Lying on a resume...

[stevej37]

^^^ Zeke
Just having fun.

I make mis-steaks all the time...and most of them are very tough.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Cloggie

Now, to be fair, most universities or employers only make statements of fact (yes, he or she attended, worked here for this many years at this position) but if there are discrepancies at minimum it will be another interview with Human Remains to ask the specifics of the discrepancy.

if the guy was lying on the interview/resume...he/she is toast.

D.

My understanding is that when verifying employment, companies are only allowed to verify "John Doe worked here from date to date in position XYZ." I don't think they are allowed to say if you quit, were laid off, or were fired.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by masraum

My understanding is that when verifying employment, companies are only allowed to verify "John Doe worked here from date to date in position XYZ." I don't think they are allowed to say if you quit, were laid off, or were fired.

But you can say whether or not you would hire them again.

[p911dad]

One thing I recall about getting queries about a former employee from his prospective new employer (that was fired for cause like lying on an application) is you never wanted to get sued by that employee so you just said yeah he worked here, he just resigned one day to move on in his life or something to that effect. Sounds like weasel words, but getting sued by some loser is not a pleasant situation. Move on.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by cstreit

I'm guessing a large majority of resume's have some level of embellishment in them.

I see it all the time in sales. Person claims they contributed $5M in sales revenue. What they were was part of a team of people that generated that.

Depending on how you interpret "contribute' it is either accurate or embellishment.

I'm glad you posted this as I was going to use it but in a different way. I was hired to create a custom marketing department for an IT magazine, Network World back in 2000. We had Print Sales, Online Sales and Event Sales departments, and then me, Custom Media. I and later my staff worked very closely with all 3, well, we didn't with Online because we sold all their inventory and the VP complained bitterly, but that's another story.

Anyway, the year prior to me joining I was told they did $100K in custom sales. Cisco, HP, Intel, etc. were always asking for cool marketing programs but no one knew how to put them together. We did $5.3 million in sales in my 3rd year, all incremental, all on qualified lead generation and nurturing programs with media buy optimization tied to customer CRM business logic.

I was very proud of the team we all put together, a lot of people helped me create it and manage it, and putting that on my resume helped me immensely when raising angel money for entrepreneurial ventures after I left Network World.

It's fine to brag about what you did and embellish your resume with self-serving details but a whole lot better to talk about how you worked with a team for the benefit and success of the company as a whole.

[Bugsinrugs]

My parents taught me never ever lie. When someone loses trust in you it’s near impossible to get it back. I discard lying people from my life. It seems lying has become fashionable in politics, more than ever.

[Steve Carlton]

Steve Carlton won the Cy Young Award 4 times. I'm not exaggerating at all.

[Bill Douglas]

Out of curiosity I googled and ex GF called Lisa. She is on linkedin and I read her remume. It turns out she is still a liar and a cheat (different sort of cheat I guess) 25 years later. I guess once a liar always a liar.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

Steve Carlton won the Cy Young Award 4 times. I'm not exaggerating at all.

OK Lefty .... let's see that nasty slider?

Yer fired !

He was awesome, and I was a huge baseball fan during his reign .... but Tom Seaver (RIP) was who I followed like a fanatic back then ... and I was a southpaw too !

[Steve Carlton]

I had one job where there was a Jim Brown working there as well.

[upsscott]

Originally Posted by fintstone

You could lie your entire life and still be elected VP and President. That said, I have never lied on a resume but have seen a lot of fake education and vastly exaggerated experience listed on those of others that applied for/held Federal jobs.

Hahahahaha, Fint just couldn’t stand it. Straight to parf I say!

[upsscott]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

Steve Carlton won the Cy Young Award 4 times. I'm not exaggerating at all.

Hahaha, no exaggeration.

[craigster59]

Unfortunately resume's don't fly in my line of work. You're as good as your last job. If anything it's more of a "Miss Congeniality" contest.

I suck at sucking up.

[KFC911]

^^^^^ My career was in corporate IT .... large systems and data communications. After a few years my resume was superficial and for meeting HR requirements. Reputation, and inside tracks via my professional network meant I had a job if I wanted it ... it was twice a stacked deck, and I sucked at sucking up too.

I did review a lot of resumes the latter half of my career as my input was part of the process... it was pretty easy to spot the BS too.... trash can filed.

I did know of a few (not in my small niche area) that were walked to the door after being hired tho' for their deceit. Resumes that came through HR usually sucked fwiw .

[rfuerst911sc]

My years with Lockheed Martin if you lied/embellished/pumped up your resume and that was found out generally you were shown the door . If you were a union employee you would be given a pass as long as the deceit didn't affect security clearance .

[astrochex]

My analysis field is quite narrow. People will know if you are BSing since they can confirm the data with people that have worked with you.

[KFC911]

In the private sector we did not have security clearances for my type of position, but you had to be "bonded" .... and those underwriters did NOT play with literally millions at stake.

On a similar PARFy topic, when I was in R&D at IBM in their very secure & protected sites and labs.... being lax with classified/secret/top secret documents would get you fired. You didn't even leave them out on your office desk to go take a leak .

[jcommin]

Originally Posted by KC911

Please don't send this to PARF, it's not about him

Was reading on CNBC about this ..... lying or embellishing.

In my career, lying on one's resume, if discovered would have meant an immediate, "walk you to the door" dismissal. No further questions asked. Embellishing might be a grey area ..... but lying about one's education or former places of employment.... yer gone !

How about you guys? Has the world changed and I missed it?

t's not about him That is not even subtle. Life isn't binary. I have seen allot of resumes. I had an engineer who left the company and created a LinkedIn account. He listed his professional experience during the period he worked with me. He had help writing his experience - It was so over the top, having never meeting him, his experience level was impressive - I would hire him - but I knew better.

The English language is full of adjectives that can describe an event, place or thing. It all subject to interpretation and more recently tolerance level. And all of us have a different line in which it becomes unacceptable.

From embellishment, story telling, exaggeration, white lie, lie, to pants on fire, there is no set standard. It does become a problem when ethics are compromised or someone's life becomes at risk.

Yes the world has changed - you didn't miss it, neither did I. We become numb to it.

[GH85Carrera]

I always felt left out, because I never had a resume, but I was never looking for another job. I did build a Linked in page when I started my company in case someone wanted to check me out. Mostly I get spam from that, and I hear it is rather hard to kill a Linked in profile.

[KFC911]

For some reason I joined LinkedIn when another Pelican posted about it decades ago .... I knew I would never need/use it tho' When I realized what I had done .... I tried to delete my account, but it wasn't easy back then.

So I became a rancher named Hoss instead .... the spam has ceased years ago too!

As soon as I joined, a headhunter who placed me in a job as a youngin' down in FL 20 years earlier contacted me .... he remembered me too .