Have you ever lied on a resume?

[tiggerlover]

Just curious as I never have and never will, however, a friend asked me to type up her resume and asked me if I thought she should lie????? I felt like saying HELLO, what are you thinking!!! So that got me to thinking that if she was thinking of telling a fib that others may have also. To keep it annoymous, I am making this a poll, however, if you feel like answering feel free.

 

[Pop Daddy]

does a bear poop in the woods ?

 

[CEDmom]

I work in the financial industry and every employee is fingerprinted and bonded. Honestly and integrity is a big thing. I know more than 1 person that was fired months after being hired for fudging resumes - they do randomly run background checks. It wasn't anything serious though but the feeling is if you'd lie about something trivial you'd lie when the stakes where higher.

 

[christineann]

Our law firm received a stellar looking resume from a job seeker in another state quite a distance away. The resume also included a glowing recommendation on the senior partner's letterhead. When the HR person called to ask a question or two, she was informed that the job seeker had not only been fired, she had stolen some of the senior partner's stationery, typed the letter and forged his signature.......no, dear, chances are you will NEVER work in this town!

 

[liamsaunt]

Never, and you should tell your friend to forget about it too. Many companies run personal background checks and credit checks before hiring people these days, and that, along with the internet, make it pretty easy to discover if people are lying. Colleges cannot give out detailed information, but they will confirm if a person actually graduated.

In my office, in addition to the ones who were caught out prior to hire, I know of two newly hired people let go for lying on their resumes, both blatant offenses, but discovered after the fact, and one person that had their offer letter rescinded before their start date after their background was investigated for discrepancies. Two of the three attempted to sue (unsuccessfully) and in all cases, it created huge turmoil for the people involved, as well as tension for the operation overall.

Don't lie! You can sell yourself easily on the merits you truly possess.

 

[goofyforlife]

i think what your friend might have meant is how should she develop her resume so that it looks like she has more qualifications.... Sometimes creative resume writing/wording will help.

I just wouldn't lie outright though.

 

[I Love Pluto]

A lie on the resume could mean a firing if found out at a later date.

I could never lie on a resume. What if I got caught? Goody goody here.

 

[BuckNaked]

I've never had to do a resume until now, so I answered "other". But no, I wouldn't lie on one.

 

[ducklite]

I voted other. There's a difference between an outright fabrication and a "spin."

Saying you have education you don't have or worked someplace you never did is bad.

Putting a favorable spin on your job description is not.

Here's an example:

Previous position was a receptionist. Two ways of describing your responsibilities...

Answered phones and took messages. Made coffee. Sorted mail. Greeted customers. Typed letters.

VS.

Efficiently answered five incoming lines and transferred calls to the appropriate individual, taking detailed messages as needed. Managed the distribution of all external and inter-office correspondence, including the discreet handling of proprietary and personal information. Assisted upper management with the creation of outgoing corresondence. Greeted and announced all visitors and deliveries. Managed employee kitchen area, including manitaining inventory of coffee supplies.

Neither is lying, but the second sounds more impressive and certainly protrays a more professional image to a potential employer. The role wasn't a "management" role by any means, but the word "managed" certainly appeared in the resume in an appropriate manner. it also works in key terms such as upper management, proprietary, detail, and creation.

Anne

 

[mickeyfan2]

No I haven't. The way I see it if I lied and got a job that I could not do, how would I keep the job?

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Nope, not worth losing a career over.

And I do not think writing a good resume is "other". If a person has done all of those task then it is not even questionable, it just writing a good resume.

 

[golfgal]

DH has told me stories about various people and their resumes. One person wasn't offered a job because of an error, not even a lie, just an error of a transposed number on her resume'. Another friend almost lost her job because when she was applying for a job in a different department, same company, she checked the box that said she had been convicted of a felony and she just misread that and thought it said she HADN'T been convicted of a felony.

 

[Cantw8]

does a bear poop in the woods ?

Apparantly so

I'm just sayin'

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

Yes. I've had far more jobs than I have on my resume. I figure that less is more, so the ones I only worked at for a month here and there have made their way off my resume.

 

[golfgal]

Yes. I've had far more jobs than I have on my resume. I figure that less is more, so the ones I only worked at for a month here and there have made their way off my resume.

I have omitted a couple jobs like that too. I guess I don't see that as lying in my case. One job was for 4 weeks, temp fill in for a friend while they were going through the hiring process and I knew the job so they asked me if I could fill in until they found someone permanent. I guess I don't consider that a "job". Most of the companies I have been applying to lately have asked for "relevant" work experience or just the past 10 years anyway.

 

[slo]

I have fluffed it up, but never lied.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

I've never outright lied - I really don't have it in me to lie about anything, because then you have to tell another lie to cover up the first, then another lie to cover up the 2nd, etc...

But like ducklite said, I've "enhanced" my responsibilities. As in, I do data entry, but I'm not just responsible for entering orders correctly - I'm responsible for "processing and analyzing data to achieve $165 million sales goal" or something like that.

 

[Chattyaholic]

I would never lie on a resume. Isn't it a federal offense to do so, and you can get into big trouble if your lies are discovered?

 

[agnes!]

I have never lied on a resume. Many people in my general field are...ummm...*very* creative in descriptions (Lead role! Co-starring! Worked with [some famous name director when the person only did background work]!), but I have always stuck to the simple facts. Back when I was starting out and my resume looked pretty darn sparse, I was only able to list my training. But that was fine, people could at least see that I was serious about *getting* work.

agnes!

 

[Hercules10]

Only when I applied to be a porn star.

I thought everyone could lick their eye-brows!!!