82
dooter
3y

PEOPLE. DO NOT LIE ON YOUR RESUME. IT. IS. NOT. WORTH. IT. Ok, backstory.

We had a guy apply for this position at work. It really needed to be filled but also required someone with just the right certifications, so hiring the first schmuck to come along Was not an option.

We search high and low and as time passes without an acceptable applicant we become more desperate and open to negotiation. Basically, you name your price, we’ll agree to it at this point.

So finally a guy comes in, got everything we need but one minor certification. No problem. He can get that on the job, he doesn’t need it to start. He’s hired.

So he quotes us a salary 10% above our top range of what we’d usually pay a guy for this position, we don’t care. He gets it. Plus a housing allowance.

So we’re getting him registered with a place to handle his certification process and they call his four year institution to verify his transcript. We work with hazardous materials and a four year degree in a relevant field is required. It’s standard for the certification training institution to check. Especially when it’s a prestigious big name place like this guy had. And here I used to think that was paranoid of them.

They call and tell us the school says they have no record of him. We do some digging. He was never registered there. I’m like “that’s not possible, his professor is a listed reference. We call that reference.

He worked on a project with this man, he never taught him. Is very fascinated to learn this man has been presenting himself as though he attended the university. Asks to be delisted as a reference.

So long story short it comes out this guy did have a degree in this field, just from a less prestigious university.

The insane thing is, he would’ve still gotten the same job and salary package if he’d been honest about his university!

It is a loss for all involved. He doesn’t have a job. We don’t have anyone working in this position. It’s really unfortunate. Don’t lie on your resume people. Your employer will find out and the risks are not worth the benefits.

Comments
  • 22
    Well that's a concrete and easily disprovable lie, but I'd still lie about my expertise and positions.

    "Have you ever done database maintainance?"
    "Of course, all those VACUUM and outdated rows"

    "How's your C?"
    "I write it fluently"
  • 19
    Then tell managers to stop spitting out job listings that include every possible requirement under the sun for simple positions.

    Maybe people wouldn't get used to lying on their resumés if it wasn't the only possible way to not get your job applications deleted on the spot by some ignorant HR person.
  • 4
    @theKarlisK I think it's a requirement there. At least 4 claims you can't prove.
  • 1
    What is a resume? I just come and start talking.
  • 10
    There's a difference between exaggerating and downright lying, and there's a difference between downright lying and downright *stupid* lying.

    Faking your university - ok, I can kind of see that you may not expect anyone to check that, and perhaps you've been looked over in the past because of it. A downright lie, but not entirely stupid.

    Faking a reference though?! Damn, references are the one thing a company nearly always follows up on! If you're stupid enough to list someone there who's never heard of you and think you can get away with it, that doesn't say much about your ability to make other common sense decisions - even looking past the deception.
  • 5
    Honest questions here, given that I am not American:
    It sounds like he thinks he'd get a better chance if he was from some high-ranking university. Is that really the case in the US?

    If it were me hiring, I'd look more at the scores he got during University, than what university he attended. Surely whatever tests or course he took would be the same as any other university?

    That being said - either case - never lie on the resume. If it's not caught during the interview process, surely it will be caught during the job.
  • 2
    @TudiKovin

    Scores don't matter either. I know plenty of people (former classmates) that got much better grades than I did and I know for a fact they cheated on those tests...

    Nah, what really matters is how the person is and how he thinks. A resume or a reference is just good for first impressions so you can maybe sort he applicants by some measure and priority. But ultimately you should go down the list until you hit someone that "feels" good when talking to.
  • 1
    @Hazarth I was kinda wondering why he would lie about the university. He does have the actual degree but dit he not get hired a few times because it was thought to hold no value by hiring managers?

    Weird lie...
  • 1
    This is the game, someone started same no one can back out:

    Companies lie about working conditions, salary, trainings and other circumstances. But they ask for the most honest people with no expectations whatsoever.
    People lie in their CV, their knowledge on certain topics and so on...

    I would love to be honest, but I'm afraid we will never get to this point again (if we ever were)
  • 0
    I red this like a linkedin recruiter post lmao
  • 0
    Why yes, I do have 10 years of industry experience with Typescript!
  • 1
    @theKarlisK USA presidential resume:
    I know geography
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