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How do you feel about padding (lying) on your CV/Resumé

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R

Rubbish King

The gift that keeps on giving
Hey GAF,

So I'm unemployed (Have been for a few months) and I'm just wondering who does this?

After discussing with a few people about the saying

uncaptioned-dLIBR2Y-51004f83487a9.jpeg


So after this discussion, it became apparent that it's a pretty usual thing to tell a few "White Lies" to make yourself stand out from the crowd..

What do you think?
Can I assume that other people will be doing it?
Therefore, will being honest is actually decreasing my chance of employment?

Hypothetical Scenario

You're applying for a Bar Job, you have no experience but you can pour a pint and you spend enough time at a bar to know your way around it.

Do you:

A - Lie, Say you used to help out in a friends bar every once in a while when it got busy, maybe say you took a short course in bar-tending and watch some youtube videos to back that up

or

B - Tell the truth and admit to having no experience but try really hard to sell yourself as a person in the covering letter


Then if you did get the job from lying...would you feel guilty that you might have fucked over somebody who legitimately deserved the job more than you?


TLDR: I think by not lying on a CV, I am screwing myself over, but I cant lie as I think it's wrong

EDIT: Just to clarify, I'm not considering this, I'm just curious...and im seeing if i can learn anything to help me, an un-employed youth, get a god damn job

Tashbrooke said:
I'm not really talking about big career paths and such, in this climate younger people (like me) have to take anything, it's not a case of "Oh I'm really good in a particular field, I'll go for that"
When you havent had much of a chance to work and everywhere you look needs experience to a certain degree and all you've got to your name is "high school education" as yanks would call it.

When you're applying for things from industrial work to cleaning jobs to bar work there is not a lot you can use to separate yourself from the crowd. In Nottingham a new branch of Costa Coffee recently received 1,700 applications for just eight positions That is how fucking shitty it is trying to find work at the moment.. You have to wonder how many of those applications were honest, how many people slightly bended the truth and how many were lying flat out.
Click to expand...
 
Can you do the job that you are applying to?

If your answer is:

- Yes, of course I can.
Congratulations, lie in your resumé, you'll get the job and no one will care.

But if your answer is:

- No, I can't.
Then don't lie.
 
These things can come back to bite you in the ass, my cousin and his wife both just lost their jobs because one lied on their CV and the other covered up for them. (They both worked at the same firm).
 
Never. I have a hard time listing my skills because I have ridiculous standards for myself. It's probably hurting me in the short run, but I'm not aiming low.
 
MrChocolate said:
Can you do the job that you are applying to?

If your answer is:

- Yes, of course I can.
Congratulations, lie in your resumé, you'll get the job and no one will care.

But if your answer is:

- No, I can't.
Then don't lie.
Click to expand...

Okay, but what if lying about experience was the reason you got the job instead of someone who was in the same boat as you, but didnt have the conscience to lie
 
Tashbrooke said:
Okay, but what if lying about experience was the reason you got the job instead of someone who was in the same boat as you, but didnt have the conscience to lie
Click to expand...


What's more important to you?

Being the best in what you do, but for A, B, or C reason couldn't get a diploma to prove it?
Or just being an average guy that has a diploma?

(This is just an example)
 
Tashbrooke said:
Okay, but what if lying about experience was the reason you got the job instead of someone who was in the same boat as you, but didnt have the conscience to lie
Click to expand...
what if cheating on that test got you an A instead of a C? What if lying about your life got that hot chick from work to go out with you? What if lying on your tax return saved you tens of thousands of dollars? Where does all of this end?
 
Way to ruin a career. Because something like that will follow you.

it's almost as easy to just take a quick bartending course...er...online, as it is to lie about having done so.
 
You don't lie... but you can make past experience(s) sound better/more significant than they actually are.
 
I'm a recruiter and we see and catch people everyday doing this.

True story; I recruited a girl from a major pharma company to come work for a smaller pharma company. On her resume she listed 4 or 5 great jobs over the past 12 years. She interviewed with me, the hiring manager, her team and eventually got an offer. On the day before she was supposed to start, our coordinator realized that the background check company could not verify 2 of her jobs. We asked her for verification (pay stub, tax form, anything at all) and we had to recisnd the offer. She was now out of two jobs, the one she had and the new one.

Second true story. Similar to the above but the girl faked her experience level. She got the job, started the job, was there for 3 or 4 months, and was then fired when we hired her former manager who then told us that she was a low level employee in her previous position.

Don't lie. You will get caught
 
If you are making up a completely new experience, then definitely no.

If you are making a past experience seem a bit more in-depth & awesome than it was, well, you just discovered the magical resumé secret.
 
I think there's a difference between padding and lying (unless something hasnt translated to UK speak correctly).

Padding is ok (the act of trying to take up more room with waffle/disposable text etc).

Lying - morally it isnt acceptable, however if you do it, prepared to be in a tricky position during the interview, and after if you are successful in your employment process. You will likely be dismissed soon after employment, especially if you are in a probation phase if you are caught out.
 
Depends what you mean by lying, embellishing your responsibilities isn't too henious of a crime if you can talk the talk. IMO.
 
BGBW said:
Is it a lie to list GAF under hobbies and interests as "debating society"?
Click to expand...
No, uuuhhh "One of my hobbies include being part of an exclusive online debating team" I should totally put that.. :P
MrChocolate said:
What's more important to you?

Being the best in what you do, but for A, B, or C reason couldn't get a diploma to prove it?
Or just being an average guy that has a diploma?
(This is just an example)
Click to expand...
How do you know you're the best? How do you know there is not somebody else who thinks they are the best but legit went to ends of the earth to get these credentials to prove their worth.
HalfBakedProphet said:
what if cheating on that test got you an A instead of a C? What if lying about your life got that hot chick from work to go out with you? What if lying on your tax return saved you tens of thousands of dollars? Where does all of this end?
Click to expand...

That's deep man..that's deep
 
Tashbrooke said:
How do you know you're the best? How do you know there is not somebody else who thinks they are the best but legit went to ends of the earth to get these credentials to prove their worth.
Click to expand...

Because I know I can do the job better than most on my field. That's why. If you don't think you aren't even qualified, why would you even bother applying to a job?

Be confident. Think of the resumé just as a tool to open your way in your new job.
The most important thing, is that you stay in your job proving being useful.
 
Some people say that pretty much everyone lies, and that that's how they and all their friends got their awesome jobs, and that employers don't really check your history and references anyway, and so on. Other people say you should never ever lie on your resume because it's more than likely you'll be found out, and then you'll have killed your chances of being hired anywhere worthwhile. There are a lot of mixed messages in circulation. Personally, I've never padded my resume.
 
Never lie. You can fluff up your resume thought long as it's truthful.

Example. I have a associates degree from a technical college but I have various certifications from a few universities. I'll put those certifications under the education portion of my resume rather than give them the typical bottom of the page spot for awards and certifications.
 
Well... from my experience, I can only tell you one thing:

You can enhance and fluff the description of your skills and experience, but do not lie about your skills. I repeat. Do not lie about your skills.

I have a job now, but before I got the job, I had an interview with another company. They asked me if I had experience in Adobe FrameMaker (I'm a graphic designer) and I said Yes. And in that moment, they took me to this office and they asked me to show them the basics of this software. Well... it was embarrassing because I never used it before.

But I got a nice save... I told them: "oh, sorry... I got confused... I thought you meant Adobe PageMaker."

But as a personal goal, now I'm an Adobe FrameMaker expert.
 
Dude, don't even divide 'padding' and 'lying' by parentheses like they're the same thing. Everyone fluffs up their resume to make the truth sound cooler than it is. That's not the same as just stating things that are totally false.

And I've never been a bartender, but something tells me there's going to be a super-obvious difference between a guy who's helped out in a friend's bar (when it's busy, no less) and a guy who's…been to bars. So this hypothetical applicant is going to have his lie outed on night one.
 
Lying about your resumé is enough to warrant sacking on the spot + legal action taken against you.
DON'T DO THIS
 
Yep, don't do it. And especially don't drag other people into your lies. I had a friend pull that shit on me with fake references, not cool.
 
I worked under the table for 3 years, and after I quit my boss was arrested for tax evasion and some other stuff and is still in prison.

That section of my resume is definitely fluffed to hell and back because the one reference I'd have for it is in fucking prison.

Changed job from "college kid who sat at an empty office goofing off for 7 hours and doing paperwork for 1" to "basically ran this guys business from top to bottom but I was a dumb college kid and didn't think of the legal implications of what was asked of me".

Everytime it has been brought up in interviews the interviewer seems impressed with the situation.


So basically only lie if there isn't any scenario possible where someone can catch you in the lie.
 
I don't lie on resumes/cvs because it's exactly the sort of thing that will come back to bite you in the ass.

That said, I will be purposely vague to make experience look better. For instance, I have had a lot of contract positions, often lasting 3-12 months. If I was at a job from Oct 2008 to Feb 2009, I will list it as 2008-2009 on my resume. Not lying (and if they inquire further, I can back it up), but it looks a lot better than making it immediately apparent that I was only in the position for 4 months.
 
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