like you are the reason corporations are corrupt!!!

As you have NO MORAL COMAPSS to begin with, that makes you a predator in society.

On the good side, MOST PEOPLE DOOO HAVE A SOUND MORAL COMPASS!!! They KNOW how to behave, they know what is good and what is bad, that is not a relative issue. Eventuallly you lies will come back to bite you in the butt, and dont ever think you can escape it. Sure, people embezzle, people do shameful corrupt things.. and SURE as HECK, we eventually find out and shame on them. They are embarrassed socially, They will never be employed again. Excpet people like NIKE who dont have a sound advertising head on their shoulder and they CHOOSE to endorse someone who falsely postures themselves as a pius squeeky clean individual…. but that is not relevant here. Or is it?

DO NOT LIE ON YOUR RESUME. Its is simple as that. Hone up to your skills, or lack there of. Hone up to your mistakes, if you have made them. Yes, unfortuantely, business judge against you for your mistakes of theft, incarceration or the likes, but when you act stupidly in life, the pay back is high. You learn your lesson, admit it, SHOW PEOPLE you HAVE IMPROVED AND ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK… and then, people can judge you differently.

Watch out for shifty employers . . .

I do not lie. I do put my best foot forward. But I have had employers change things on my resume and record for their benefit.

What about this experience? After I got the job, with an honest resume, and an honest application, the employer ‘reinvents” my resume without my permission or knowledge (told me she was going ro re-format it). She added credentials and changed my degree to suit her needs and then distributed her lies to her clients, the people I had to deal with on a daily basis.

That was sticky. I caught her and her accountant, in another financial lie. When I “humbly” brought this to her attention, she quickly settled for a cash payment of what she really owed me. I accepted the payment, it was really owed me, then I quit.

I was called later by the local county court as a witness in litigation against her. This employer’s lies caught up with her and she was on trial for fraud. I shutter to mention the field I was working in at the time, however legislature and a state department have tighten rules and this kind of lying is no longer is possible. All credentials in this field are now regulated by the state, and everything is accessible online through the state agency’s website.

This lady gave me poor references. It pays to ask a potential employer why you got turned down for a job. In this case, I learned that a past employer’s spite can follow you. I now keep newspaper articles of employers gone bad – but only use them when absolutely necessary. I also keep honest and compllimentary thank you notes for my services to help counter nasty employer remarks. Fortunately there has been very few of those.

I also had to quit another job, in a different field, when the attorney I worked for insisted on workers lying to cllients. Not just the “white lie” of not being in the office (I substituted “not available”) but more blantant lies, used as an edge to re-calendar things for her convenience and financial benefit, not the clients’. After I successfully obtained another job, gave in my resignation and left, I was not surprised to read in the local paper whre I found out this attorney was disbarred. Did that stop her illegal ways? Of course not. She still ran her lawfirm, under a differnt name, and practiced law through a willing associate attorney, who signed off on documents. I stayed out of it, figuring it would not take long for the authorities to find out. I was right.

To the buyer of services, and to the jobhunter, and to the employee: do not relax once employed – always be viligent – and keep control of your own resume. If an employer insists on re-formating anything you have to sign and/or release in your name, insist upon the right to proof read it.

Heck, I can’t even get everything I have done on my resume!

Apparently lying on your resume works only if you are a minority. Happened to me recently. A less qualified minority got a US government job with blatant lies on his resume. My resume was truthful. He got the job, I didn’t. Thanks Uncle Sam!
According to the USAJobs.gov website:
False Statements – If you misrepresent your experience or education, or provide false or fraudulent information in or with your application, it may be grounds for not hiring you or for firing you after you begin work. Making false or fraudulent statements also may be punishable by fine or imprisonment.

Yeah. He’s still working there.

I suppose one evil does not justify another. Nevertheless, lying is part of life. In business and government lying is as common as household dust. We all know the examples. The car dealer represents to the consumer that “there will never be another deal like this!” The politicians who exhort that your taxes will not be raised, “….no not Quarter, not a Dime, not a Nickel, not a Penny…” The consumer that lies on a loan application, the mortgage lender that tells the prospective borrower and home owner that they will easily be able to make the payments on a $400K loan while their job is working the order counter at McDonald’s. Another one: “Ive only had two drinks Officer.” One of the best: The former employer that lies about your work performance (in order to prolong your unemployment) when an another potential employer calls the former to check your work history.

I am not going to lie to myself because I lie too. Everyone lies to protect themselves, their loved ones, their jobs, property and their money. Ever tell an extremely ill child that they are “going to get better” when you don’t know whether your statement is true or not? How about the instance where an extremely obese person on a diet poses the question to you at work (with co-workers present), asking,you, “I’ve lost three pounds in the last three months, don’t you think I look great?!” All the while your real reaction is that they look like Jobba the Hut, but you are going to answer, “Oh yes, you look fabulous!”

Indeed, even the resume claim “Recovered over $10M in delinquent debts in a six month period” sounds great, but did you really do this by yourself or as part of a team? What did you really do in order to accomplish this? Threaten, scream at, harass, ridicule, lie to, con, sue the delinquent customer?

So there are all sorts of ways to “look” and “sound” good and anyone and everyone who wants a job is going to use the word constructions to market themselves in the way they deem best. Ever had an interviewing employer tell you what it is really like to work at a company?

I’ve had two people fired for lying on their resumes. Both falsified skills we were needing, and wound up costing the companies time and money. There’s no getting around it once you’re caught, and someone will eventually figure it out. Beyond just that one position, if you were trying to establish a network, you just ruined your reputation.

Excellent comments on my previous post.; I admire the writer!

I do, however, take exception to some of your philosophy. You make good suggestions, but what comes across is that in order to get a job you must “kiss up” to the prospective boss, lick his boots, give him only what he wants. That is NOT how life works. We are individuals, all of us have different personalities and the prospective boss needs to see a “well rounded” person. They do not want somebody that is a “Yes” person.
The prospective boss needs to see that the prospective employee has other life work experience and just life experience period.

I do agree with you that when we work as employees as the years progress, we underestimate our worth on the job as we gain experience on that job, and we do not make note of it, and we should.

I will not “kiss Up” to my boss. It is important that as an employee you tell your boss you are willing to work as a team with him, but that he cannot bully you and tell him that you will not be a “Yes” person. Your boss can be wrong, he is human. He puts his pants on the same way you do, one leg at a time. Y0u work together as a team. In order to do that you have to be a “well rounded” individual and that has to show on a Resume.

If I were a boss I would not hire somebody who addresses his resume to what he thinks I want, in other words a “Yes” person. I want to see a well rounded person and that should show up in the Resume.

Jade-Natalie:

I enjoyed your rebuttal AND I believe you have made some interesting, valid and excellent points.

I would counter with the following:

If Nike told you to buy shoes–you probably wouldn’t buy them. But what if Nike said, “this is what these shoes can do for you!”. I ask, what would you be more likely to consider buying them?

If you were the consumer (employer with money to spend), I believe that you would be more willing to see yourself buying those shoes (job seeker that can enhance company performance) if you could see yourself wearing them.

Therefore, in the footsteps of the employer, you are walking with them (contractually, offer and acceptance has occurred).

Nike (job seeker) sold you the shoes | You bought the position (employer).

The trade, hours of particularly skilled labor, results, and experience in exchange for financial gains (theoretically), health care (hopefully), vacation (more than three weeks a year please), and other benefits.

Offer and acceptance indicates footing on an like ground where two ‘equal’ parties enter into an agreement. Much like accepting a job, or how it could be, if one were not in a position demanding acceptance because there are no other choices (another matter entirely and one that I am thoroughly familiar with).

Obviously, I am not saying that you are a pair of shoes to be used or discarded. That train of thought would culminate in a severe digression. To the point, I am targeting the aspects of ‘offer and acceptance’.

You have something they want, but the employer may or may not know it. Creating a mental picture allows them to see you in the position.

Returning to the example; it’s your job when you are in business for yourself on a job search to tell the Employer why they should hire you.

In this view, you are on equal ground and not ‘kissing boots’; you are marketing/selling your unique knowledge, skills and abilities. You might even be marketing your values as you have done here.

In the job search, you too (or the seeker) are examining the fit of the shoe (job). I would certainly credit you with noting that I failed to mention this very significant point. It would distress me greatly to have someone swallow down a job that is not a good fit, as I have done many times.

So, where I certainly have fallen short, I do believe the latter is the point I am coming too. At the time of writing, I was not thinking about your aptly put, ‘kissing boots’ philosophy, I was thinking about the resume as a guide to the interview and the resume as a marketing piece.

Close on the rebuttal.

In regards to the survey, I would say that the ultimate reason why I voted no to lying on the resume is that one day, somehow, a person will be asked to ‘PROVE IT’.

BTW, the PROVE IT process and STAR resume writing and interview processes are not a trade mark or creation of Jade-Natalie. These processes have been used for years to help people write resumes, create 30 or 60 commercials, and interview (the job seeker or the employer).

Respectfully,

Jade-Natalie Duffy
jadenatalie.o.dubhthaigh@gmail.com

Repost of HTML formatting error.

To the commenter and group of survey respondants at large:

Excellent comments on my previous post; I admire the writer!

……….I do, however, take exception to some of your philosophy. You make good suggestions, but what comes across is that in order to get a job you must “kiss up” to the prospective boss, lick his boots, give him only what he wants. That is NOT how life works. We are individuals, all of us have different personalities and the prospective boss needs to see a “well rounded” person. They do not want somebody that is a “Yes” person.
The prospective boss needs to see that the prospective employee has other life work experience and just life experience period.

I do agree with you that when we work as employees as the years progress, we underestimate our worth on the job as we gain experience on that job, and we do not make note of it, and we should.

I will not “kiss Up” to my boss. It is important that as an employee you tell your boss you are willing to work as a team with him, but that he cannot bully you and tell him that you will not be a “Yes” person. Your boss can be wrong, he is human. He puts his pants on the same way you do, one leg at a time. Y0u work together as a team. In order to do that you have to be a “well rounded” individual and that has to show on a Resume.

If I were a boss I would not hire somebody who addresses his resume to what he thinks I want, in other words a “Yes” person. I want to see a well rounded person and that should show up in the Resume……..

Rebuttal from Jade-Natalie:

I enjoyed your rebuttal AND I believe you have made some interesting, valid and excellent points.

I would counter with the following:

If Nike told you to buy shoes–you probably wouldn’t buy them. But what if Nike said, “this is what these shoes can do for you!”. I ask, would you be more likely to consider buying them?

If you were the consumer (employer with money to spend), I believe that you would be more willing to see yourself buying those shoes (job seeker that can enhance company performance) if you could see yourself wearing them.

Therefore, in the footsteps of the employer, you are walking with them (contractually, offer and acceptance has occurred).

Nike (job seeker) sold you the shoes | You bought the position (employer).

The trade, hours of particularly skilled labor, results, and experience in exchange for financial gains (theoretically), health care (hopefully), vacation (more than three weeks a year please), and other benefits.

Offer and acceptance indicates footing on an like ground where two ‘equal’ parties enter into an agreement. Much like accepting a job, or how it could be, if one were not in a position demanding acceptance because there are no other choices (another matter entirely and one that I am thoroughly familiar with).

Obviously, I am not saying that you are a pair of shoes to be used or discarded. That train of thought would culminate in a severe digression. To the point, I am targeting the aspects of ‘offer and acceptance’.

You have something they want, but the employer may or may not know it. Creating a mental picture allows them to see you in the position.

Returning to the example; it’s your job when you are in business for yourself on a job search to tell the Employer why they should hire you.

In this view, you are on equal ground and not ‘kissing boots’; you are marketing/selling your unique knowledge, skills and abilities. You might even be marketing your values as you have done here.

In the job search, you too (or the seeker) are examining the fit of the shoe (job). I would certainly credit you with noting that I failed to mention this very significant point. It would distress me greatly to have someone swallow down a job that is not a good fit, as I have done many times.

So, where I certainly have fallen short, I do believe the latter is the point I am coming too. At the time of writing, I was not thinking about your aptly put, ‘kissing boots’ philosophy, I was thinking about the resume as a guide to the interview and the resume as a marketing piece.

Close on the rebuttal.

In regards to the survey, I would say that the ultimate reason why I voted no to lying on the resume is that one day, somehow, a person will be asked to ‘PROVE IT’.

BTW, the PROVE IT process and STAR resume writing and interview processes are not a trade mark or creation of Jade-Natalie. These processes have been used for years to help people write resumes, create 30 or 60 commercials, and interview (the job seeker or the employer).

Respectfully,

Jade-Natalie Duffy
jadenatalie.o.dubhthaigh@gmail.com

To everyone that said don’t lie on a resume, including the article writer: You are all hilariously naive. CEO’s are CEO’s because they lie. Studies show that children learning to lie earlier are more intelligent and manipulative, making them the best at weaving such lies. The reality of the situation is it IS okay to lie…as long as you don’t get caught. And believe me, you won’t get caught. This ridiculous authoritarian lie of “you WILL get caught” is perpetuated by police and other authorities to make the sheep docile and submitting.

I used to be this way. Now I make twice as much as I did before and I do my job quite well. A job I only got BY LYING MY ASS OFF AND DOING IT PROPERLY.

Thank you! Finally, somebody willing to tell it like it is…I have my dream job only because I saw a job I wanted and thought, “Hell, how hard can THAT be?” and virtually created a resume from thin air. The HR person who interviewed me said, “Nobody in the industry seems to know you” and I replied “Really? That’s odd.” Next day, I was hired. Friggin’ awesome.

I am totally agree with Anonymous liar,If you won’t lie someone else will lie and get the job… So why don’t you???

During a recent presentation to a group of mid mangers the resume gap issue arose. The younger of the group all said, “lie.” Move the dates to fix the gap. They said, “Everyone does it.”

The older folks shook their heads in distain. They all knew someone who had been fired or demoted for lying on a resume. Most companies have a 0 tolerance and check everything during the first six months of employment.

Is this a generational issue? Are morals determined by our age?

Oddly, folks seem to forget former managers and colleagues work in many companies with openings. They are known.

Rita Ashley, Career Coach
Author: Job Search Debugged
Author: Networking Debugged

I agree that lying is not right, and we all know the reasons why. The web we weave when we deceive, etc…

However, I have an entertaining story about someone I knew who lied, and got away with it. He was asked if he knew how to program in Unix. He answered “Sure!”. Needless to say, he did not. They offered him the job and was going to start in a few days. He ran out and bought “Unix for Dummies” and taught himself how to program in Unix in about 48 hours. 10 years later, he’s a regional manager now.

So the moral of this story is, if you are going to lie, be prepared to work very hard to turn that lie into a truth very fast.

Again, I don’t advocate lying, but when he told me this story about a month after he started, I was dismayed.

I would never lie about positions held or my experience because if you are put to the test of getting a position that requires experience that you say you have but don’t, then that makes you real stupid or dumb, or both. The only time a company requires exact the exact day that you were hired or terminated ((I can get month and year)then that is when I start playing the “guessing” game. I can’t remember that detail over the years. I wouldn’t blatantly lie on other details. It just doesn’t pay to do it.

I get so tired of the “Everybody does it”, “If so and so are doing it, then why shouldn’t I”, “They’ll never check” and other such mentality people have-about EVERTHING, including resume writing. Always looking for the path of least resistance. This approach to life has permeated all areas and is an unbelievably powerful indictment on the condition of CHARACTER in our culture. This notion of self-preservation in the workplace specifically has NO PLACE, REGARDLESS of the potential “rewards” it could bring. Stand up on YOUR OWN TWO FEET and take your lumps. Use what you have and don’t keep trying to PRETEND to have or be something/someone you aren’t. The satisfaction recognition of accomplishment that can be derived from a job legitimately obtained can be diminished and is certainly devalued by use of such false honors. Such a person needs to work on their CHARACTER.

With all this talk about lying on resumes, it is interesting that a Federal Court in California just ruled that a claimant could lie about receiving a Congressional Medal of Honor because it was his First Amendment right. The gentleman did that on his resume I believe, and the court supported him. Bizarre. I guess if he lost his job because of that lie, he could sue? I believe he was also running for public office as well. (So much for not lying in that public arena, which I’m sure we are all more than aware of these days).

The question also is how far back do you document jobs? 10 years? 15 years? 25-30 years for those who’ve been working for decades? Is it also possible that dates can get wrong because people can’t always remember them accurately, especially re start dates and end dates.

I think the degree of the mistake is important. Lying about having a Congressional Medal of Honor is a BIT more important than not remembering a part-time gig you had 10 years ago while you were in college or not getting the dates of a job ages ago exactly right.

Some mistakes are honest mistakes, ( or even typos) while others, i.e., being the CEO when you were just an administrative person, are more serious.

I also don’t think some gaps in employment history are that all important. If the gap is 10 years ago for a reasonable length of time, and the employment history is solid ever since, who cares ( unless of course the gap is several years while you were in prison ) . But gaps up to a year should really not matter if they are a long time ago.

We need to stop believing we must track every person’s life in this country from cradle to grave – it’s becoming a Big Brother mentality. Like financial records, there are some things in employment history and one’s personal life that should have a statute of limitations.

Everybody is saying to only show 20 years of work experience on a resume. How do I get around that when the last job was 11 years and the one prior was over 22 years? I can’t cut the 22+ year job in half; that’s a out-and-out lie. So what do I do?

Here is a big reason NOT to lie, I was hired by an nameless accounting company that has a Forensic research dept that actually checked all my courses, degrees and certificates… whoops imagine if I’d lied…

Justin Mountford (PMP, Prince2) and creator of the Perfect PM Resume

Lying on a resume is the reason we get idiots in corporations like BP.

Heh, I don’t support lying at all, BUT I’ve seen many do it and get away with it before. Even if you are ‘caught’ a few years later and loose your job, who will the next corps hire: Someone who may have lied, but learned a valuable lesson (so they say but that could be a lie too) and gained the corp’s precious ‘job experience’ they so desire or the honest person who worked hard at their burger job to support their family, but had no luck finding a place at a coprs to get the ‘experience’ they needed to ‘qualify’ for the job even though they know how to do everything demanded? Let’s get real, those corporates don’t live in ‘fairy tale land’ and they will hire someone with experience over the honest do-gooder.

I mean if you were sorting through thousands of resumes you would obviously call the people who said they had experience over the ones who said they didn’t, even without looking at their cover letter explaining why they don’t have it! SO the honest guy doesn’t even get a chance to come to the interview to make an impression, but the liar who actually now has the exprience necessary does. Yeah, yeah there’s a chance that someone from your previous job slips into the office, but that doesn’t happen often.

Also, I have to agree with Neal’s moral of his story, it’s good to make the lies become the truth, but you do have to be prepared to work at it. I would never advise someone who knows nothing about a subject, i.e. computers, finance etc, to go into that field based solely on lies though…if you know a certain amount of things but don’t know the whole package that’s a bit different.

What are people talking about? HONESTY? Are you kidding me? You have to lie in order to stay ahead of the game. If you don’t lie than you will lose our on you dream job. Don’t hate the player hate the game.

My resume states I have an engineering degree, have been in design engineering for thirty years, most recently as a Director of Engineering for a large company, however now that company is closing, I’m out of a Job, years ago, companies only checked credit, drugs and references…NOW they check degrees….SCREWED….At 52 I’m not starting SCHOOL….So I keep looking….I dont like it, I have the experience, Good credit, great references, No Drugs, ect
If hour honest, you wont get an interview with the degree..

Why do people actually lie on their resumes? The bottom line, they want a job. It’s all about survival. Sure, it is unethical. However, there are political and city officials who embellished, or straight out lied, about their credentials to get in office. Just because some people who typed an honest resume doesn’t mean that they are honest at all times. You read it all the time in the newspapers/media about dishonest Ceo’s, employers/employees lying to their clients, embezzelling or stealing from their companies.

I worked for a vocational school as an instructor aide. After they hired me, my employer trained me to become a substitute instructor (not bad, since,I don’t have a BA degree, nor teaching credentials). I learned my job quickly and was considered an outstanding employee. However, I was laid off because of the school’s budget cuts.

In my resume I told them what they wanted to hear. If I was honest on my resume, they would of never interviewed and hired me. I had to admit, I was not completely honest, so what??? Of course I took a chance. Would I do it again? Of course!! Honesty in resume(s) sometimes will not get you hired in tough economical times; therefore, I will “roll my dices and take my chances” again lying on my resume to land another job. It’s all about learning how to play the job hunting game. Besides, approximately 70 percents of resumes are embellished from the truth. Yes, these resumes are landing some people jobs. I look at a resume as a test exam, or a college assignment, that is, you give the instructor (employer) the right answers.

I have worked in the IT industry for many years, and I have found that honesty or dishonesty are usually irrelevant. This is due to employers not understanding the qualifications needed for the job, so I don’t lie about my qualifications. I just bend the truth a little, I tell them how my qualifications will benefit the business even though I know I’ll never use most of them. I often tailor the job so I end up doing it very differently from the way it was intended, and once ended up hiring an assistant to do the job I was originally hired for. My only problem is getting references from previous employers, all of my previous employers have either moved on to new businesses or gone out of business, the IT industry is constantly changing and it easy to lose contacts.

Interesting topic and I read through all the comments.

No company is ever honest. They call it spin and marketing.

One time as I manager, I did a lot of interviewing and my department head said yes we do lie to applicants. We may get one application for a position but we have to say we got many.

I had one manager lie for a year to his department talking about layoffs. Everyone was on contract and normally a contract would be renewed months ahead of time but he was waiting until a couple days before a contract would end to tell people if they got renewed or not. Then he would give only 3 month renewals and no pay increases. He lied to everyone to keep them scared. It was dirty and rotten. I had the pleasure of him coming to me saying he was going to renew me and I am supposed to be all grateful for his crumbs and I told him I was resigning and had a job offer somewhere else. Go me!

So as for lying on a resume? I do it in a heartbeat. In my field there is a lot of competition from Asians and Indians in IT and I read the groups where they ask what to put on resume and what languages to put and what degrees to put when they have marginal skills. I’ve had applicants come in saying they had a Master’s degree from an English university and they could barely speak English at all. Of course their lies stand out.

Now if I am up against someone with basic skills and they have practiced all the interview questions knowing the right answers to the questions and their resume is padded to look better than mine, they would probably get the job.

Then I read the forums of them asking how to do basic job functions and their employer probably has no clue they are that under qualified. Or where they sit for a certification and cheat on it or just fabricate the certification.

It is insulting to someone like myself who really does have the skills but get overlooked by people with padded resumes and a better bs story in the interview than I have.

So I do pad my resume to make it better than the frauds and practice even more at interview questions than the frauds so then with my perfect native English and the additional resume padding, I get the job that I deserve.

It is a shame it has to be that way.

How to lie on your CV:

1. Count part of a year as one year.
2. Use school email address to imply that you have a degree from that school
3. Elaborate past position titles or add put two titles per position and then say that one was your “unofficial” title
4. Register as a member of various professional organizations and imply that you are an active member
5. Put whatever you want for company(ies) where you have worked that have gone out of business
6. Google for famous companies that have gone out of business and use their names as past employers and then get your friend(s) to act as references – think Aurthur Anderson, Lehman Bros, Wachovia, Nortel Networks, etc.
7. Forge letters of reference from bogus bosses at past companies. Use real or copied original letterhead.
8. Offer an email address instead of a phone number for your reference and use an email that you set up yourself in Yahoo Mail or Gmail, etc. that sounds like an email for the reference. When employers send an email to the bogus reference person asking certain questions, you answer the questions yourself as if you were the reference person including a flattering reference for yourself.

Other tips: Whatever you lie about, make sure you CYA in case of background checks and in terms of being able to live up to the hype when you get hired.

Wrong…my best friend in his late 40′s did. Lied through his teeth and had a horrible background. Got the job offer same day and is still with the company (large firm) and when they conducted his background check, they told him “everyone makes mistakes”…he had felony convictions, dui’s, etc. As well as lying about having a BA degree back in 1980, he was kicked out after two years. Now,YOU tell me..in this economy…honesty is NOT the best policy. He has since been promoted, he is traveling for company, all expenses paid, has a nice new condo, and an office.

Is it ok for a person from Englan living here (in US) on a VISA to lie on anapplication for a Public Works Director position? They lied about having an engineering degree. Which in fact they never completed college! They hold this position now, and have held this position in other municipalities! Would you rat them out?

I hate to get Clintonian here, but what’s “a lie”?

I’ve had numerous “career consultants” recommend that I “dumb down” my resume, which goes “Vice President, President, Area Marketing Director, and Director of Communications” to something that sort of goes “publicist, manager, manager, publicist” if I’m going to even be considered for mid-level jobs (which, after being out of work for TWO YEARS, I’d be perfectly willing to take!). Would that be “lying”? It sure FEELS that way to me, but I’ve probably had a half a dozen job-industry pros recommend it!

I’ve been fortunate to have always been “working on side projects” so I can claim freelance/consulting status to smooth over “resume gaps”, but unless one has been a total drone all one’s career, there is going to be stuff that needs to be “spun” one way or the other.

While honesty is the best policy, by maintaining the policy that the termination is the only solution for resume and application discrepancies regardless of whether the applicant added a penny to their salary or were an escaped convict pretending to be Mother Theresa, employers are taking an overly termination-happy approach. Also, as juvenile criminal records are sealed and one could easy lie above having a serious violent criminal terminating adult applicants for even minor discrepancies amounts to illegal age discrimination.

Why do people lie?

Given the current environment where people without prior experience can’t even get part time jobs working in shops, I’d say it’s unsurprising that people lie.

I have personally considered lying in an attempt to gain part time work but thought that the only lies I could tell would be too obvious.

I tell you, it sucks when you’re nearly at the end of a three year degree course and you still don’t hear anything back from dozens of applications for part time work!

what about lying about your age.reduce your age in your cv to get a job

I struggled hard to find jobs, but never had any chance to get. I am qualified on education base but never attained the job experience. Recently I found a job, applied for, and then called for interview. On my resume I few informations as to job expereince that were not accurate, in other words i bluffed about some of the experiences. i repsented a very good interview and a week later they congrate me for the post. I am very happy as well afraid, wat if they grab me. For sure I have education but lacking the designated expereince. I pray my employer doesnt get angry or understand my educational talent. Please someone one comment me, what should i do in thie cuase? i just dont wnat to lose this job, its temp anyway but still worth alot to me.

There is no need to be scared. All you have to do is work hard, try study ahead of the lectures and also try to antcipate future work loads and study for them before the actual work.
Goodluck

Everyone lie when applying for a job nowadays and most people get away with it.

Well after filling out over 1,500 applications & resumes over the last 1 year 6 months. I am going to lie starting today, and I will not think twice about it.

Here is why. I have worked since I was old enough to & have solid references & previous employers for the last 15 years. im 32. i lost my job in 09 due to “no fault of my own”. at the time no one was hiring.. at all. now that people are so called “hiring” again im being told cant have a job because Ive been unemployed too long. cripes if it isn’t one thing its another. Now I cant get a job, because I couldn’t find a job. Im on my last tank of gasoline, & next month rent is the last of my savings account.

I have no CHOICE but to lie. Places are simply discriminating against the unemployed that lost their jobs during the financial crisis.

I am in the same boat.. and I JUST re-did my resume. I put a lie here and there to make it look shiny and good. Its like giving your resume a Botox injection. lol.

It is always good to be honest in cv because you could be sacked if the quality of your work becomes unsatisfactory

Always be honest, and if you find any errors remove it.
On my resume I had down my college information in such a way it sounded like I had completed my degree. Recently my resume was pulled from a job website, and that information was gathered. When I realized how it sounded on the resume I removed it and then reposted the resume as well as resubmitted to the potential employer I am currently working with. They are currently reviewing my case and I have this feeling that I will not get the job. My fault really (I guess?)

some of you on here speak about lying as if you just committed a double homicide . . . lets be serious people in todays market you need an edge and if lying on your resume is what you need to do to get ahead, then do it. if you get caught later on then you deal with it, but chances are you would of never gotten the opportunity had you told the truth in the first place. its ridiculous to see people on here act as if lying on your resume is the ultimate sin that will deny you access at the pearly gates. please people get over yourselves.

LOL!! Now that was funny…

I totally agree!

The reason I would lie, is most likely, your employer is stretching the truth or lying to you. Does the employer make the job sound more glamorous than it is when you are hired? Yes, they stretch the truth. Does the typical employer lie to you about hours and salary? Or change the hours and work times after hiring? Yes, Quite possible. Does the typical employer lie about job description. I’ve had this happen many times. Does the typical employer lie to you about career opportunity or hide career opportunities from you? Yes, often. Does management lie and cover up problems and blame you instead? Quite possible.

There is then no reason not to lie, unfortunately. In fact, I’d never tell the truth to employers like those above. I’d love to be able to trust an employer, but I cannot, I’ve been lied to way too much. You reap what you sow. If you want liars at your company, lie to your employees. It’s done all the time.

Preach. I feel no remorse lying to get a job at a greedy,lying, corporation.

Very interesting and well-written article.

Everyone here will always say “do not lie on your cv”, but when people look at the current state of the economy (ie. here in South Africa) and how certain cultures were or are `given’ jobs , people will resort to anything to `get ahead’.

I read a cv where someone said that they had completed a 4 year B.Comm Degree , but then the same person sent their cv again with that detail removed – are recruitment agencies actually checking to see these details are in a cv? are recruitment agencies checking what’s valid or are they simply spending their time googling someone or `stalking’ them on social-networking media before determining whether that person is right for the job or not?

Yes, it’s not right to lie anywhere, not just on a cv – but sometimes people think that they won’t get caught…

Never lie, but take entry level positions and combine those experiences on a resume. Look at job requirements after breaking into a field. You can get jobs with your customers and show honest character. They will see your honesty and help break you into the field on your choice. If you want to be an engineer then make sure you have been studying and taking jobs focused on technology. If you want to do sales make sure your entry level jobs were in customer service or inside sales. That is how you do it folks. If you took jobs that you thought sucked then you are going to have a career making a lot of money in jobs you think suck. But, your lack of direction does not give you the right to lie by any means to obtain employment. I face that I need to keep my current job to get a better one later, and a degree does not always manifest. Honest work ethic can for sure manifest if you choose to do the right things at work, whatever that might be, and your honesty is what will show in your career leading to advancement into those jobs you are currently not qualified for because you have not been honest.

Don’t focus on the initial pay. Focus on the experience and make sure if you are wanting to be a technician not to take sales jobs and tech jobs. Unless you want to work in tech support or estimating. More money looks good, but if you are green you need experience. Sure jump a few jobs to get the references and skills but hold one for a long time in the field of interest. It will make you look like you were solid and also gaining new skills while exploring your options. The hard part for you liars I think is keeping that one job for a long-time or if you land a dream job just hold onto it because your dishonest self will need to gain the experience in order to stop being a broken record player. Liars usually face the problem of experience because they can not learn to communicate truthfully. Tell the truth, you want the job but you want to break into the field because you are “green” and will benefit the company from the training they provide. Express your honesty and integrity. Having mental balance can also help because if you jump around too much then you’ll be viewed as a flake and get blacklisted out of your career industry. Stop lying people, it is really stupid.

Haven’t you heard of the law of attraction?

After searching for jobs, and going on interviews to no avail for 6 months, I finally started lying on applications and my resume. I attended college for 3 years and didn’t graduate. I started putting that I had a B.A., as well as giving myself a “promotion” on old jobs that have since closed down. It worked, and I’ve been working in a decent job for a year now. My girlfriend used to say, “what if you work there for a while-then get caught”- I’m willing to take that risk. At least I made some money for a while. I wouldn’t suggest lying off the bat. But if you’re not making money, and nobody will hire you- then what do you have to lose? A job. Which is more than I had when I was being honest.

I know someone who totally lies all the time and always makes 6 digits.

He really landed a great job this time he works for a national company and is now the VP of sales for the South East (5 states) Company Car , Phone , expense account.

He’s a High School drop who now claims to have 3 Masters Degrees. He also made a both fake and totally upscalled positions to fill it.

So will you lie to make $ 250,000 ?????????

I was so desperate for a job and so it was awesome news to find out I just got a great job opportunity today and even better that it was at a place where I would love to work.., Well in one day I was offered a job and then lost it, All because I lied on the resume and the only person to blame is myself. All of my job history & job titles were correct and I did leave with a two week notice but I stretched the length by 2 months to fill in the gaps, and I listed a different store location number for my last employee because of the way we departed. I feel so embarrassed & so ashamed for lying, I will never get a chance at that job again, but the worst part of it all was the disappointment and deceit I caused on the other end, the potential boss, he was so let down and I think he feels I played him for a fool, which is something I did not mean to do. This was the first and last time I lied for a job, No matter how bad you want a job tell the whole truth, if you got fired say it, if you quit say it if you only worked until May put May! Not June if your favorite manager is still with the company but now at a different store, too bad put the number of the store you worked at.. These little white lies got me in big trouble, big or small a lie, is a lie, is a lie. This feeling is horrible and that’s not a lie.

The results are irrelevant.
Lying on a resume is wrong.

What is a university grad without any experience supposed to do. Lets face it, 95% of jobs can be learned within like 2 months. Why do employers insist on a laundry list of job requirements and experience for a job that does not require any experience?

They deserve all these lying applicants.

Why would you EVER lie on a resume? If you did, you should be ashamed of yourself, because you know the company you’re applying to has been NOTHING but brutally honest and upfront about how you’ll be treated and how much they value your services. Just ask the millions of men and women who helped move their jobs to India…..

Bamchug–how in the world do you know that the companies that people are applying to have “been NOTHING but brutally honest and upfront about how you’ll be treated and how much they value your services”?

Case in point…

A good friend of mine whose position is HR recruiter at a major company in Los Angeles recently told me that she and other coworkers of hers are aware that people lie to get the jobs that they do. Not only that, she mentioned that they are doing it themselves since several of them are looking for other jobs due to how THEY have been lied to regarding their job expectations, workload, and hours. They are being taken advantage of because they are “salaried” employees. My friend works from 7 a.m. to 7 or 7:30 p.m. daily and her paycheck does not change. Ever. If they leave after 8 hours, then they are just hurting themselves because they will have more work to do the following day and will very likely be unable to meet their goals and quotas.

She also mentioned that a coworker of hers lied to another major corporation about earning $95K annually. The potential new employer likes her very much and is interested in her. They offered her $85K because that was the best they could do. In reality, this girl only makes $70K per year.

I agree that major corporations as well as mom and pop shops are lying to their employees, therefore I am not above changing up my resume to make myself more appealing and relevant. Maybe not education and references, but my resume definitely has some sugar-coated titles and job duties. I know what I am capable and what I can offer to a potential employer and I intend on trying my hardest to get the job I want.

The sophomoric naivete emanating from the replies to this topic is both sickening and quite typical. Look, most employers have only one motivation when interviewing applicants – greed! They aren’t concerned with your daughter, your wife, or your parents; there’s no recompense for your life’s troubles in their considerations.

You’re only obligation in life is to your loved ones and yourself. Answer this question: will this potential employer take a bullet for you?

Look at David Edmondson who became CEO of Radio Shack; he lied about receiving a college degree. He admitted his lie after he was made CEO of a publicly traded company and offered an enormous salary. After he was released he got a nice fat pension out to boot. His lie made him a very wealthy man, wealth he would have never seen had he told the truth. It must be so hard for him to retire early with millions of dollars knowing he lied on his job application!

Furthermore, people who work at resume screening and human resources are the stupidest group of peons you’ll ever meet. These imbeciles act like they are special agents in the FBI routing out foreign spies. The truth is, these morons are only as good as the search engines they use to conduct their background checks. They are lazy, stupid, and generally have no real knowledge of the field they are hiring in. If you can’t get away with lying to these fat idiots you probably don’t deserve the job anyway.

Finally, you probably won’t get caught if you lie well. Most companies won’t conduct a background check after you’re hired. And even if you are caught, you’ll still receive a check that you would have never had a chance at had you not lied.

I am also on good impression, to save some persons life, you can lie. But it not the case here.

My Question is if we never lie to get a job, always be honest. How far does it helps for newbies who just want to start their carrier?

I mean yes, there are references, friends and other things, what if one does not even have those?

you all are hypocrites.

I quit my job and took another position at a small company which I thought would be a good opportunity. I knew within 2 weeks that it was not a good fit and after 1 month I was let go. Is it OK to leave this position off of my resume? If so, would it ever come up on a background check?

Probably not, especially since it is for a small company. Sometimes larger companies will post information about employee’s dates of employment, salary, ect. on various sources such as “The Work Number” and others sources. However, most companies don’t use these sources and I think that Human Resource workers are stupid if they depend on sources like this to check work histories because only half or less of the average person’s work history would show up anyways. I think that it would be unfair for Human Resource workers to just assume that all information about a person on these sources are correct too. In your case, I wouldn’t worry about there being any record of your employment there. Maybe you could call this company’s HR person and ask about all the ways in which other employers can obtain references about former employees?

Oh. To answer the first part of the question, I would leave it off the resume since you can most likely get away with it. Keeping it on your resume would only look like a negative thing to employers.

Lie. Absolutely. Lie. It’s survival time now, and the employers are worse than ever about playing police. Despite all the laws out there (which I predict will be repealed the way things are going), employers discriminate now, more than ever, because they can. I shaved 15 years off my resume. I lied about the depth and range of my experience. Instead of being 50 years old, I was now 35. I can pass physically, thank God. I am not proud that I am doing this, but the age discrimination had become so obvious that I had to do something radical. Historically, I know that people have changed their names to get jobs. Employment discrimination comes in many forms. The response rate has increased three-fold. I even had my “younger” friends dress me before an interview. I am careful not to share all of my experience as well. There are many tricks that the sneaky HR types, whom I have grown to disdain as a profession, do to “legally discriminate” in the hiring process. I have a house to pay for and kids. I cannot wait play one-sided games about “being honest” about my age knowing the truth, the reality of the modern workplace. If I am found out and let go, so be it. They will fire me for lying about my age. There are worse things to fend off in life. No moral deliberation at all here for me. I will be six months, a year, maybe more ahead.

I think your better of lieing on a cv as you have a better change of getting an interview. Every cv i send away i have been told that i was un succssful and dont have the qualifications. How can you get the qualifications if nobody gives you a chance in a job. So i tell white lies and get interviews. I find this way I wont get a job but the more interviews i get the better i will do when im going for a job interview

My boss lies about me all the time and continually finds faults in my work, When I go to the higher ups,no one wants to listen,my coworkers no what she does,do not use your supervisper as a job check,use a co worker,and say they are your boss,Do what you have to do to feed your family.

On a job interview I was asked if I have ever missed any days of work in the last 6 months. Stupid me said yes, I had a good reason for 2 days of missed worked and explained the reason why I missed those days. And do you “honest” people think I got the job? of course not. In fact the idiot manager said he had 7 other people to interview on that same day. I found out from a source that I was the only person interviewed and no one else. So who lied here????? Well now I applied at a different position and told them everything they wanted to hear and yes the CV is inaccurate. Yes, I got the job and I am getting a paycheck every week. I spend it on food and shelter so that I can survive on this planet. The last thing in my mind right now is getting caught. If I ever do I will tell them exactly why I did it and I will go back to being unemployed the same way I was when I was “honest”. In the mean time I am keeping my job and working hard.

For the liars, good luck not getting fired

For the honest, good luck GETTING HIRED

Picture this: I lost my job (35K year) almost two years ago, I got a crappy job (12K year) at a groceries store to survive in the meantime. I lost my apartment and now live with my mother-in-law (which is a hell to live with). My wife and I sleep in the same room with my daughter and every single month I struggle to pay the bills really hard. My daughter has gotten sick (nothing serious) and without money to buy a $5 dollar bottle of motrin for her imagine my despair.

Now, I have applied for jobs and went to interviews (probably 30) the last 18 months and nothing until now. If you were me would you lie to get out of where I am into? Guess what? one of the comapanies which I went for a job interview called me last month for the final phase of the recruitment process and finally hired last week (I start in a few days) for a 45K-year job. And yes, I lied blatantly and any regret is going to fade away while looking at my daughter, healthy, happy, wearing a brand new pair of sneakers and getting into a private school again. You deserve what you can negotiate. For HR guys: you are not dealing with stupid people, be sensitive and honest and you will be rewarded with the same token.

Can I hide my Masters on resume? I did my Masters while working full time and got to know later that I cannot claim both the experience and the masters degree. What do you suggest in such situation?

You don’t have to include your Masters on your resume, but you can include both your experience and degree, if you want to.

Many people work and go to school at the same time and it’s fine to list both work experience and education on your resume, even if the dates overlap.

Hm, I guess it depends on your resume…
For a very poor one, even white lie is a disaster to be caught. But when we are talking about a good 2-pages-long resume, small “corrections” are less likely to be so obvious and much harder to be found.
Generally, lying is an unhealthy habit to have.

I would lie in a heart beat if my family’s welfare was at stake. The cost benefit analysis for such a “dilemma” will always favor lying. The worst thing that can ever happen to you is that you get fired. Actually, I was once fired from a job for lying. However, the odds are still in my favor since I was able to keep 4 other jobs. Due to liability issues a lot of company HR policies forbid the issuing of reference statements – All they can do is verify the position you held and employment dates. So, a prospective employer will never know that I was fired for lying.

Also, employers are now coming up with unrealistic laundry lists of skills in job postings. They are looking for a fictitious candidate and I will not hesitate to give them that fictitious candidate.

Since when did corporate America become a paragon of virtue? It is corporate dishonesty that brought us this recession. Why should I act honestly when I am in a den of thieves?

As long as you believe you can do the job then go ahead and lie about having experience you do not have. After all systems will always differ from one company to another and they still have to train you on how they do things in their company.

Being unemployed can be such an assault on your dignity. I have seen friends go through long periods of unemployment and would not wish it on my worst enemy. I have even helped some friends land jobs by pretending I was their former boss and telling the HR person sweet things about my buddie.

If you are a natural born liar on your resume, just apply to Kenneth Cole Productions, as apparently from what I have read on the Internet no one tells the truth on their resume over there, and if you get caught, you just have to know who’s dick to suck over there and you will be fine. Seriously it appears to be their office culture and policy.

I don’t understand how ANYONE can keep their job after they have been discovered to have committed fraud or lied on their resume and/or cover letter. At the very least it openly demonstrates and shows that this employee is dangerous, deceitful, will lie to get ahead (and probably steal), is dishonest, has no respect for the company, and cheats in life.

Why would ANY employer want to have a person like that in their company dayin, day out, month after month, year after year?

I have to agree with Mr Rivera above – if it’s a female employee who did it and got away with it after discovery, well then its fully proven as to exactly HOW and WHY she kept her job.

I was just hanging out on Linked In and I found such inaccuracies with people that either worked for me or that I worked with – it seems that with no checks and balances it is BS artists paradise. Let the buyer beware!

I’ve started fudging on my applications. I’m mainly applying for unskilled labor jobs like local restaurants and convenience stores. I don’t have anything better than a high school diploma. I had been accepted to a flight university and was well on my way to become a commercial pilot and get my airframe and powerplant mechanics certification. My parents and I did not get along well and they told me they didn’t plan on me getting accepted and they wouldn’t cosign a student loan. Now I’m 23 and had to move back in with my folks after trying to save up enough money for an education on my own. This small desert town has chewed me up and spat me out. I can not say that any of my official employers have been very professional. I left one job when I had a good standing with the owner because I moved too far away to continue driving to work there. Then, in my absence, an ex-coworker with a mad crap talking issue changed my previous employers outlook on me and now he tells me to leave everytime I come into his business. Then, at Walmart, after 7 months of working as a cart pusher, being the only one actually doing my job, I watched many “relatives and friends of management” get hired and promoted to better positions right out from under me after they had only worked for a couple weeks. I eventually got fired for stealing free gatorade. Yes, that’s correct, my official record says I was terminated for store theft. I had clocked out for my lunch break and topped off my water bottle with the free gatorade provided to us during the summer months. They said that that was stealing because I wasn’t on the clock. Now it’s been a year and a half since I’ve had a job and I think my record precedes me and has blacklisted me in this town.
I’ve actually started to get some feedback from potential employers since I’ve started leaving out bad job history. I figure, it gives me the time of day to explain my situation that I’m a good person and that all I want is a chance to prove myself.

From my experience, I can tell that lying does not help!
I have studied communication but never graduated because I wasn’t done with my thesis, but then luckily I got a job within a bank….communication assistant, and I never worked on that bloody paper. I was very happy, employed just few months after end of school, I thought ok, actually it worked without a degree. Now am in different country seeking for a job,

No I think it shows the type of character a person has.
If you would lie about that, you most likely would lie about alot of other things as well. That is a big lie, which make a person REALLY dishonest.
Almost anyone can acquire an actual degree. Yes they can be expensive, but if you go to a state school its less, and atleast you can say you accomplished something instead of lying about it.
Its fraudulent and it can be checked and if you get fired for it, its your own fault. Dont blame someone else for your stupidity.
I just found out that someone I know very well that is the Director of a large facility out west lied about having a degree from a certain University.
Sadly it was my university and I worked my tail off for mine and I am paying back my student loans.
I dont appreciate someone I know lying about their fake degree.
They didnt earn it, they shouldnt be allowed to lie about it, and they shouldnt be the director of anything or anyone. Who wants to work for a boss that lies about something they can acquire. They have another degree that is real, why did they have to lie about a 2nd one. So dumb.
Does the word transcripts mean anything???

in these economic times, we workers are in a war for our livelihood and welfare of our families.

I can find some analogy to the French and Indian war. someone changed the rules of the game. someone got their ass kicked and did a lot of complaining.

I hate the rules of this game, but if I don’t adapt, then I compromise the welfare of my family.

sorry, but I believe in playing with the same rules of the game as employers use. lie.

Hello I am candle. I am glad that I put myself in that community on going thing as you can see me at number 405 or 705 above. I am very much happy as I am still in that workplac. As I mentioned that I bluffed my resume a little bit that I ve enough experience but guess what God always judge you on ur intentions. My intentions were pure I searChed all over but never got any job, had many interviews but ppls didn’t treat me well when told them truth that I have no experience but potential and education. Trust me a wise man once said that successful person is one who is hardworking and honest but first he needs an opportunity in life and without opportunity his goodness is zero. The good thing is they hired me as temp for 3 months but it’s been 9 months and i m with them. This black guy ( he is a wonderful human being) and this girl ( who I would say an angel) trained me from dust and never showed a single sign of distress of what I lied in the beginning. I think it’s Becuz I am working with my full devotion and respect. And ofcourse as I said God sees ur efforts and intent first then ur actions. Even today if they lay me off or let go me, I can never forget them as those two ppls are sort of Heros of my life who built me and showed that corporate world hasn’t been too cold yet. God bless them. And yes brothers and sisters please dont be too hard on you no one born with skills all we need is a chance. I don’t here mean to lie Watever u want on ur resume about ur education or somthing that is really heart breaking but a little bit won’t hurt. Remember intentions are Wat takes a man ahead. I might be wrong but this is the way I experienced life at that point. God bless you all and my manager and that guy and girl of my department. Amen!!!

This is an absolute no no. I have found that when people have been job hunting for sometime that they can get a little desperate and put details into their cv that are not 100% true. We thouroughly check out all cv details for all new applicants and ALWAYS catch people out that have lied on their cv.

Keep it honest !

What if you got hired for a position but within 6 months the company had to go through layoffs and you were part of that? Would it make sense to not list them on the resume (in fear that it appears that on paper you look like a job hopper) and instead list your former employer for that calendar year that you were laid off?

There is a new message in the information technology market for the senior staffer seeking other opportunities and its called the Big Lie. “Your too technical too analytical” message that is coming out with Executives in companies. They use this message to replace “Too Old” because they cannot express their true colors due to the very fact the Department of Labor and EEO would skewer their tail section! What this country needs is a startup business that works with the 8.5% unemployed and those senior specialists seeking other opportunities and places them in smaller businesses. Then the Big Corporate slimmies hiring foreigners or sending job overseas would feel the bite where it really counts! CEO’s that are in bed with shareholders would then experience answering to their door that once opened now closed. People would transfer their money from their scamming Big Bank enterprises that shaft their customers to smaller ones watching that institution pay their Big Bank staffer to manage regular transfers. When in effect there won’t be any money in Big Bank accounts afterwards. Its time we unionize instead of continuing to patronize!

I just finish trade school this summer and I can’t find work anywhere, why?? Because I have no experience. I worked at a place for six days and was fired so they can have somebody that I actually went to school with and was related to the manager take my job. The reason the manager gave me for firing me was because he thought I didn’t have enough experience since I broke one measly bolt on a car that could be replaced at no price, like somebody has never broken a bolt before. Now when I go for interview should I put that I worked at this place for six days?? I never did because they would question it and then what would I say?? “Oh I got fired because I broke a little bolt on a car so the manager thought I didn’t have the qualifications needed to do that job. The point I’m trying to make is that telling the truth has gotten me no where, it seems like everyone wants you to sugar cote everything and thats not what I’m about. But if I want to get a job with no experience especially in the field I want to be in I have to lie because school experience is not enough even though I paid $30,000 to be trained to do this kind of stuff.

I’ve been a hiring manager for quite some time. If you say you got laid off and I find out you were terminated, you lied. And, I will fire you. If you worked from Jan 06 to Jan 07 , but you really ended Dec 06, thats not so much a big deal. If you say you know Quickbooks, but all you can do is search for a vendor, you bent the truth.
And, I might let you go during probation when I see you’re not up to par.

I think it really depends on how big the whopper is.

And what if my interviewer/decision maker tweaked their qualifications to get them this job? I discovered it after the interview searching the internet. And I’ve been also told false things about the interview process. I myself don’t even know how to lie. Guess, somebody else got the job, not me.

I totally do not agree with lying period, whether it’s on or off a resume. It’s really sad to say though, that many employers are never honest and upfront with candidates and employees. What happened to “LEAD BY EXAMPLE”? Or is it” DOUBLE STANDARDS”?

In fact, lying on your resume is wrong, when i say lying i mean your education, past employer, previous salary etc.

Every word on your resume is considered the truth and nothing more, but on the other way round people lied on their resume due to some certain incapacity eg experience, those that looses their jobs and needed another job and employers taste for experience.

In all this it was discovered that lying on resume brings negative reaction instead of being positive.

Yes, lie on resumes when appropriate. Colleges wil check transcripts, government positions, security clearance jobs and financial positions.

Considered unethical, yes. Our society seems bent on lying. How about financial institutions that helped to bring on the recession? How many commercials are true? What about politicians who lie to get or stay in office? How about employers who don’t share all the aspects of a position for which you are being considered? How about military leaders who have their own agenda while young men and woman are just war fodder. How about the tobacco executives? Also, pharmechetical (sic) companies that sell toxic drugs and know it can harm people? Charities that pay executives large salaries?

Two wrongs don’t make a right, true. But, you need to work. Be aware, have a plan, anticipate references and background checks. Unless it is a real good opportunity that you don’t want to lose, or it’s out of town, I would say, take a chance. The rest of the world does!

I had to lie and hide my qualifications sometimes as I received many replies for job applications saying that im over qualified or never got the reply for many applications

Do you think I can get away with lying about gap on resume (fixing the dates) if it involves a company that went under? Are they still able to verify?

I am not lying when I tell you I have 29 qualifications and been unemployed for nearly a year. 15 are work related (9 IT/keyboard related) 14 Academic (up to Uni).
I cant even get a minimum working wage job or interview.
I believe think that employers think I am lying as I have so many, so I wondered if you dont put all your qualifications on a CV, then get a job and it is found out you have more qualifications than you disclose on your CV, could you lose your job? Would this be fraud if you dont put all your qualifications on a CV? I have heard of people in government departments being sacked because they did not disclose this on their CV. from DJ

Lie your ass off. In this economy you will ALWAYS be either 1 of 2 things.

A. OVER QUALIFIED.

B. Under-qualified

98% are either a or b.

Applying for a job at Taco Bell. Make sure you put HS Diploma but hide college. Management will fear you taking their jobs if you dont.

Think about it. If you were management would you hire someone more qualified than yourself knowing the odds of them taking your position?

After an interview can you call the applicant (on the phone) and asked them why they left their last job if this was missed during the interview.

Yes, an employer can ask candidates follow-up questions on the phone.

At my current job I did not tell my employer I was a qualified accountant as I believed that I needed to build up on my finance experience and also the job I was taking up was a junior role and there are opportunities for the future. I have been there for six months and thinking of how to disclose this. What should I do to get out of this situation?

The funniest thing about this post is that when it starts everyone is about not lying and telling the truth.. Yet as this economy shows no real recovery and people get more desperate a bit of fibbing to outright lying is almost expected (if you can get away with it.) Companies lie all of the time and as long as its nothing major, like a degree, I dont see why candidates shouldnt either if they can get away with it. Its a dog eat dog out there right now and if you can get away with it, DO IT.

What would you recommend for someone that feels their actual title is above what they are doing? Would you change your title to be more in line with your actual responsiblities? My current title is Director, but I feel my job is more along the lines of Sr Manager/Manager. I’m concerned the title of Director on my resume would make some potential employers not consider me for manager jobs even though I’m sure my salary and experience level would actually be in line. I certainly don’t want to jeapordize any potential offers. What would you do?

The problem with changing your title is that if a prospective employer checks your references they are going to ask what your job title was. If what you put on your resume and job applications doesn’t match your actual job title, that discrepancy is a red flag for the company. You may be able to explain it, but it could cost you a job offer.

I would not lie on my Resume to get a job, “what happen to Ethics?”…What God has for me it is for me. I haven’t graduated yet but in a couple of months I will be graduating and have already starting applying for jobs. I just had a class on distinguishing between honesty versus brutally honest on a resume. I know the Lord is going to bless me with a Job! And I pray that you all get the job that you are looking for, based on your own beliefs.

The policy of automatic termination for any and all falsification on job applications and resumes doesn’t distinguish the circumstances and degree. Thus, is it really right that the penalty is same, regardless of whether one merely adds a penalty to his/her salary or is an escaped convicted convict pretending to be Mother Thersa?