[fintstone]

Where I worked, most tried to lie where, if caught, they could spin to claim that they were saying something different (since they could be fined or serve jail time for lying). If you were wary, you could always identify these folks (and there were many). HR and a lot of managers could not. If they liked you or you filled a quota (were a veteran, woman or minority...you were in automatically). I could eliminate at least 75% of the applicants (and often 100%) just from the obvious misrepresentation in their application packages (which were their resume and college transcripts).

Here is an example...the resume says: "Led a team that increased sales by 200%". Many would think this meant the supervisor of the team...but the person that had the most sales on the team or the biggest dollar value of sale could list this. So could the person that felt that they were the informal "leader" who was really the catalyst for the sales (even if not necessarily acknowledged as such by the formal leadership. Of course, You can leave a lot out. For example, if it is only the second year of the company's existence and sales were only a dollar the year before...then a 200% increase is not much. Maybe a merger or addition of a new product line is what doubled sales, not anything done by the sales staff. Perhaps the personnel in the sales staff were increased by 400% gleaning the 200% increase in sales.

What I saw most often was a deputy or relatively low-level person acting in an administrative (almost secretarial) role taking credit for what their superior was responsible for. I often saw this with folks coming from the military where an NCO essentially reproduced their commander's resume. Since I had a lot of military experience, I could tell quickly by looking at their rank or the schools they attended that they were greatly exaggerating. Most others in my organization (without similar experience) fell for it every time.

The other thing I saw often was a person trying to pass themselves off as an engineer at their previous position when they did not have the required degree/education. They simply added "engineer" to their resume job title and threw in a lot of related terms in their resume (when they were simply some sort of low-level manager). Engineer opportunities were much better and paid more. This almost always worked if they had a degree with the word "engineer" in it. Lots of schools have engineering management degrees that really have no engineering in them whatsoever. When you looked at the transcripts of these folks, they had never taken any engineering courses and few in math and science. Not even Calculus.

The other thing is where they used the term "professional engineer"...which most would assume they were certified as a Professional Engineer (and passed the PE). But when cornered, they told you that they were professional (earned money) doing engineering work. Usually, they were a low-level manager or technician that worked for an engineer or administrative.