Lying To Get a Job

[amadeus]

With most of the big stuff, you're going to eventually get caught. Lying about where you went to school, where you worked, your salary level, and major, mission-critical job skills...that's all typically relatively easy to verify.

Wonder how much of that applies here. I know a guy that got a work visa and a job while lying about his degree, even going so far as to purchase a fake online.

I'm still not sure how he hasn't been busted yet. Worse still, his girlfriend quit her job to move with him.

 

[TheBladeRoden]

Why did I leave my second to last job? Well, I certainly wasn't fired! My manager and I just had different creative visions, that's all. Visions on whether I deserved to come back to work the following day or not.

 

[Kyriakos]

Simple question: Have any of you ever lied to get a job? I'm not talking about the small embellishments we all tell during our interviews, but just a straight-up bold-faced lie about your skills and qualifications to get a job you wanted.

If so, how did you feel about it afterwards? Did you feel like to cheated someone more qualified out of a job or were you just happy you didn't get caught in your lie?

Only very very small 'lies' as in 'i am currently working for X literary magazine' when the full reality would be 'i had 3 articles/works printed by X magazine but i am not an actual employee'.

I always lie cause i cannot readily tell them that i am the reincarnation of Pythagoras.
They would not see the truth. No one does.

 

[Hygro]

My original post was "No. That wouldn't be right." Then I remembered one thing that you guys can judge. I put in a cover letter that I knew when to shut up. Months later I got fired from the gig in part because I didn't shut up. In hindsight I wish I had both spoke up more (even if that meant I had gotten sacked earlier) but that I also left it out of my cover letter. It turns out, if I think the organization is bogus in its actual operations I have trouble staying quiet about it.

 

[Borachio]

If you're going to lie make sure you have come from a long way away.

If there's a chance you'll be found out, you will be found out.

 

[Tarquelne]

How the heck i prove somebody, that i have trained in kung-fu for 10 years and i'm competent to teach others? There are no tournaments in kung-fu either.

Have the job interviewer pick a random person, then teach that person to beat up the interviewer.

I think downtown will concur it's standard practice.

I put in a cover letter that I knew when to shut up. Months later I got fired from the gig in part because I didn't shut up. In hindsight I wish I had both spoke up more (even if that meant I had gotten sacked earlier) but that I also left it out of my cover letter.

That sounds like you knew it wasn't a situation where you should shut up.

 

[Zelig]

Wonder how much of that applies here. I know a guy that got a work visa and a job while lying about his degree, even going so far as to purchase a fake online.

I'm still not sure how he hasn't been busted yet. Worse still, his girlfriend quit her job to move with him.

Well I could trivially lie about my degree, my education credentials have never been verified at any job I've held.

 

[amadeus]

I would at least expect immigration to call the university to verify that the person was there and graduated.

 

[Phrossack]

I never outright lie to try to get a job. But I do reluctantly exaggerate my skills in some areas, like marking boxes that say I'm friendly and willing to smile and greet customers and the like. I feel dirty afterwards, but what else am I to do? Are they really going to want to hire someone they know is a shy-ish, stone-faced introvert?

 

[Kyriakos]

^At any rate positions of some decent (or higher) pay likely always require some sort of letter/communication with past employers. So making stuff up won't lead to good.

 

[Borachio]

How about making stuff up about employment with a company that's gone bust and disappeared from the scene years ago?

 

[Kyriakos]

How about making stuff up about employment with a company that's gone bust and disappeared from the scene years ago?

And (by chance, of course) all its officials died in accidents?

Btw, have you read Gogol's 'The Lost Dead souls'?

(edited due to wrong title...been a while since i read that novel ).

 

[Borachio]

Yes. Indeed. Good story.

I first read that when I was 16. And didn't see anything do it. For some reason I completely missed the fact that it's very, very funny.

edit: Dead Souls.

 

[aelf]

I would at least expect immigration to call the university to verify that the person was there and graduated.

This is really tricky. Over here they do those distant learning things where people who never went to a prestigious university get a degree from a local no-name school that is accredited or whatever by the prestigious university. These people then tend to state that they studied at the prestigious university.

I think that's bogus, but alas very few employers can verify beyond taking a look at the degree certificate, and the distinction is often not obvious on the cert. It would be hilarious if the interviewer knew what he/she is talking about and actually tried to talk about the university to the candidate though, since I'd be willing to bet those people actually know jack about it.

 

[cybrxkhan]

I never outright lie to try to get a job. But I do reluctantly exaggerate my skills in some areas, like marking boxes that say I'm friendly and willing to smile and greet customers and the like. I feel dirty afterwards, but what else am I to do? Are they really going to want to hire someone they know is a shy-ish, stone-faced introvert?

When I was interviewed for my library job (most recent job before I got sick), they asked me a similar question, about whether I was able to interact and deal with people and that sort of thing. I didn't lie, but tried to play down my introversion/shyness and make a positive spin on it or something, and said something like "I am a little shy but I am more than capable of being social blah blah blah blah blah."

The interviewer replied, "Oh, don't worry about being shy, we're all librarians here."

And I felt relieved. Interview went pretty well anyways, though partly it was because it seemed like they were desperate for someone to fill the position, so eh. Otherwise, I do also feel kind of uneasy about saying I'm introverted/shy/whatever, and feel like it does work against me (what with people saying it's an extrovert's world and all, at least here in the US), but the best I can do is try to put a positive spin on it (though not too and unconvincingly positive).

 

[Zelig]

I would at least expect immigration to call the university to verify that the person was there and graduated.

I assume any country with reasonable privacy laws would require the university to produce a signed release from the individual in question to disclose personal information such as attendance and graduation status.

Which is fine when you're signing (I'm assuming) a ton of forms for immigration stuff anyway, but I've never had a job where I've been required to sign off on consent for my university to disclose personal information.

^At any rate positions of some decent (or higher) pay likely always require some sort of letter/communication with past employers. So making stuff up won't lead to good.

My requirement for references has been pretty much inversely correlated to my pay at jobs that I've held.

 

[Borachio]

<nvm: the post I referenced has been edited now>

And it seems counter-intuitive, in any case.

 

[Zelig]

Let me guess this one. Is it: the requirement for references is inversely related to the remuneration? The lower the pay the more references are significant? And vice versa.

It's not very clear what you do mean. I'm just guessing here.

And it seems counter-intuitive, in any case.

Yeah, that's what I meant, I accidentally a word.

 

[Goodfella]

I knew a Lebanese kid who said he was African American on his college application. A lot of other people outright lied about leadership positions in clubs and on teams, either assigning themselves generic titles like "Vice Treasurer of Young Democrats" or just saying that they were president of a club that only met a few times a year and passing that off as leadership. I don't think any of them got in anywhere terribly selective though, probably because they got filtered out for lacking strong recs.

 

[GoodGame]

Simple question: Have any of you ever lied to get a job? I'm not talking about the small embellishments we all tell during our interviews, but just a straight-up bold-faced lie about your skills and qualifications to get a job you wanted.

If so, how did you feel about it afterwards? Did you feel like to cheated someone more qualified out of a job or were you just happy you didn't get caught in your lie?

Ummmm the idiocy of that would be so dumb, only mirrored by the idiocy of the hiring manager that fell for that. In other words, that would be like someone with no clue in construction hiring someone with no skill in construction to pretend to build something.
Epic Fail.

When I was interviewed for my library job (most recent job before I got sick), they asked me a similar question, about whether I was able to interact and deal with people and that sort of thing. I didn't lie, but tried to play down my introversion/shyness and make a positive spin on it or something, and said something like "I am a little shy but I am more than capable of being social blah blah blah blah blah."

The interviewer replied, "Oh, don't worry about being shy, we're all librarians here."

And I felt relieved. Interview went pretty well anyways, though partly it was because it seemed like they were desperate for someone to fill the position, so eh. Otherwise, I do also feel kind of uneasy about saying I'm introverted/shy/whatever, and feel like it does work against me (what with people saying it's an extrovert's world and all, at least here in the US), but the best I can do is try to put a positive spin on it (though not too and unconvincingly positive).

Hmm well you are in fact doing the slight embellishment, or even trying to own up and fill the job description, which partly just needs you to own up (and deal with people). It's really not a lie.
The rest of this story made me LOL.