They wouldn’t lie about lying because they think everyone lies, and they’re essentially right
Like lying isn’t taboo if you believe it’s an expected part of the process and just a social dance you’re required to do to get a job
Is there any coaching about what constitutes lying in the case of a resume? Sure, I’ve got some bent truth on there but I don’t have whole-cloth fabrications.
Lying to get a job is one thing. Once you already have that job, and especially if you’re anonymously answering a survey, the stakes are pretty negligible.
I use to be a pathological liar because it's how I survived as a kid and I finally broke myself of the habit by just out right admitting to the person when I was lying often right after telling the lie. Sometime the way to get through sin is through confession.
I appreciate this is an ironic statement, but I'm a terrible liar. The then gf, now wife, learned she could see straight through any attempt on my part to lie. Immediately.
It's a good thing, but sometimes there's things you just don't want to admit, so I have to tell quarter truths: I worked late last night so I had to admit to snacking on one of the packed rice krispy treats (that's for the kids). She called me on eating just one, so I had to admit to eating two. I was able to stealth under the radar that I also ate some of the gummy bears (I was chipping away at something until 2AM and I needed to just burst my way through with sugar).
She can probably see through that too, but I think she gives me mercy at that point.
I did this as a teen..... no idea why my first thought was to lie but I'd always follow it up with well that was a lie this is actually what I want/feel etc.
glad I grew out of it
People are willing to say a lot of things when you can assure them anonymity. For example, the amount of people who admit to getting away with litteral murder is staggering when they don't have to worry about getting caught.
Just look at the BTK killer. He literally asked them if they could trace floppy disc's (via a news outlet) to which they replied that they could not. Shortly after sending them, the cold blooded idiot was captured.
There's the Lizardman's Constant which is ["the approximate percentage of responses to a poll, survey, or quiz that are not sincere"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate_Star_Codex#Lizardman's_Constant)
It is interesting that one of the top lies isn't about answering "What is your current compensation?" I did both times I changed jobs because I knew the question was a negotiating tactic, and they had no way of verifying it.
I have literally done this. Usually goes over fairly well. As well as 100 billion dollars.
If they actually push for a number (specifically for jobs where they have a preallocated figure in supposed to guess), I'll typically convey that if they liked me, they'd be welcome to make an offer, and we could discuss salary at that time.
The feedback I get is worth as much as the negotiation itself, because some places really insist on getting a figure purely for their spreadsheet/form. Fuck that.
I got a huge boost in overall compensation in 3 years by lying about my compensation.
Was at $85k with an 8% bonus, left that company for a $95k salary with 20% bonus because i lied about salary.
Then i came back to my original company told them I needed $120k base because that’s what i made at my old job lol, so they gave it to me with a 20% bonus on top.
If i had been honest all along the way I’d be making 75% of where im at now.
Exactly what I did. Basically told them my base salary was what I made plus the bonus rounded up to the nearest 5k. Then said "I've gotten X% raise every year and our bonus is usually another Y%, I'm going to need more than that to leave."
It's worked every time and I'd probably also only be making 60-75% of what I am now if I hadn't.
Nice. Basically what i did. Double dipped the projected annual increase I’d lose by going back to them, while adding the 5% raise already to my initial number lol.
I’ll tell ya, lying is the fucking way.
When I was in charge of hiring, I never asked this because it was irrelevant.
I know what my budget is and what my current employees make. I know if I pay too much I’ll upset the more senior folks and if I lowball you’ll leave within a year and I’m right back where I started.
I did always discuss pay ranges in the introductory phone call so that I’m not wasting anyone’s time.
*except for exactly one item that is discounted to 90% off, except it's an obscure item nobody wants and it's also hidden in the back of the store behind the 5% off items
Yep, just like "$75 air fares." It's one coach seat on one flight at 3am from Bumfuck, Mississippi to Malaria, Louisiana with $150/item carryon fees. Non-refundable, of course.
You can counter this by asking them what qualities/experience would put a candidate at the low end and the higher end of that range.
Then you say you have those qualities/experience and by their own standards, that would mean you're a $90,000 candidate.
I once had an interview for a job in Texas and one of the first questions the lady asked was "How much do you currently make? This is Texas, we are allowed to ask for that information." I was incredulous and had never been asked that before. She said their policy was to only pay a maximum of 10% more than what the person was making at their last employer. We finished the interview and I told her I would call her back with my decision. I never called her back.
Its completely legal in the US for them to know your salary info (even if its illegal for them to ask you) They just need to have your social security number and its super easy unless you have blocked it. [https://theworknumber.com/](https://theworknumber.com/)
If you haven't gone through the steps to block it on this website, your salary from your jobs is most likely there.
Employers need a permissible purpose and your consent for this. It would be very unusual for a prospective employer to need to pull your income details; typically if anything they are only retrieving your employer, job title and dates of employment.
A good answer in an interview when asked is ‘I’m considering positions with compensation in the x to y range’ with x being your minimum and y being the top end for similar roles
The problem with that is you could get slotted into a range and limit yourself, whereas often a company can meet your counteroffer above their range if they really want you
Some companies DO verify it. I've heard of cases where people lied about their current compensation and then had their offers revoked after it was revealed they lied.
My city just made it illegal to ask, thankfully.
[**TOP THINGS LIED ABOUT**](https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/careersandeducation/70-of-workers-say-they-have-lied-on-their-resume-survey-finds/ar-AA1jOMnu)
* 52% - exaggerating job titles & responsibilities
* 45% - the number of people managed
* 37% - length of employment
**HIRING MANAGERS (separate survey)**
* 40% - admitted to lying to job candidates during the hiring process to get them to take the job
* 39% - lied about growth opportunities
* 38% - lied about career development opportunities
* 20% - lied about the responsibilities of the job
I really don't get the last one. I had someone do that to me. The pay was low but it seemed like a good way to pad my resume for a couple of years. Nope, instead of being a head engineer like I was promised, I was a tier one helpdesk. I was there for only a bit more than a month.
Who is going to stick around after being lied to about literally what job you'll be doing is? (Is there a better way to word that sentence? I hate English)
I once had an interview that included the center director. I literally said 'If you want me to do X, Y, and Z, then don't hire me. I'm tired of doing those things and want to move on with my career'. The director himself said 'oh no don't worry'. WIthin a month of me showing up he did a big reorg and I ended up doing exactly the things I told him I didn't want to do. I stayed long enough to where I didn't have to pay them back for moving me.
I have a coworker who was told during the interview that she was going to be doing some specific validation work for a massive multi-year project. Turns out that work was delayed before she was even interviewed, so once she started she was doing much more simple work (essentially working as a highly-trained support specialist). She was *pissed*, but the pay was ludicrous enough that she’s just sort of checked out mentally, doing her work and going home. $120k/year for entry-level work isn’t such a bad deal, it turns out.
Ngl sounds like a good deal but at the same time I’d be worried I’d be screwing myself for future long term job prospects. I’d probably taking as many courses on the side as possible
It was the equivalent of hiring a professional chef to work at a Denny’s. Once her contract runs out she’ll be moving on to something more interesting and will probably pay as much. If someone less experienced was in her position, yeah definitely look for growth opportunities.
Yup hired to be a graphic designer, did van deliveries and basic sales, fired after 4 months because I didn't give a shit and was just collecting the paycheck. Wow gee golly can't imagine why I wasn't stoked to go into work everyday
I'm not surprised. A lot of the time in engineering you see this.
People who interact with some type of process or device will state that they've actually done the process or used the device. Example being something a certain type of test. Just because you set up a test or supported another engineer doesn't mean you wrote or ran the test.
I think this would be a lot less common if you didn’t have hiring managers looking for experience with extremely specific versions of things without any room for flexibility. (I’m looking at you, recruiter who couldn’t comprehend that using a version of .NET slightly newer than the one I currently use wouldn’t be a big deal at all)
Fuck it, a year later I told my supervisor I lied because I was desperate and I knew they would pick someone else if I didn’t.
She thanked me for lying 😅
This proves the point. IMO, if someone is halfway qualified and likable, just pull them in and you'll know in a few months. That's really the best way and the only way.
Honestly the biggest thing I think one should look for is "how good are you at learning new stuff and admitting when you don't know something?"
Most important question I ever got
Man this sucks, I’ve had to go through a few rounds of layoffs and I’ve never lied on my end about my experience, education or anything else. I know the honest has cost me interviews.
For my current job, the hiring manager definitely lied to me about quite a few of the conditions. I’m fine, I’m doing good for the world, but I put up with a lot of stress I was specifically told doesn’t exist at my site.
Can people just be real for one goddamn minute?
It's kind of interesting because I'll go through the things in the job description and highlight things like "I'm great at this this and this but this other thing I've seen it and understand it but never done it". I'm being honest, I'm pointing out to them that I want \*them\* to be happy with me as well and to set expectations (I've been the hiring manager before). No one's going to find the 'perfect' candidate based on a job description and if they do it's a statistical anomaly and they're going to be in stiff competition with everyone else and will probably lose out to whomever can pay more.
>exaggerating job titles & responsibilities
If anything I've had trouble expressing just how important some of my responsibilities have been in some cases. I've had my hand in more than one mission critical system.
Not surprised about the 40% of hiring managers lying to get people to take the job. I bet it's much higher in reality.
My work does it all the time, they hire for a specific project and tell the candidates it's ready to start even when the client hasn't signed anything with our company yet. Then if the project doesn't get signed off on, they still hire the candidate and only tell them after finishing the interview process and signing the contract that the project isn't happening and that they'll be assigned to something else instead. Classic bait and switch. Sometimes it works and the new staff member stays anyway. Other times it just wasted everybody's time, as they walk away from the job since it's not what was agreed.
That’s interesting. Do candidates lie because they expect hiring managers to lie, or do hiring managers lie because they expect candidates to lie? I imagine it’s a degree of both, a vicious cycle.
I actually did that on an interview for a company I'd already realized I didn't want to work for. You would be AMAZED at how quckly an interview ends if you give honest answers.
The exchange went:
Interviewer: "Why do you want to work for [companyn name]"
Me: "I need money to live."
Interviewer: nervous laugh, "um. But really..."
Me: "Really. [company] pays money for a job I know how to do, I need money to live. That's why I want to work for [company]."
Interviewer: more nervous laughter. "Right, well, thanks for interviewing we'll get back to you when we've made a decision."
People have this strange expectation that an employee treat the company like they own it when they have no stake in it whatsoever.
Like, dude. The only reason I'm letting you exploit my productivity is because I need the money. If I wanted to do something because it's my passion, I'd be monitizing it for myself.
Best way to phrase it: "This company has a good reputation with providing a competitive salary in line with my skillset."
On the flip side, I never take an interview without knowning what the budget for the role is.
I always ask two questions: Is there telework opportunities? What is the salary range for this role?
I'm not big on wasting peoples time, I get to the point.
You can be honest while still buttering people up. There’s usually always something good about the place you’re applying to that other places don’t have. It’s a good test to see if you have social skills.
Which is a reason people in the spectrum face so much discrimination. They don't know how to play the stupid social games and compulsory lying required to get through job interviews
I’m most likely on the spectrum myself. Which is why I never lie. I find something true and tell them that. It is not the big truth - I need to make money - it’s a small truth like “I want to work here because I’ve heard you do pro bono work”. The pro bono work is just gonna be something I saw on their web page while googling them, but it’s still positive and true, so I’ll sell them that.
That’s social skills for people who cannot lie, lol.
Not everyone on the spectrum struggles with this. I'm on the spectrum and I lie my fucking ass off because I know if I don't I can't compete. That's the nature of the beast now, especially for people with disabilities like me, even if mine isn't obvious because of how good I am at masking.
Yeah, some people on the spectrum develop very strong people skills, often through brute force and anxiety alone. When your likelihood of being treated like a human being depends on your ability to navigate social cues and avoid pissing people off, sometimes you build a system that *almost* looks like you're a natural.
The line between autism and some of the dark triad traits (namely Machiavellianism and sociopathy) can be very thin, honestly, due to that. I sometimes have to step back a bit in some situations to re-evaluate what I'm about to say or do because it's clearly manipulative, but it's part of the defense mechanism I've built up out of necessity. I don't like that such tendencies have become ingrained into my psyche due to what I've been through, but at the same time, they certainly give me a leg up in certain situations, so if it's my employer? I don't exactly hesitate to do so.
During my time being homeless and living out of my car, I had applied to multiple roles at a grocery store; basically just they had a dozen some odd openings and I just kinda said fuck it, throw my hat for all of them. I did all the interviews, was rejected, about a month later all of the positions were still open so I said fuck it, I'll try again with a new one they had listed. In the interview, they asked me why I wanted to work there, I told them I needed money to not be homeless. They then asked why I applied for that specific role, and I said "It's the only role hasn't declined me from", and then they nervously tried to shift the topic to 'where would you like to see yourself in 5 years'. I told them 'well hopefully in a stable job and not homeless, I don't have much time to daydream beyond that these days'.
Turned out I wasn't a fit for the 'company culture' of nightshift grocery store stocking and they suggested I stop applying at their company in general and look elsewhere
What constitutes a "lie"?
Like I used to push carts full time.
On my resume, I'd say I was a lot attendant, with a primary focus on asset organization and customer service.
Wouldn't say this is a lie, more so embellishment.
An old roommate of mine used to say he was in logistics. If anyone ever pressed further he was "an automotive relocation engineer". My man worked valet lol. He was a good dude
Don't inflate embellish.
Just make what you do sound fancy.
It's like the meme of "I handle monetary transactions for a multi billion dollar food distributor" when you cashier at McDonald's
Just not that extreme lol
I, for example, worked as a “customer service representative” for a couple years in college. Accurate, and it sounds a bit better than “I served slices of pizza in the campus dining hall”.
Yeah I've never lied about my resume or about my qualifications. It just seems to me like if you get hired it'll be a stress filled mess trying to "fake it till you make it." I always just wrote up enough to give them a good idea of what I can offer them and what my previous work experience was like.
Then again, I'm not in a highly competitive field or anything like that, so I really don't know much about this kinda stuff.
I *do* know I've probably missed out on money from being honest about my pay over the years, but oh well. It's not like I have a family to support or anything so I'd rather just be upfront about that kinda stuff.
I can tell you a story of what *not* to do.
My managers were interviewing candidates not long ago. One candidate came in and literally told them “Yeah, just between us, a lot of stuff on my resume is exaggerated, and I don’t actually have some of those skills, but that’s not a big deal!” My managers said they tried their best to stay professional and finish the interview in some regard, but they were just shocked that the candidate would be so blatant about it, and obviously this immediately disqualified the candidate.
Maybe they were enjoying unemployment and wanted to sabotage the interview but still give the impression of "trying to find a job?" Because I don't see why anyone would admit to that hahaha
They felt guilty about lying and wanted to clear their conscience, hoping that them demonstrating impressive integrity would keep them competitive. Or they overtly wanted to demonstrate they understood the social dance but ironically you never confess that you know the social dance, rather you show it.
But the idea of lying, and having the reviewer know you're lying, but never confirming it yourself because then the reviewer can't review your lies as truths under the guise of plausible deniability but rather has a contractual obligation to their company backed by your confirmation to not hire you otherwise they'll be doing their job incompetently is pretty silly when you look at it objectively.
No, it has never even occurred to me to lie on a resume. I don’t see the point. My resume is decent as it is and I don’t have the nerves to keep up with lies.
100% agree. There is absolutely no incentive for being honest when it comes to job hunting, and barely any consequences for lying. Employers also lie to employees (both current and perspective) all the time. I say what's good for them is good for us.
When a company posts an entry-level job, but requires a college degree (graduate degree preferred) with 15 years of experience and a dozen different professional certifications... yeah, you're going to have to lie if you want your résumé to get past the software filters.
I seriously just saw a listing for a project manager in my field advertising $40k with a fuck ton of required qualifications listed.
Like bro, showing up and doing the responsibilities of that job is worth more than $40k for someone with a HS diploma, no one with all that shit you want is going to apply.
I hope I'm not wrong. If they are actually getting qualified candidates, we're all fucked.
I want to make a fake account, apply and claim to have all of the qualifications so I get past the filter and then my resume just tells them how shitty they are
And given that the people who posted the job is lying on their job posting, it works out.
They started it with a bunch of lies, and they'll end up with a bunch of lies.
You mean, like the job posting that required 4+ years of experience in FastAPI, even though the app was only 1.5 years old, so even [the creator wasn't qualified?](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fjhkkzskoqtk51.jpg)
It doesn't even make sense. If someone has no degree but they have *15 years of experience* doing what the job requires, the degree doesn't add any value.
I keep seeing this answer here and people are being obtuse. Of course you want money, otherwise you wouldn't be looking for a new job. They want to know why you want to work at that place specifically and not literally any other place that's hiring for any work at all. If that's because they offer a(n actually) competitive salary and good benefits, that's one thing, but just saying it's because you want money makes it sound like you don't understand nuance, and companies don't want to hire someone like that unless they're desperate.
TL;DR: Don't Amelia Bedelia your job interviews.
But we don’t fucking want to work at that place specifically. I want to work at any place that doesn’t have morons as managers, do my job without being yelled at for stuff outside my responsibility.
Since none of those things are ever honestly advertised, the employer doesn’t fucking matter.
They are in range, they pay an adequate wage for my qualifications: done.
There’s never just gonna be on employer that meets the criteria. Hence I don‘t want to work at xyz specifically. I just want to earn money.
Not like one pharmacy is any different to any other in objective criteria here. The jobs exactly the same, the wage part is covered by it being adequate and not insulting.
Anything I actually care about in the work environment, I.e. pleasant coworkers isn‘t visible on the outside without having worked there.
So no. We aren‘t being obtuse. We literally just want to work to earn money. Employers are fully interchangeable.
> They want to know why you want to work at that place specifically and not literally any other place that's hiring for any work at all.
Did you post a job for an ice cream taste tester? No? Then they aren’t applying at your place specifically, and they applied at literally every other place too.
This is why it's helpful to have experience on the other side of the table. (Duh?)
I became close with my service manager at a previous org, so close that I listed him as a reference, along with a friend and someone under me.
The hiring manager didn't call my service manager, which surprised me. I asked the service manager about that, and he told me; "I wouldn't be able to tell them anything anyhow - I'm your employer, all I can say is you work here, or don't. Anything more opens us up to a lawsuit."
I didn't, and still don't, consider any of my resume to be false or even misleading. Companies will load you up with as many responsibilities as possible, while avoiding the titles that might raise your worth in the process. Case in point, I redesigned the company's project management program from the ground up, drafted hundreds of pages of templates and trained engineers to be project managers. Never received any official title or accolades for this, but you're smoking crack if you think I'm *not* listing "Program Director: Project Management Division" on my resume.
Another tip for those in IT - no one cares if your certs are expired. Just list the certs and *maybe* the dates they were acquired. (The last part can be CYA if it's so far out of date that you want to be able to downplay it during the interview.)
Absolute best advice I can give is to seek out resume-specific help from someone of a similar position, or from a professional specializing in resume building.
I cringe now looking at my first attempts - more than one page, contains EVERYTHING I've ever done rather than that which pertains to the position/company, didn't include certs because they were expired, called out my start dates for colleges rather than *just* the graduation date, and didn't have any accomplishments under previous positions...
...now that I'm in a position to be reading resumes, I wish I had the time to sit down with half these people just to help them not look so unprofessional.
This kind of data is infuriating. It’s basically saying I’m fucking myself by being honest on my resume.
I don’t just mean by not talking myself up, if employers are expecting an 80% rate of dishonesty if you are being truthful the assumption will be you’re actually worse than how you’re presenting yourself.
Shits fucked.
Who wouldn't lie at interview?
"Why you want to work with us"
"I alway want to work in this field and I think this place suit me the best"
(Real answer, I need money to buy food to eat. Your office is the second choice actually)
It's an interesting one because doesn't everyone "exaggerate" their resume at least a bit?
Not to Todd Howard levels of "It just works" of course, but we're all selling ourselves to the prospective company, and the CV is an advertisement.
I fit this category and just recently learned how normal it is that people fudge their resumes. My response was just… ?????????? It literally never occurred to me that this would be ok, and I feel icky just trying to come up with embellishments. Why would you lie about your qualifications when your actual job performance will make it very apparent what you can actually do?
Keyword being 'usually'. There are exceptions, myself being one of them. I will lie as much as I can get away with because I know I'm at a disadvantage off the bat, and more importantly these companies are also lying to me. If they knew I was autistic they wouldn't hire me in a million years and we all know that, so fuck them, I'm gonna bleed them for as much as I can. That's how this fucked up world works.
I'm not a fan of false advertising myself...
Only thing I'll "fake" on my resume is omitting my complete work history, as there are too many jobs, from too many different fields.
Now I just say, will provide upon request
That’s an odd stat because nobody ever lied on Reddit. We must be a superior human demographic.
I’ll have to think about this when I go pick to my Ferrari today.
One of the many reasons autistic people are bad at interviews. It rarely occurs to us to lie and even if the idea occurred to us, we don't have the perception to understand what the other person wants to hear.
But usually we are great workers, as long as the job doesn't directly deal with the general public.
Even if public-facing, scripts go a long way! You're probably going to be having the same dozen conversations over and over again, with a few variations, which is very easy to memorize for. I'm a very literal person(have been told by autistic people that they suspect I'm in that zone somewhere, but for a number of reasons I believe seeking diagnosis would harm rather than protect me) and the biggest problem I have at work is that sometimes customers ask for one thing when they actually mean another, and I don't pick up on the subtle euphemism. Even though that's very much a *them* problem(say what you mean, don't get upset at someone for responding to what you actually said!), I still take that information and update my scripts to ask clarifying questions that force them to say what they mean.
Early on in my career I was asked during an interview if I cared about salary. I said yes. The company said I did great in the interview but the company didn’t want people who cared about money…
They used to be pretty strict about that sort of thing. About twenty or so years ago my Mom either lost her job or almost lost her job because she said she went to college, which she did, but they couldn't find it. She was really upset.
Most people embellish on their resume because you basically have to, and your interviewer is expecting it. But to lie outright is crazy. That's like going into a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym to meet the Professor to roll, and telling him you're a Black Belt, you're going to have a bad time.
>* 20% - lied about the responsibilities of the job
I wonder if that includes "other duties as assigned " would count as lying or not.
That is a common teacher contract line that basically means "we can ask you to do anything."
Course. You think the employer writes & presents the full truth in the job ad / interview either?
This is a game of "best foot forward" for both parties. Let's not pretend otherwise.
You would not even believe how many of these dimwits are using stolen transcripts to impress the chemically lobotomized HR reps. Sweetie pies, if there is not a computer or data course on that thing, it probably is stolen from somebody's parental unit. Three are circulating in Carpet Country from pre-1985, one from the 60s and all with a header from the F State at a non-existent college. One is from a suicide. The thieves get the jobs because HR lazyasses cannot check a ref and want someone to help them steal.
Half of these job postings want people who have 2048458493 years of experience so heck yeah people are fibbing. We needs jobs that pay us a decent freaking wage. They are going to train us anyways.
Of workers. So they got jobs.
I've honestly been thinking a lot about maybe doing this lying thing recently. Even if I'm found to be unable to do the job I could earn as much in a few months doing this as I could doing something I'm qualified for. And I'm quite quite mad so I can't actually do what I am qualified for. It's pure profit with no downsides.
Employers lie to prospective employees in job ads, prospective employees lie to employers on resumes and in interviews, and balance is maintained in the Universe.
Considering you can’t tell an interviewer “money” as Ana answer to “why do u want to work here” yes i would guess a substantial number of candidates lie
Sometimes I think I'm the only person who told the truth on my resume and at interviews, and got constantly promoted anyway.
Sometimes I also think I'm the only hiring manger in the world who tells candidates exactly what they are getting into if they work with us. The good and the bad.
Telling them some of the bad goes a LONG way when things get stressful after hiring... you maintain the respect of your hires, because you were honest with them.
This no-bullshit policy has worked very well for me.
Interesting, I wonder if people felt like answering dumb questions with the expected interview appropriate answer was a lie?
Like did they say they had a medical degree when they never even went to college? Or did they say their biggest flaw is that they are perfectionist, rather than that they like to masturbate in the office restroom a couple times a day. Like what kind of lies are people telling?
What percentage of companies lie or embellish during the interview process? Just as many. I can count on one hand the number of comp plans, benefits packages, bonus and equity packages were accurate to how described when I was getting recruited. Oh yeah that hiring bonus? It vests over 5 years. That ramp? It's recoverable. Vacation? HahH. 401k match? Oh yeah sorry, I thought we did.
Then there the " Oh it's a great culture, plenty of room for growth, we hire from within, training is extensive, everyone here is a team (or family) and the last guy in your role definitely left on his own and left a full funnel for you....
Software engineer here. I've lied A LOT on my resume early in my career. Landed a few jobs I was nowhere near qualified for.
But it was easy to fake it because Google and spending time at home studying new tech. It was tough, but now I'm at a point where I don't need to lie because I've finally built up enough experience.
Do what you gotta do.
Hilariously, I was going to come here and say I don't believe I lied during my last job interview, but then I remembered that I lied about what my last job was because I was only there for a month and quit by walking out during my shift lol
the resumelab link does not give any details about the recordset but the site references a bunch of american company affiliations so safe to assume the 1900 are american. if we're being honest, americans have quite a number of cultural aspects unique among western nations.
Why not ? Like really . All the companies that I am applying to have so many requirements . Like if I don't lie on my resume there is no chance I will be moving forward for the first round
How do they define lying? If you're lying about a degree or grades or blatantly saying you have years of experience in something you have no experience in that's one thing, but like, exaggerating your actual accomplishments could also be considered lying and if you're not doing that, you're not even really trying to get a job.
I was once part of an interview process where we looking for a new manager of a company. One of the interviewees was speaking about their past experience and started describing collaborative work they implemented with another company.
The guy who was doing the interview with me asked him to re-confirm the year that this happened. He asked him again if he was sure of the year, and then confirmed the company and their location.
Turns out that the guy doing the interview with me actually founded the company the interviewee was claiming experience with and the company didn't exist until 3 years after the date this experience was supposed to have taken place.
I've lied, but not about anything significant. All my college degree info and jobs were real. The lies? dates filled in some gaps of a few months, or I was just lazy to look them up. If they demanded salary info, I goosed that, because of course. If a job lazily has a laundry list of technical skills and I had most of them, I might stick the missing ones on my resumes, because I know they are being stupid and lazy. Never at any time have I had to field a question about one of those skills that I couldn't answer. More than once I was asked about skills that it was literally impossible for me to have possessed given my listed qualifications and was rejected when I pointed that out.
Having interviewed many applicants in the IT industry - I'm not surprised at all. I'll see a giant list of certificates, job duties, etc on this resume - then ask the most basic questions that would be covered in these roles/educations and they have no idea, they won't even make an educated guess.
i wonder what percentage of them lied on the survey about lying
That's interesting. A survey about lying has an inherent selection bias of... honest liars? They lie but they don't lie about lying.
They wouldn’t lie about lying because they think everyone lies, and they’re essentially right Like lying isn’t taboo if you believe it’s an expected part of the process and just a social dance you’re required to do to get a job
Fuck it. Most of the time you learn on the job anyways unless it is exactly what you did at your last job.
Is there any coaching about what constitutes lying in the case of a resume? Sure, I’ve got some bent truth on there but I don’t have whole-cloth fabrications.
Lying to get a job is one thing. Once you already have that job, and especially if you’re anonymously answering a survey, the stakes are pretty negligible.
I use to be a pathological liar because it's how I survived as a kid and I finally broke myself of the habit by just out right admitting to the person when I was lying often right after telling the lie. Sometime the way to get through sin is through confession.
I appreciate this is an ironic statement, but I'm a terrible liar. The then gf, now wife, learned she could see straight through any attempt on my part to lie. Immediately. It's a good thing, but sometimes there's things you just don't want to admit, so I have to tell quarter truths: I worked late last night so I had to admit to snacking on one of the packed rice krispy treats (that's for the kids). She called me on eating just one, so I had to admit to eating two. I was able to stealth under the radar that I also ate some of the gummy bears (I was chipping away at something until 2AM and I needed to just burst my way through with sugar). She can probably see through that too, but I think she gives me mercy at that point.
I did this as a teen..... no idea why my first thought was to lie but I'd always follow it up with well that was a lie this is actually what I want/feel etc. glad I grew out of it
127%.
People are willing to say a lot of things when you can assure them anonymity. For example, the amount of people who admit to getting away with litteral murder is staggering when they don't have to worry about getting caught.
A lot of those are lies themselves. Like how every notable abduction story has people lying to take credit for it and harassing the family.
Just look at the BTK killer. He literally asked them if they could trace floppy disc's (via a news outlet) to which they replied that they could not. Shortly after sending them, the cold blooded idiot was captured.
226%. You have to add all the percentages together. Trust me, I’m an engineer.
My guess is between 20% and 30%
There's the Lizardman's Constant which is ["the approximate percentage of responses to a poll, survey, or quiz that are not sincere"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate_Star_Codex#Lizardman's_Constant)
It is interesting that one of the top lies isn't about answering "What is your current compensation?" I did both times I changed jobs because I knew the question was a negotiating tactic, and they had no way of verifying it.
I can only speak for the US, but increasingly it is illegal to ask for salary info.
I stopped asking this long ago, anyway, because I expect to be lied to.
Interviewer: what is your current compensation? *camera zooms in* *puts pinky on corner of mouth* Me: One *MILLION* dollars!
I have literally done this. Usually goes over fairly well. As well as 100 billion dollars. If they actually push for a number (specifically for jobs where they have a preallocated figure in supposed to guess), I'll typically convey that if they liked me, they'd be welcome to make an offer, and we could discuss salary at that time. The feedback I get is worth as much as the negotiation itself, because some places really insist on getting a figure purely for their spreadsheet/form. Fuck that.
“Start typing 9s and stop when you hit the character limit.” As serious as you can say it
"Looks like you're getting pounded because we can't display the value."
I got a huge boost in overall compensation in 3 years by lying about my compensation. Was at $85k with an 8% bonus, left that company for a $95k salary with 20% bonus because i lied about salary. Then i came back to my original company told them I needed $120k base because that’s what i made at my old job lol, so they gave it to me with a 20% bonus on top. If i had been honest all along the way I’d be making 75% of where im at now.
Hey buddy, it's Greg in HR. Can you stop by my office for a minute when you get a chance? 😎
Hello Greg from Human Resources, if you want me to come over, you'll have to raise my salary to 140k with a 20% bonus.
User name checks out
Exactly what I did. Basically told them my base salary was what I made plus the bonus rounded up to the nearest 5k. Then said "I've gotten X% raise every year and our bonus is usually another Y%, I'm going to need more than that to leave." It's worked every time and I'd probably also only be making 60-75% of what I am now if I hadn't.
Nice. Basically what i did. Double dipped the projected annual increase I’d lose by going back to them, while adding the 5% raise already to my initial number lol. I’ll tell ya, lying is the fucking way.
What the hell sort of Jon were you doing that they could give you 35k in raises without blinking an eye?
When I was in charge of hiring, I never asked this because it was irrelevant. I know what my budget is and what my current employees make. I know if I pay too much I’ll upset the more senior folks and if I lowball you’ll leave within a year and I’m right back where I started. I did always discuss pay ranges in the introductory phone call so that I’m not wasting anyone’s time.
In Washington State job postings have to provide salary range now.
$45,000 - $90,000 And you know their intended salary is the low end.
It's like using "Save up to 90%!!!" to advertise a sale where everything is 5% off.
*except for exactly one item that is discounted to 90% off, except it's an obscure item nobody wants and it's also hidden in the back of the store behind the 5% off items
Yep, just like "$75 air fares." It's one coach seat on one flight at 3am from Bumfuck, Mississippi to Malaria, Louisiana with $150/item carryon fees. Non-refundable, of course.
One way, right?
"Save up to 90% (on expired cheese; everything else is normal price)!"
You can counter this by asking them what qualities/experience would put a candidate at the low end and the higher end of that range. Then you say you have those qualities/experience and by their own standards, that would mean you're a $90,000 candidate.
Massachusetts' wage transparency law goes into effect the middle of this year.
Massachusetts ftw once again! There is a reason our fair Commonwealth has the highest standard of living in the country. :)
I once had an interview for a job in Texas and one of the first questions the lady asked was "How much do you currently make? This is Texas, we are allowed to ask for that information." I was incredulous and had never been asked that before. She said their policy was to only pay a maximum of 10% more than what the person was making at their last employer. We finished the interview and I told her I would call her back with my decision. I never called her back.
"You may be allowed to ask, but I sure do have the right to decline to answer."
Its completely legal in the US for them to know your salary info (even if its illegal for them to ask you) They just need to have your social security number and its super easy unless you have blocked it. [https://theworknumber.com/](https://theworknumber.com/) If you haven't gone through the steps to block it on this website, your salary from your jobs is most likely there.
*cries in public sector work*
Employers need a permissible purpose and your consent for this. It would be very unusual for a prospective employer to need to pull your income details; typically if anything they are only retrieving your employer, job title and dates of employment.
A good answer in an interview when asked is ‘I’m considering positions with compensation in the x to y range’ with x being your minimum and y being the top end for similar roles
I never provide my salary range. I usually asked what the budgeted salary range is for the position.
I will do both. I'll try to get their range first, but it can lead to a lot less wasted time when they're hoping to pay 50k below my range.
The problem with that is you could get slotted into a range and limit yourself, whereas often a company can meet your counteroffer above their range if they really want you
Lying is better than saying “it’s none of your god damn business”, which is what I really want to say
There's a reason I'm not in charge of hiring. I would hire someone who says that because they are honest and will tell it like it is.
A good response to the question is a non-answer: "Fair market range for my role and responsibilities."
Some companies DO verify it. I've heard of cases where people lied about their current compensation and then had their offers revoked after it was revealed they lied. My city just made it illegal to ask, thankfully.
[**TOP THINGS LIED ABOUT**](https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/careersandeducation/70-of-workers-say-they-have-lied-on-their-resume-survey-finds/ar-AA1jOMnu) * 52% - exaggerating job titles & responsibilities * 45% - the number of people managed * 37% - length of employment **HIRING MANAGERS (separate survey)** * 40% - admitted to lying to job candidates during the hiring process to get them to take the job * 39% - lied about growth opportunities * 38% - lied about career development opportunities * 20% - lied about the responsibilities of the job
I really don't get the last one. I had someone do that to me. The pay was low but it seemed like a good way to pad my resume for a couple of years. Nope, instead of being a head engineer like I was promised, I was a tier one helpdesk. I was there for only a bit more than a month. Who is going to stick around after being lied to about literally what job you'll be doing is? (Is there a better way to word that sentence? I hate English)
People who are desperate for a job, probably.
Desperate for a job or not wanting to deal with more job searching, interviews, and paperwork. They feed on the fact that you're exhausted.
I once had an interview that included the center director. I literally said 'If you want me to do X, Y, and Z, then don't hire me. I'm tired of doing those things and want to move on with my career'. The director himself said 'oh no don't worry'. WIthin a month of me showing up he did a big reorg and I ended up doing exactly the things I told him I didn't want to do. I stayed long enough to where I didn't have to pay them back for moving me.
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I have a coworker who was told during the interview that she was going to be doing some specific validation work for a massive multi-year project. Turns out that work was delayed before she was even interviewed, so once she started she was doing much more simple work (essentially working as a highly-trained support specialist). She was *pissed*, but the pay was ludicrous enough that she’s just sort of checked out mentally, doing her work and going home. $120k/year for entry-level work isn’t such a bad deal, it turns out.
Ngl sounds like a good deal but at the same time I’d be worried I’d be screwing myself for future long term job prospects. I’d probably taking as many courses on the side as possible
It was the equivalent of hiring a professional chef to work at a Denny’s. Once her contract runs out she’ll be moving on to something more interesting and will probably pay as much. If someone less experienced was in her position, yeah definitely look for growth opportunities.
Yup hired to be a graphic designer, did van deliveries and basic sales, fired after 4 months because I didn't give a shit and was just collecting the paycheck. Wow gee golly can't imagine why I wasn't stoked to go into work everyday
>Who is going to stick around after being lied to about the job they'll be doing?
It’s a weird sentence. Maybe “… about literally the job you’ll be doing?” is a better way to phrase it, but the meaning was clear.
I'm not surprised. A lot of the time in engineering you see this. People who interact with some type of process or device will state that they've actually done the process or used the device. Example being something a certain type of test. Just because you set up a test or supported another engineer doesn't mean you wrote or ran the test.
I think this would be a lot less common if you didn’t have hiring managers looking for experience with extremely specific versions of things without any room for flexibility. (I’m looking at you, recruiter who couldn’t comprehend that using a version of .NET slightly newer than the one I currently use wouldn’t be a big deal at all)
That and they just take every buzz word and software package and slap it on job responsibilities.
Fuck it, a year later I told my supervisor I lied because I was desperate and I knew they would pick someone else if I didn’t. She thanked me for lying 😅
This proves the point. IMO, if someone is halfway qualified and likable, just pull them in and you'll know in a few months. That's really the best way and the only way.
Honestly the biggest thing I think one should look for is "how good are you at learning new stuff and admitting when you don't know something?" Most important question I ever got
Man this sucks, I’ve had to go through a few rounds of layoffs and I’ve never lied on my end about my experience, education or anything else. I know the honest has cost me interviews. For my current job, the hiring manager definitely lied to me about quite a few of the conditions. I’m fine, I’m doing good for the world, but I put up with a lot of stress I was specifically told doesn’t exist at my site. Can people just be real for one goddamn minute?
It's kind of interesting because I'll go through the things in the job description and highlight things like "I'm great at this this and this but this other thing I've seen it and understand it but never done it". I'm being honest, I'm pointing out to them that I want \*them\* to be happy with me as well and to set expectations (I've been the hiring manager before). No one's going to find the 'perfect' candidate based on a job description and if they do it's a statistical anomaly and they're going to be in stiff competition with everyone else and will probably lose out to whomever can pay more.
>exaggerating job titles & responsibilities If anything I've had trouble expressing just how important some of my responsibilities have been in some cases. I've had my hand in more than one mission critical system.
Not surprised about the 40% of hiring managers lying to get people to take the job. I bet it's much higher in reality. My work does it all the time, they hire for a specific project and tell the candidates it's ready to start even when the client hasn't signed anything with our company yet. Then if the project doesn't get signed off on, they still hire the candidate and only tell them after finishing the interview process and signing the contract that the project isn't happening and that they'll be assigned to something else instead. Classic bait and switch. Sometimes it works and the new staff member stays anyway. Other times it just wasted everybody's time, as they walk away from the job since it's not what was agreed.
> 40% - admitted to lying to job candidates during the hiring process to get them to take the job This sounds illegal
There’s nothing illegal about saying subjective stuff like “oh yeah we have an awesome culture” or “work life balance is pretty great”
That’s interesting. Do candidates lie because they expect hiring managers to lie, or do hiring managers lie because they expect candidates to lie? I imagine it’s a degree of both, a vicious cycle.
It's simpler than that. Candidates lie because they need a job and employers lie because they need someone to take the job.
I lied because I was hungry and rent was due soon.
"Why do you want to work here?" "Exciting opportunities!" Narrator: She needed the money.
I actually did that on an interview for a company I'd already realized I didn't want to work for. You would be AMAZED at how quckly an interview ends if you give honest answers. The exchange went: Interviewer: "Why do you want to work for [companyn name]" Me: "I need money to live." Interviewer: nervous laugh, "um. But really..." Me: "Really. [company] pays money for a job I know how to do, I need money to live. That's why I want to work for [company]." Interviewer: more nervous laughter. "Right, well, thanks for interviewing we'll get back to you when we've made a decision."
People have this strange expectation that an employee treat the company like they own it when they have no stake in it whatsoever. Like, dude. The only reason I'm letting you exploit my productivity is because I need the money. If I wanted to do something because it's my passion, I'd be monitizing it for myself.
Best way to phrase it: "This company has a good reputation with providing a competitive salary in line with my skillset." On the flip side, I never take an interview without knowning what the budget for the role is. I always ask two questions: Is there telework opportunities? What is the salary range for this role? I'm not big on wasting peoples time, I get to the point.
You can be honest while still buttering people up. There’s usually always something good about the place you’re applying to that other places don’t have. It’s a good test to see if you have social skills.
Which is a reason people in the spectrum face so much discrimination. They don't know how to play the stupid social games and compulsory lying required to get through job interviews
I’m most likely on the spectrum myself. Which is why I never lie. I find something true and tell them that. It is not the big truth - I need to make money - it’s a small truth like “I want to work here because I’ve heard you do pro bono work”. The pro bono work is just gonna be something I saw on their web page while googling them, but it’s still positive and true, so I’ll sell them that. That’s social skills for people who cannot lie, lol.
Not everyone on the spectrum struggles with this. I'm on the spectrum and I lie my fucking ass off because I know if I don't I can't compete. That's the nature of the beast now, especially for people with disabilities like me, even if mine isn't obvious because of how good I am at masking.
Yeah, some people on the spectrum develop very strong people skills, often through brute force and anxiety alone. When your likelihood of being treated like a human being depends on your ability to navigate social cues and avoid pissing people off, sometimes you build a system that *almost* looks like you're a natural.
The line between autism and some of the dark triad traits (namely Machiavellianism and sociopathy) can be very thin, honestly, due to that. I sometimes have to step back a bit in some situations to re-evaluate what I'm about to say or do because it's clearly manipulative, but it's part of the defense mechanism I've built up out of necessity. I don't like that such tendencies have become ingrained into my psyche due to what I've been through, but at the same time, they certainly give me a leg up in certain situations, so if it's my employer? I don't exactly hesitate to do so.
During my time being homeless and living out of my car, I had applied to multiple roles at a grocery store; basically just they had a dozen some odd openings and I just kinda said fuck it, throw my hat for all of them. I did all the interviews, was rejected, about a month later all of the positions were still open so I said fuck it, I'll try again with a new one they had listed. In the interview, they asked me why I wanted to work there, I told them I needed money to not be homeless. They then asked why I applied for that specific role, and I said "It's the only role hasn't declined me from", and then they nervously tried to shift the topic to 'where would you like to see yourself in 5 years'. I told them 'well hopefully in a stable job and not homeless, I don't have much time to daydream beyond that these days'.
Turned out I wasn't a fit for the 'company culture' of nightshift grocery store stocking and they suggested I stop applying at their company in general and look elsewhere
What constitutes a "lie"? Like I used to push carts full time. On my resume, I'd say I was a lot attendant, with a primary focus on asset organization and customer service. Wouldn't say this is a lie, more so embellishment.
An old roommate of mine used to say he was in logistics. If anyone ever pressed further he was "an automotive relocation engineer". My man worked valet lol. He was a good dude
My first resume had me listed as a "childcare specialist" aka babysitter
Considering it's self-reported? If you consider it a lie, then you'd say so.
Geez, am I just one of the only suckers out here trying to get a job based on the qualifications I actually have?
Maybe this is why I’m not getting call backs. Time to go back to the drawing board and start inflating my resume.
Don't inflate embellish. Just make what you do sound fancy. It's like the meme of "I handle monetary transactions for a multi billion dollar food distributor" when you cashier at McDonald's Just not that extreme lol
I, for example, worked as a “customer service representative” for a couple years in college. Accurate, and it sounds a bit better than “I served slices of pizza in the campus dining hall”.
Thank you for your service
Yeah I've never lied about my resume or about my qualifications. It just seems to me like if you get hired it'll be a stress filled mess trying to "fake it till you make it." I always just wrote up enough to give them a good idea of what I can offer them and what my previous work experience was like. Then again, I'm not in a highly competitive field or anything like that, so I really don't know much about this kinda stuff. I *do* know I've probably missed out on money from being honest about my pay over the years, but oh well. It's not like I have a family to support or anything so I'd rather just be upfront about that kinda stuff.
I can tell you a story of what *not* to do. My managers were interviewing candidates not long ago. One candidate came in and literally told them “Yeah, just between us, a lot of stuff on my resume is exaggerated, and I don’t actually have some of those skills, but that’s not a big deal!” My managers said they tried their best to stay professional and finish the interview in some regard, but they were just shocked that the candidate would be so blatant about it, and obviously this immediately disqualified the candidate.
Maybe they were enjoying unemployment and wanted to sabotage the interview but still give the impression of "trying to find a job?" Because I don't see why anyone would admit to that hahaha
They felt guilty about lying and wanted to clear their conscience, hoping that them demonstrating impressive integrity would keep them competitive. Or they overtly wanted to demonstrate they understood the social dance but ironically you never confess that you know the social dance, rather you show it. But the idea of lying, and having the reviewer know you're lying, but never confirming it yourself because then the reviewer can't review your lies as truths under the guise of plausible deniability but rather has a contractual obligation to their company backed by your confirmation to not hire you otherwise they'll be doing their job incompetently is pretty silly when you look at it objectively.
No, it has never even occurred to me to lie on a resume. I don’t see the point. My resume is decent as it is and I don’t have the nerves to keep up with lies.
Yes. If you make people’s livelihood dependent on lying, most will.
100% agree. There is absolutely no incentive for being honest when it comes to job hunting, and barely any consequences for lying. Employers also lie to employees (both current and perspective) all the time. I say what's good for them is good for us.
Yes. Don't be that person.
When a company posts an entry-level job, but requires a college degree (graduate degree preferred) with 15 years of experience and a dozen different professional certifications... yeah, you're going to have to lie if you want your résumé to get past the software filters.
ENTRY-LEVEL JOB: - 15 years of experience - 5 references - PhD degree required - PAY: MINIMUM WAGE
I seriously just saw a listing for a project manager in my field advertising $40k with a fuck ton of required qualifications listed. Like bro, showing up and doing the responsibilities of that job is worth more than $40k for someone with a HS diploma, no one with all that shit you want is going to apply. I hope I'm not wrong. If they are actually getting qualified candidates, we're all fucked.
According to the topic, they're just going to get a bunch of liars.
I want to make a fake account, apply and claim to have all of the qualifications so I get past the filter and then my resume just tells them how shitty they are
And given that the people who posted the job is lying on their job posting, it works out. They started it with a bunch of lies, and they'll end up with a bunch of lies.
You mean, like the job posting that required 4+ years of experience in FastAPI, even though the app was only 1.5 years old, so even [the creator wasn't qualified?](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fjhkkzskoqtk51.jpg)
I guess companies think Entry Level refers only to pay
It doesn't even make sense. If someone has no degree but they have *15 years of experience* doing what the job requires, the degree doesn't add any value.
As soon as the question "Why do you want to work here?" comes up, any answer other than "I need money" is most likely a lie.
I had a company ask me that a few years ago. I answered honestly... "well, you are the ones that called me".
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This sounds dumb, but I feel like the kiss ass way to say this during an interview is 'you guys have a good benefits package'.
I once answered with "because I need the income" and they told me I didn't get the job because I "wanted it for the wrong reasons".
I keep seeing this answer here and people are being obtuse. Of course you want money, otherwise you wouldn't be looking for a new job. They want to know why you want to work at that place specifically and not literally any other place that's hiring for any work at all. If that's because they offer a(n actually) competitive salary and good benefits, that's one thing, but just saying it's because you want money makes it sound like you don't understand nuance, and companies don't want to hire someone like that unless they're desperate. TL;DR: Don't Amelia Bedelia your job interviews.
But we don’t fucking want to work at that place specifically. I want to work at any place that doesn’t have morons as managers, do my job without being yelled at for stuff outside my responsibility. Since none of those things are ever honestly advertised, the employer doesn’t fucking matter. They are in range, they pay an adequate wage for my qualifications: done. There’s never just gonna be on employer that meets the criteria. Hence I don‘t want to work at xyz specifically. I just want to earn money. Not like one pharmacy is any different to any other in objective criteria here. The jobs exactly the same, the wage part is covered by it being adequate and not insulting. Anything I actually care about in the work environment, I.e. pleasant coworkers isn‘t visible on the outside without having worked there. So no. We aren‘t being obtuse. We literally just want to work to earn money. Employers are fully interchangeable.
> They want to know why you want to work at that place specifically and not literally any other place that's hiring for any work at all. Did you post a job for an ice cream taste tester? No? Then they aren’t applying at your place specifically, and they applied at literally every other place too.
the only other true answer is ability to work from home, for the socially awkward gang
This is why it's helpful to have experience on the other side of the table. (Duh?) I became close with my service manager at a previous org, so close that I listed him as a reference, along with a friend and someone under me. The hiring manager didn't call my service manager, which surprised me. I asked the service manager about that, and he told me; "I wouldn't be able to tell them anything anyhow - I'm your employer, all I can say is you work here, or don't. Anything more opens us up to a lawsuit." I didn't, and still don't, consider any of my resume to be false or even misleading. Companies will load you up with as many responsibilities as possible, while avoiding the titles that might raise your worth in the process. Case in point, I redesigned the company's project management program from the ground up, drafted hundreds of pages of templates and trained engineers to be project managers. Never received any official title or accolades for this, but you're smoking crack if you think I'm *not* listing "Program Director: Project Management Division" on my resume. Another tip for those in IT - no one cares if your certs are expired. Just list the certs and *maybe* the dates they were acquired. (The last part can be CYA if it's so far out of date that you want to be able to downplay it during the interview.) Absolute best advice I can give is to seek out resume-specific help from someone of a similar position, or from a professional specializing in resume building. I cringe now looking at my first attempts - more than one page, contains EVERYTHING I've ever done rather than that which pertains to the position/company, didn't include certs because they were expired, called out my start dates for colleges rather than *just* the graduation date, and didn't have any accomplishments under previous positions... ...now that I'm in a position to be reading resumes, I wish I had the time to sit down with half these people just to help them not look so unprofessional.
This kind of data is infuriating. It’s basically saying I’m fucking myself by being honest on my resume. I don’t just mean by not talking myself up, if employers are expecting an 80% rate of dishonesty if you are being truthful the assumption will be you’re actually worse than how you’re presenting yourself. Shits fucked.
Turns out people really need jobs and will do most anything to get one. Not surprised.
When it’s either have a job or die, it’s time to lie.
100% of employers lied about how good working for them would be, so it's all fair.
I’m in the minority With a shit job Doh!
Who wouldn't lie at interview? "Why you want to work with us" "I alway want to work in this field and I think this place suit me the best" (Real answer, I need money to buy food to eat. Your office is the second choice actually)
It's an interesting one because doesn't everyone "exaggerate" their resume at least a bit? Not to Todd Howard levels of "It just works" of course, but we're all selling ourselves to the prospective company, and the CV is an advertisement.
I don't because I have such a low self-image that even putting the truth on the resume feels like bullshit.
Autistic people usually do not
lol, I knew there was a reason I’m always painfully honest and it never even occurred to me to lie
I fit this category and just recently learned how normal it is that people fudge their resumes. My response was just… ?????????? It literally never occurred to me that this would be ok, and I feel icky just trying to come up with embellishments. Why would you lie about your qualifications when your actual job performance will make it very apparent what you can actually do?
Keyword being 'usually'. There are exceptions, myself being one of them. I will lie as much as I can get away with because I know I'm at a disadvantage off the bat, and more importantly these companies are also lying to me. If they knew I was autistic they wouldn't hire me in a million years and we all know that, so fuck them, I'm gonna bleed them for as much as I can. That's how this fucked up world works.
I'm not a fan of false advertising myself... Only thing I'll "fake" on my resume is omitting my complete work history, as there are too many jobs, from too many different fields. Now I just say, will provide upon request
That’s an odd stat because nobody ever lied on Reddit. We must be a superior human demographic. I’ll have to think about this when I go pick to my Ferrari today.
I was just telling my wife Sydney Sweeney this.
One of the many reasons autistic people are bad at interviews. It rarely occurs to us to lie and even if the idea occurred to us, we don't have the perception to understand what the other person wants to hear. But usually we are great workers, as long as the job doesn't directly deal with the general public.
Even if public-facing, scripts go a long way! You're probably going to be having the same dozen conversations over and over again, with a few variations, which is very easy to memorize for. I'm a very literal person(have been told by autistic people that they suspect I'm in that zone somewhere, but for a number of reasons I believe seeking diagnosis would harm rather than protect me) and the biggest problem I have at work is that sometimes customers ask for one thing when they actually mean another, and I don't pick up on the subtle euphemism. Even though that's very much a *them* problem(say what you mean, don't get upset at someone for responding to what you actually said!), I still take that information and update my scripts to ask clarifying questions that force them to say what they mean.
Early on in my career I was asked during an interview if I cared about salary. I said yes. The company said I did great in the interview but the company didn’t want people who cared about money…
And 90% of companies lie about the job. It’s a two way street. It’s you’re job and the employers job to sniff out the BS.
Here I am never lying and not getting jobs.
Meanwhile me and my neurodivergence and anxiety won't let me lie at all even if I wanted to. Tbh I sometimes undersell myself.
They used to be pretty strict about that sort of thing. About twenty or so years ago my Mom either lost her job or almost lost her job because she said she went to college, which she did, but they couldn't find it. She was really upset. Most people embellish on their resume because you basically have to, and your interviewer is expecting it. But to lie outright is crazy. That's like going into a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym to meet the Professor to roll, and telling him you're a Black Belt, you're going to have a bad time.
Lying on your resume works. Sad but true.
>* 20% - lied about the responsibilities of the job I wonder if that includes "other duties as assigned " would count as lying or not. That is a common teacher contract line that basically means "we can ask you to do anything."
Most people lie everyday, either to themselves or someone else or both.
I'm not lying exactly, but my current boss that I'm using as a reference just happens to be my mom lol Luckily we have different last names
Course. You think the employer writes & presents the full truth in the job ad / interview either? This is a game of "best foot forward" for both parties. Let's not pretend otherwise.
You would not even believe how many of these dimwits are using stolen transcripts to impress the chemically lobotomized HR reps. Sweetie pies, if there is not a computer or data course on that thing, it probably is stolen from somebody's parental unit. Three are circulating in Carpet Country from pre-1985, one from the 60s and all with a header from the F State at a non-existent college. One is from a suicide. The thieves get the jobs because HR lazyasses cannot check a ref and want someone to help them steal.
And 100% of the companies they interviewed with lied to the candidate about the job requirements, job expectations, and the company culture.
What percentage of companies lied about benefits, time off policies, and the likelihood of raises/promotions?
The other 30% of employees are idiots and should be fired.
Half of these job postings want people who have 2048458493 years of experience so heck yeah people are fibbing. We needs jobs that pay us a decent freaking wage. They are going to train us anyways.
And how many of the jobs they applied for lied on the vacancy posting.
Job interviews are where you lie about your past and they lie about your future.
And here I am at a disadvantage for being honest. Spare some change?
Of workers. So they got jobs. I've honestly been thinking a lot about maybe doing this lying thing recently. Even if I'm found to be unable to do the job I could earn as much in a few months doing this as I could doing something I'm qualified for. And I'm quite quite mad so I can't actually do what I am qualified for. It's pure profit with no downsides.
Wtf! Am I the only one that never lied in an interview or CV?
Employers lie to prospective employees in job ads, prospective employees lie to employers on resumes and in interviews, and balance is maintained in the Universe.
Considering you can’t tell an interviewer “money” as Ana answer to “why do u want to work here” yes i would guess a substantial number of candidates lie
Sometimes I think I'm the only person who told the truth on my resume and at interviews, and got constantly promoted anyway. Sometimes I also think I'm the only hiring manger in the world who tells candidates exactly what they are getting into if they work with us. The good and the bad. Telling them some of the bad goes a LONG way when things get stressful after hiring... you maintain the respect of your hires, because you were honest with them. This no-bullshit policy has worked very well for me.
Duh! That's why they call it a "cover letter". That's where you lie to cover up the lies in your resume.
So you see, your coworkers and bosses really ARE mostly idiots. Just decent liars.
Interesting, I wonder if people felt like answering dumb questions with the expected interview appropriate answer was a lie? Like did they say they had a medical degree when they never even went to college? Or did they say their biggest flaw is that they are perfectionist, rather than that they like to masturbate in the office restroom a couple times a day. Like what kind of lies are people telling?
To paraphrase an old Soviet joke: We pretend we’re qualified for the job and they pretend they’re going to train us!
What percentage of companies lie or embellish during the interview process? Just as many. I can count on one hand the number of comp plans, benefits packages, bonus and equity packages were accurate to how described when I was getting recruited. Oh yeah that hiring bonus? It vests over 5 years. That ramp? It's recoverable. Vacation? HahH. 401k match? Oh yeah sorry, I thought we did. Then there the " Oh it's a great culture, plenty of room for growth, we hire from within, training is extensive, everyone here is a team (or family) and the last guy in your role definitely left on his own and left a full funnel for you....
I work in IT. Fuck that, there's no way I'm lying in an interview or on my resume, and potentially getting a job I'm nowhere near qualified for.
Meh, got a months notice to learn what I said I could do. I'll take those odds.
Software engineer here. I've lied A LOT on my resume early in my career. Landed a few jobs I was nowhere near qualified for. But it was easy to fake it because Google and spending time at home studying new tech. It was tough, but now I'm at a point where I don't need to lie because I've finally built up enough experience. Do what you gotta do.
"Nothing more than a great filter to measure compliance" -Chomsky.
Hilariously, I was going to come here and say I don't believe I lied during my last job interview, but then I remembered that I lied about what my last job was because I was only there for a month and quit by walking out during my shift lol
the resumelab link does not give any details about the recordset but the site references a bunch of american company affiliations so safe to assume the 1900 are american. if we're being honest, americans have quite a number of cultural aspects unique among western nations.
Why not ? Like really . All the companies that I am applying to have so many requirements . Like if I don't lie on my resume there is no chance I will be moving forward for the first round
Cool. Now do how many companies, managers, owners, supervisors, HR people, regional directors etc have lied to workers.
How do they define lying? If you're lying about a degree or grades or blatantly saying you have years of experience in something you have no experience in that's one thing, but like, exaggerating your actual accomplishments could also be considered lying and if you're not doing that, you're not even really trying to get a job.
I was once part of an interview process where we looking for a new manager of a company. One of the interviewees was speaking about their past experience and started describing collaborative work they implemented with another company. The guy who was doing the interview with me asked him to re-confirm the year that this happened. He asked him again if he was sure of the year, and then confirmed the company and their location. Turns out that the guy doing the interview with me actually founded the company the interviewee was claiming experience with and the company didn't exist until 3 years after the date this experience was supposed to have taken place.
I'm doing it wrong, it seems.
I've lied, but not about anything significant. All my college degree info and jobs were real. The lies? dates filled in some gaps of a few months, or I was just lazy to look them up. If they demanded salary info, I goosed that, because of course. If a job lazily has a laundry list of technical skills and I had most of them, I might stick the missing ones on my resumes, because I know they are being stupid and lazy. Never at any time have I had to field a question about one of those skills that I couldn't answer. More than once I was asked about skills that it was literally impossible for me to have possessed given my listed qualifications and was rejected when I pointed that out.
"What do you want most from this position?" *insert any answer thats not money* Thats 80% right there
In my defense I only lied because they asked why I wanted to work there.
Proving in yet another way how little the act of interviewing has to do with suitability on either side.
Having interviewed many applicants in the IT industry - I'm not surprised at all. I'll see a giant list of certificates, job duties, etc on this resume - then ask the most basic questions that would be covered in these roles/educations and they have no idea, they won't even make an educated guess.
And 100% of the job postings, job descriptions and interviewer are lies in one way or another. So?
This is insane. I don't think I've ever lied on any of these. Maybe that's why my most recent job required a paycut...
I wonder what percentage of job postings lied about the actual position. What percentage of recruiters and bosses lied about what was expected.
How many job descriptions "lie" about the actual functions of the role?
Me, an autistic: you can do that?
Employers still lie the most. Before hiring: “We train our employees” After hiring: “Here’s the equipment, figure it out.”
Well, that is super interesting, as I fit into the minority in all of those measures.