“Going To Lie On My Resume Forever”: Person Worked Out How They Can Lie On Their Resume To Land Jobs
The way people perceive work has certainly shifted in the past decades. It’s gone from “you can be successful if you hold down an honest job” to “people have to work 3 jobs just to stay afloat.” This is especially true if you consider the rapid growth of the anti-work community and associated movement, especially during the pandemic.
So, it’s no surprise that some people will do whatever it takes to get ahead. For example, this guy inflated his time working at one place from 1 year to 6, so he wouldn’t look like a job hopper.
More info: Reddit
If people say cheaters never prosper, how is it that lying during interviews has become a near-necessity?
Image credit: fauxels (not the actual image)
The poster took it to antiwork to share what he did to stop looking like a job-hopper to employers
Image credits: u/DasSoupMachine
Image credit: LinkedIn Sales Solutions (not the actual image)
Once one of his previous workplaces had closed, he inflated the years spent there from 1 to 6, making him look super loyal
Image credits: u/DasSoupMachine
Image credit: cottonbro studio (not the actual image)
This made him arrive to the logical conclusion that from now on, he will lie his way through interviews and resumes alike
This story is like one of those “This guy has fooled every employer with one simple trick! Find out how!” ads. Except that this trick isn’t as simple as it seems on the face of it.
I mean… unless the workplace is closed because of you, but I feel like you’re already an overachiever if you can single-handedly close down entire companies.
So, the storyteller just magicks 1 year into 6, just like that. Simple. Problem solved. And it works! He’s gotten hired off of this lie and said that he will just put more years into the place if he needs it.
I’m unsure if this bloated employment sandwich won’t cause any issues in the long run, getting the time worked at places confused, but as long as it works for him.
Many, many other people piped up in the comments to share their own stories of resume embellishments.
Some told of how they spend time covering fictitious recommendations for their friends, proving you can say that you have worked any job, as long as you’ve got a friend with a silver tongue. Others directed people to the BeMyReference community, where people play pretend to be references for every single position you’ve ever heard of and some that you probably haven’t.
They also share their own resume hacks which help them cinch positions often and not look like job hoppers at the same time. Some of these include only writing positions and achievements you’re most proud of and removing dates from certain parts of your CV.
Image credit: Tima Miroshnichenko (not the actual image)
The all-reaching argument in the discussion is that lying in your resume is OK as employers frequently do the same by lying about the pay, the responsibilities, the perks, and many more. Lying in your in-person interview is also highly recommended!
Overall, people seem majorly fed up with a million and one things coming from employers, from not getting back to them after interviews to them expecting you to be loyal and not a “job hopper” while providing nothing of the sort in return.
Although a cursory Google search will tell you “don’t lie on your resume or else you’ll get caught,” a StandOut CV survey found that 55% of Americans lie on them nonetheless.
It’s not tied to any one field, either – everyone lies, in creative fields, in education, and even in healthcare. Nothing is safe from a little embellishment here, a couple of lies there, anything to give you that hair-thin edge over another candidate.
While it may cost you if you get outed, a Redditor in the Career Guidance community outlined the areas where you shouldn’t, could, and always should lie in your resume. Use this at your own discretion!
Degrees, places worked at, recommendations, certifications, and criminal convictions are huge no-nos which could land you in a heap of trouble.
Then you can probably smooth talk about a skill if you can fake it, inflate an accomplishment, an expired certification, or inflate the responsibility you had. These will probably be okay to embellish, depending on your own skills.
Now, they also mention that you should lie about the following all the time: “how much you made at your last job, how passionate you are about customer satisfaction, how important it is to respect your boss, how dedicated and excited you are.” These are things that people inflate all the time, perhaps not even consciously, but because they really do feel like they need the money, maybe not necessarily the job.
Share your own cool resume and interview tips in the comments below!
The community shared their own subtle and more obvious tricks to make them look better to recruiters
OP sounds terrible. Cutting some corners on your resumé is one thing, but flat out lying and boasting about it is another. Also, while leaving due to concrete reasons is understandable, "I don't like it when places get too comfortable having me around" is a huge red flag ⛳
Am I the only one who thinks OP is kind of an A*****e? I personally don't see job hopping as something to really brag about. Just shows your lack of commitment and that your willing to go so far for a measly couple of cents extra. As for the lying it's kinda S****y but not particularly unexpected or over horrid. I just feel like this dudes taking these jobs away from other potential employees that would like to have those jobs and be there long term all for his own selfish short term reasons. He doesn't even said if the companies he worked at were all that bad. I'd feel guilty of I was trained to do the job only to quit a year later solely because I don't feel like staying with one company.
I thought his brashness and happy to lie makes him an a hole. No wonder it’s difficult for people like me who are truthful on their resume to get jobs. Mine sounds made up and not plausible except it’s all true.
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This sort of thing is frustrating. Some places are cool with job hoppers. And it might be less frustrating if OP were interested in finding a longer term work place. Instead, they've outright lied about both their history and their intentions. It's a little different than stretching the truth, as it directly relates to current job.
Two words: security clearance. In that world, you can leave a job off your resume, but you better not lie or the investigators will catch you.
Don't know who down voted you but you're right. FBI/OPM is thorough.
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Man, my last two jobs did SO MUCH background checking that I had to get college transcripts and HR contacts for one place that wouldn't help the checking company!
The only job I ever had that actually did a through background check was when I worked as a administrative assistant for a college. They are also the only place to speak to any of my referenceses. They are also the only place I tell people to seer clear 9f because they treat their nondegree people like trash.
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I worked for 4 years went on mat leave. Then went to a different job and was there a year or so then went on mat leave again. Then had 5 years off (child had additional needs so wasn't comfortable leaving him) also had another bubba and when he was a year old I decided to look for work again. Turns out people were cool with my cv as got hounded for interviews. I put my cv on indeed and sent it on the site to a few people thinking it was going to be so hard getting a job but yeah it really wasn't. First interview got offered the job and been here nearly a year.....
that's actually dumb. all it takes is one google to find out when a business closed, and all of the sudden the whole lie crumbles.
Huh. Doesn't work as well in my industry. Once we've decided to offer someone the job, we then call in the guys who do the background checks. They don't work off the references but find out your employment (and many other) histories from scratch. To accept the job you have to sign over the right for them to dig into your past so there's no illegal beach of confidentiality or anything. Just keeps the honest people honest and the dishonest people out.
F**k OP. I don't mind the lying, everybody lies. Especially to companies. It's the friggin boasting that pisses me off. Also all the moving, and "i don't like it when people gets too comfortable having me around" just tell me that he's/she's a d**k. I wouldn't be surprised if he/she actually got fired from all those 8 places then made up a story on reddit with a second account to feel better. F**k you.
I think this only works if it's a big company and you where hired by a third party. At my job there are less than 10 people total in our department, and this is after our direct supervisor hired 2 new people. One of them is working out, the other obviously lied about her skills and qualifications. This is a college, so they do a rehire process every semester to account for a drop in gpa. Now they're not rehiring her AND it doesn't look good if she tries to apply to a different department since our supervisor is VERY active across campus and was not satisfied at all with her performance. 😒
Never job hopped but have upped my qualifications as I was never academic but am bloody good at admin. Am now a manager of multi euro company for 7 years.
Holy c**p, this could be me exactly. After a year I get restless and jump somewhere else. I also worked at 2 places that are now close - I put that I worked at one place for 4 years and the other 7 - I don’t feel the least bit guilty because, instead of just making $40K yearly, I make $52K and, in a year, I’ll get another job with an even higher salary and they’ll never know that I had only been at my current job a year. Corporate Capitalism exploits the 99%, this is me exploiting them in return and I have no regrets - I think it’s hilarious and everyone should do it.
I prefer honesty, even if you think it makes you look bad. If you're constantly looking to better yourself, that's a good thing - although constantly running away from harassment and stealing charges is not so good. It would never occur to me to lie on a CV - I'd rather get the job on my own merit.
OP sounds terrible. Cutting some corners on your resumé is one thing, but flat out lying and boasting about it is another. Also, while leaving due to concrete reasons is understandable, "I don't like it when places get too comfortable having me around" is a huge red flag ⛳
Am I the only one who thinks OP is kind of an A*****e? I personally don't see job hopping as something to really brag about. Just shows your lack of commitment and that your willing to go so far for a measly couple of cents extra. As for the lying it's kinda S****y but not particularly unexpected or over horrid. I just feel like this dudes taking these jobs away from other potential employees that would like to have those jobs and be there long term all for his own selfish short term reasons. He doesn't even said if the companies he worked at were all that bad. I'd feel guilty of I was trained to do the job only to quit a year later solely because I don't feel like staying with one company.
I thought his brashness and happy to lie makes him an a hole. No wonder it’s difficult for people like me who are truthful on their resume to get jobs. Mine sounds made up and not plausible except it’s all true.
Load More Replies... This sort of thing is frustrating. Some places are cool with job hoppers. And it might be less frustrating if OP were interested in finding a longer term work place. Instead, they've outright lied about both their history and their intentions. It's a little different than stretching the truth, as it directly relates to current job.
Two words: security clearance. In that world, you can leave a job off your resume, but you better not lie or the investigators will catch you.
Don't know who down voted you but you're right. FBI/OPM is thorough.
Load More Replies... Man, my last two jobs did SO MUCH background checking that I had to get college transcripts and HR contacts for one place that wouldn't help the checking company!
The only job I ever had that actually did a through background check was when I worked as a administrative assistant for a college. They are also the only place to speak to any of my referenceses. They are also the only place I tell people to seer clear 9f because they treat their nondegree people like trash.
Load More Replies... I worked for 4 years went on mat leave. Then went to a different job and was there a year or so then went on mat leave again. Then had 5 years off (child had additional needs so wasn't comfortable leaving him) also had another bubba and when he was a year old I decided to look for work again. Turns out people were cool with my cv as got hounded for interviews. I put my cv on indeed and sent it on the site to a few people thinking it was going to be so hard getting a job but yeah it really wasn't. First interview got offered the job and been here nearly a year.....
that's actually dumb. all it takes is one google to find out when a business closed, and all of the sudden the whole lie crumbles.
Huh. Doesn't work as well in my industry. Once we've decided to offer someone the job, we then call in the guys who do the background checks. They don't work off the references but find out your employment (and many other) histories from scratch. To accept the job you have to sign over the right for them to dig into your past so there's no illegal beach of confidentiality or anything. Just keeps the honest people honest and the dishonest people out.
F**k OP. I don't mind the lying, everybody lies. Especially to companies. It's the friggin boasting that pisses me off. Also all the moving, and "i don't like it when people gets too comfortable having me around" just tell me that he's/she's a d**k. I wouldn't be surprised if he/she actually got fired from all those 8 places then made up a story on reddit with a second account to feel better. F**k you.
I think this only works if it's a big company and you where hired by a third party. At my job there are less than 10 people total in our department, and this is after our direct supervisor hired 2 new people. One of them is working out, the other obviously lied about her skills and qualifications. This is a college, so they do a rehire process every semester to account for a drop in gpa. Now they're not rehiring her AND it doesn't look good if she tries to apply to a different department since our supervisor is VERY active across campus and was not satisfied at all with her performance. 😒
Never job hopped but have upped my qualifications as I was never academic but am bloody good at admin. Am now a manager of multi euro company for 7 years.
Holy c**p, this could be me exactly. After a year I get restless and jump somewhere else. I also worked at 2 places that are now close - I put that I worked at one place for 4 years and the other 7 - I don’t feel the least bit guilty because, instead of just making $40K yearly, I make $52K and, in a year, I’ll get another job with an even higher salary and they’ll never know that I had only been at my current job a year. Corporate Capitalism exploits the 99%, this is me exploiting them in return and I have no regrets - I think it’s hilarious and everyone should do it.
I prefer honesty, even if you think it makes you look bad. If you're constantly looking to better yourself, that's a good thing - although constantly running away from harassment and stealing charges is not so good. It would never occur to me to lie on a CV - I'd rather get the job on my own merit.
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