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Lying on your CV

  • 23-01-2012 02:37PM
    #1
    fryup
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,067 ✭✭✭✭fryup


    Have you done it??

    Given yourself a higher grade in an exam, lied about previous jobs and positions you held, lied about certain skills you have, put down mates as referees etc etc

    so did you do it and more importantly have you ever been caught out ..if so what were the consequences??


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Comments

  • #2
    davet82
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,753 ✭✭✭davet82


    fryup wrote: »
    Have you done it??

    so did you do it and more importantly have you ever been caught out ..if so what were the consequences??


    Yup i got caught alright, when i couldnt start the aeroplane i knew the gig was up ;)


  • #3
    Kiith
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 23,467 Mod ✭✭✭✭Kiith


    I swear, I did invent the lighbulb.


  • #4
    Shenshen
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭Shenshen


    fryup wrote: »
    Have you done it??

    Given yourself a higher grade in an exam, lied about previous jobs and positions you held, lied about certain skills you have, put down mates as referees etc etc

    so did you do it and more importantly have you ever been caught out ..if so what were the consequences??

    I wouldn't call it lying as such... but I have polished the truth up a good bit on occasion.
    I never claimed to have worked in a position I haven't, and I never lied about exam grades, but I have over-stated previous responsibilities, for example.

    The result? I got the job. Still got it 4 years on.:D


  • #5
    Feisar
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,943 ✭✭✭Feisar


    I never needed to.

    My experience and network contacts have got me all the jobs I've had.

    First they came for the socialists...



  • #6
    jester77
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,264 ✭✭✭✭jester77


    It doesn't take long in an interview to figure out if something is BS and at that stage the rest of the CV holds no merit.


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  • #7
    steve9859
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,554 ✭✭✭steve9859


    I have embellished very heavily in the past, but when I decided to move to London, and started applying for jobs, I was advised to not lie at all, and be pretty truthful about extra curricular stuff, as everything is checked. I wouldnt have done anyway, as my experience now speaks for itself.

    But the fact is that the advice was spot on. I couldn't believe the hard evidence that I had to supply to prove exam grades, extra curricular achievements, a reference for every job on my CV. Even had to prove that I was unemployed and looking for work during a gap in the CV by submitting job-hunting emails and screenshots from job search websites with application confirmations. OK, it was a big London company withj a well resourced HR team, but haveing spoken to some recruitement firms, it appears that it is now commonplace

    Plus of course internet searches that I have no doubt that the employer did. Long story short - you cant lie any more and get away with it - at least not in London. A bit of embellishment (eg. You had direct reports of 8 when it was actually only 4) would go unnoticed. But saying that you had direct reports when you didnt have any would get found out.


  • #8
    Alessandro Raspy Weirdo
    Posts: 81,310 CMod ✭✭✭✭ Alessandro Raspy Weirdo


    Never have embellished, i have enough stuff on there


  • #9
    Sleepy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,584 ✭✭✭✭Sleepy


    I've never actually needed to... I've a decent degree & post-grad, good skills and experience and that's generally done me fine when I'm job-hunting.


  • #10
    mikemac1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,395 ✭✭✭✭mikemac1


    It's how lots of barmen, me anyway got their first job

    Of course I've experience, here ring my reference

    Which is a friend in London on a mobile phone


  • #11
    I Heart Internet
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,678 ✭✭✭I Heart Internet


    Never lie on your cv. It'll put you on the defensive at any interview. Do embellish and expand upon your experience though. Best advice I've got (from an employer) is that you should always blush when you read your own cv - but don't tell lies.


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  • #12
    ejmaztec
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,278 ✭✭✭✭ejmaztec


    davet82 wrote: »
    Yup i got caught alright, when i couldnt start the aeroplane i knew the gig was up ;)

    I got caught out when I was asked to perform an appendectomy, and looked a right tit when I sawed off the top of a patient's skull to scoop the brain out.

    I tried to make a run for it, and they then realised that I couldn't possibly have won a gold medal in the the 10,000 metre race at the 2008 Olympics.

    Fuckin embarrassing it was.


  • #13
    Micky Dolenz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 44,079 ✭✭✭✭Micky Dolenz


    Yeah, I'm not really a gynaecologist.

    Sucka's.


  • #14
    John Doe1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,921 ✭✭✭John Doe1


    I put down pierluigi collina as a referee, it was technically correct










    this may not be true


  • #15
    Sleepy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,584 ✭✭✭✭Sleepy


    mikemac1 wrote: »
    It's how lots of barmen, me anyway got their first job

    Of course I've experience, here ring my reference

    Which is a friend in London on a mobile phone
    Oh, hands up, I did that back in the day. "Yeah, I've worked in the college bar, course I know how to pull a pint".

    I had worked in the college bar, that much was true but it was as floor staff and the only pints I ever pulled there were my own at the end of a shift.


  • #16
    fryup
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,067 ✭✭✭✭fryup


    seemingly it happens in the best of places :pac:


  • #17
    Mike 1972
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,018 ✭✭✭Mike 1972


    Youd be a bit of an idiot to lie about exam results but not as big as an idiot as the employer who doesnt insist on seeing your certs (Ive always been amazed at how few actually do).

    Its people lying on CV's that are responsible for this damnable trend towards employers only accepting application forms. One can be sued if they are caught out lying on an appliction form but not on a CV.


  • #18
    Hasmunch
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 939 ✭✭✭Hasmunch


    Domo230 wrote: »
    Im working on a dumbed down CV at the moment as I believe many of the places I am applying for view me as overqualified.

    Now where's my box of crayons.

    Make sure to colour outside the lines, that'll get you the job!!


  • #19
    Hasmunch
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 939 ✭✭✭Hasmunch


    Domo230 wrote: »
    You'd think so but many employers are looking for people who can think outside the lines.


    Employees are allowed to think for themselves... never heard (or thought as a matter of fact) of that before.


  • #20
    quietriot
    Closed Accounts Posts: 347 ✭✭quietriot


    I've no outright lies on my CV and think it's pretty pathetic when people make up complete lies to put on it. It just stinks of insecurity and a bad personal image. You have to make the most of what you have and can do so with a well laid out and well written document.

    If you find yourself making up stuff for your CV, you should be asking yourself what you can do to enrich your life/gain experiences to talk/brag about, rather than asking how you can fool others into taking on what you clearly to believe yourself to be a sub-par employee.


  • #21
    Mike 1972
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,018 ✭✭✭Mike 1972


    Mike 1972 wrote: »
    Youd be a bit of an idiot to lie about exam results.

    If one is going to lie on their CV then its better to lie about your level of experience since its what employers are looking for anyway. If one or more of your former employers (actual or completly fictitious) are no longer in business its a good place to exxagurate/completly fabricate stuff that is very difficult for a prospective employer to verify (unless there is someone else who worked there that they know particularly well) plus theres going to be less awkward questions about your reason for leaving since it will be reasonably assumed that you were made redudant or saw the writing on the wall. Dont have ALL of your previous experience in failed companies though or your prospective employer might start to see the common factor in this litanny of disaster.

    Dont completly overdo it though or you run the danger of winding up in a job which you are completly incapable of achieving even a barely passable level of performance leading to weeks/months of hell followed by humiliation and ultimately the need to update your CV with even more porkies.

    And dont bother with the aul shyte about leading your school/college debating team everyone puts that on their CV and every employer knows its complete ballix.


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  • #22
    old_aussie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,409 ✭✭✭old_aussie


    My entire CV is a lie, but I got the job.


  • #23
    cosanostra
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 888 ✭✭✭cosanostra


    Yeah got the job but was found out when i couldn't take a pulse http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=19508


  • #24
    JuliusCaesar
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,887 ✭✭✭JuliusCaesar


    fryup wrote: »
    seemingly it happens in the best of places :pac:

    And in the highest of places....

    but how hard the fall!


  • #25
    mikemac1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,395 ✭✭✭✭mikemac1


    So anyway, was Bertie realy a chartered accountant?


  • #26
    Mickey H
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,822 ✭✭✭Mickey H


    mikemac1 wrote: »
    So anyway, was Bertie realy a chartered accountant?

    He was in his ar5e.


  • #27
    Kevin Duffy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,439 ✭✭✭Kevin Duffy


    mikemac1 wrote: »
    So anyway, was Bertie realy a chartered accountant?

    More of a Creative Accountant.


  • #28
    Da Shins Kelly
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,047 ✭✭✭Da Shins Kelly


    No, I haven't lied, just embellished. I know a few people who have outright lied on theirs and gotten away with it.


  • #29
    Jim_Kiy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 482 ✭✭Jim_Kiy


    I have lied a few times during interview concerning a stint with a company would didnt care for my bohemin attitudes..I was sacked after an email sting uncovered 'pornographic' material(jokes) in my inbox.The fact that these emails where in everyone inboxes was not deemed too important.Anyway my line is 'it was unchallenging' and luckly enough I got a job start after so there is no gap.
    I mean what the alternative tell the truth and never work again?
    :pac:


  • #30
    Eve_Dublin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,884 ✭✭✭Eve_Dublin


    Back in Ireland, I upgraded all my LC results to honours level (more for myself though...and now I've kind of convinced myself I did better than I did!) and my year in South America was changed to a full year of volunteering (I did 4 months though, so I could provide referees and stuff). And I stick on a few hobbies I gave up years ago.

    When I moved here, I had to prove I had some teaching experience so I put town China. Turns out the chick who intervied me had taught in the same city I put down. I looked like a right muggins and she knew right well, so just told her, "Listen, that's rubbish, I didn't teach in China. I'll see you later" and got up and left.

    Don't think I'll ever be applying for any kind of fancy-pants job in my lifetime, so no real need to lie too much.


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  • #31
    stovelid
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,252 ✭✭✭✭stovelid


    Don't need to now.

    The trick is just to foreground and embellish certain things to match requirements but not to actually lie.


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