Is it right or acceptable to lie/exaggerate on your CV?

[MenInG]

We are told to put our best foot forward on CVs but where does one draw the line?

So for example, "I was a key player in this project" vs "I was one of the team members in the project team"

And then there are outright lies hoping that the reader won't confirm!

 

[MenInG]

Newly elected Republican congressman George Santos has apologised after admitting he lied about his education and work experience.

Mr Santos, who was elected in New York, told the New York Post: "My sins here are embellishing my resume. I'm sorry."

He insisted he was "not a criminal" and said that the controversy would not deter him from serving his two-year term in Congress.

The allegation was first made in a New York Times report last week.

At the time, a lawyer for Mr Santos hit back at the claims that he misrepresented where he went to college and his alleged employment history, describing them as "defamatory" and a "shotgun blast of attacks".

He said during his campaign that he had worked at high-profile Wall Street firms Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

But Mr Santos told the New York Post he had "never worked directly" for either firm, admitting it was a "poor choice of words".

The 34-year-old said he actually worked at a company called Link Bridge, as a vice-president, where he did business with both of the financial giants.

He also admitted that he did not go to college, despite previously claiming to have received a degree from New York City's Baruch College in 2010.

"I didn't graduate from any institution of higher learning. I'm embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume," he said. "I own up to that… We do stupid things in life."

Mr Santos, who was elected to Congress on 8 November to represent part of Long Island and Queens, took a seat from the Democrats as the Republicans triumphed overall with a slim majority in the House of Representatives, Congress's lower chamber.

His Democratic opponent, Robert Zimmerman, tweeted that Mr Santos had admitted to being a liar and said he must be held accountable by the Department of Justice for his actions.

In a separate tweet he also suggested that Mr Santos should "resign and run against me in a special election" and "face the voters with your real past".

Mr Santos told the New York Post: "I campaigned talking about the people's concerns, not my resume... I intend to deliver on the promises I made during the campaign."

As things stand, he is set to be sworn in on 3 January, along with the rest of the incoming class of Congress.

BBC

 

[Yossarian]

If you lie on your CV, at some stage, it will inevitable come to light. Then you will pay a high price. You may have been a wonderful employee in the meantime, but once your honesty is destroyed, it will never be recovered. Word get around.

I've worked in many industries, and in many different countries. It's amazing how you come across individuals working on a project in the same company as yourself, and you find that you also knew of them working on a project for another company in another country that you also worked on (even if maybe not at the same time).

 

[SpiritOf1903]

Is this an episode of Industry?

 

[sweep_shot]

There is a difference between a lie and an exaggeration.

Lying is plain wrong. It is a sin and nobody should do it.

Regarding exaggeration, it is a bit more subjective. You are competing against many other applicants; you need to stand out and make yourself look good. I think it is kind of okay provided you are not saying blatantly false things.

 

[sweep_shot]

Let's say my resume has Java mentioned. If I say my Java skills are intermediate, it's neither right nor wrong. It is because these classifications (beginner, intermediate, advanced etc.) are subjective.

It would be wrong though if I mention I know Java even though I don't know anything about it.

 

[Major]

brother I was very honest on my resume for 2 years, and i couldn't land a job. Gave honest interviews about what I was looking for and all. My peers who had done terribly academically at Uni landed jobs real quick. I had done very well academically at my Uni, yet being honest didn't help me.

Had to lie on my resume after getting fed up and depressed with rejections and finally landed a decent enough job......

I dont know about other countries, but the issue in Pakistan is that most companies here are just start ups. You dont really have experienced people taking interviews, its just 23-26 year old kids who are made HR associates and heads and end up deciding your career which is just ridiculous.

I have been asked many stupid questions by so called HR representatives or 25 year old wannabe ceos and directors.....

Anyways I keep on applying for top corporate sectors, but not able to even land an interview, lol. I want to have a career in marketing where I can go towards branding..... oh well, I can already see life not gonna turn out to be perfect for me.

Would had loved to have a career in Cricket marketing. It sucks that even our PSL teams look to hire from Karachi or Lahore. No cricket jobs or cricket marketing jobs in Islamabad/Rawalpindi . Should had tried my hands on journalism and became a cricket writer and enjoyed the access to press boxes :').

Getting paid to watch cricket, what a life that could had been

 

[Mamoon]

We often hear about “lying” on CV but it is not black & white as some people make it seem to be.

Firstly, a CV is an advertisement of your best self & not really a 100% accurate depiction of your skills & capabilities.

Of course you cannot mention a degree that you do not have or mention a school that you did not go to. That is clear fraud, but I am referring to your skills & expertise.

Most companies are not 100% clear on their job descriptions either. More often than not, the actual work that you do is going to be somewhat different & in most cases more than what is mentioned on the job description.

As a result, if companies cannot be 100% honest about the job the employees will not be 100% honest about their skills & expertise.

You will not be equally adept at every skill that you mentioned on your CV & quite a few of them would be outdated to. Employers are aware of this & they will not test you on each & every skill that you mentioned during your interview process.

The number of applicants are always going to be high & recruiters will not go through each & every CV. The key is make yourself standout from the rest in a good way.

There is a bad way too - a CV with spelling mistakes/typos etc. is almost guaranteed to cost you the job because anyone who cannot even proofread a CV is clearly not responsible or committed enough to work.

It is not mandatory in most professions but I think a picture on a CV leaves a really strong impression & shows a lot of confidence.

 

[KingKhanWC]

If you lie about qualifications or experience, its very wrong. Esp if its for a job where safety of others can come into play in this regard.

If you exaggerate your personality, hobbies etc, no issue imo.

 

[ElRaja]

my favourite random cv story is of someone who put down attention to detail as a competency but typo'd "diary planning" for "dairy planning".

 

[James]

Always tell the truth.

Don’t want it to come back at you in future.

 

[topspin]

If we're talking about hard facts, so for example grades, name of the role, name of employer and etc, you can't lie about that.

As for the rest, I agree with Mamoon it's not black and white because the idea is you have to sell yourself and convince the firm that you're the right fit for the role.

But at the same time, if you attempt to oversell yourself about your skills, you have to be prepared to showcase whether you can demonstrate and this can bite you.

 

[msb314]

Agree with some folks here that it is okay to exaggerate your resume to “sell” yourself but outright lying is not okay

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Most hiring managers are trained to see through the ** so it doesn't make a difference at all.

When assessing a CV its quite easy to see if someones skills tie in with their experience and education.

In terms of embellishment of CVs here are my two bits of advice (for graduates)

1. Get into a well known university. If you are unable to at undergad then do it for post grad. Russell Group Universities in the UK for example add a lot of prestige to your CV.

2. Try and secure some big brand companies early on in your career. You can legitimately piggy back off these for most of your career.

These two things can open up a lot of doors, and legitimately make your CV stand out. People will automatically assume you are good based on the 'brands' you are associated with.

 

[Savak]

I once exaggerated on my CV for a job 6 years ago for a junior staff accounting position. I was under the impression that the small firm would be patient with me and allow me some space in the first few months in terms of training, understanding their processes, files, clients but sadly nope, they on the contrary expected me to perform up to the level of a seasoned professional with 3 plus years of experience from the get go where I would require zero training, hand holding and could be up and running from day one.

I struggled badly and they got really frustrated with me within a week and I had to bear daily taunts from them ie you lied to us, you misled us, you oversold yourself to us on your resume etc.

Eventually by the end of the second week I had enough and fired back at them that you ******** also lied to me about the job and what your expectations were, you are demanding the output and performance of someone who has 3-4 years of experience, who is worth $60,000 in market terms but you want to hire a very junior person and pay him $38,000 instead. I didn't lie to you about anything, my resume was very clear about my experience.

I was very happy that I got out of that environment and six years on having experienced numerous employers I can tell people not to let a bad experience at one employer demoralize you. At the time I was very upset, demoralized and thought about giving up accounting as a career after this nasty experience but I have had many good employers some of whom are way much bigger then that crappy firm where they allow you some space and opportunity to catch up and don't demand perfect performance from day one.

My advice to people is that you do everything you can to sell yourself on your resume, in fact go a step ahead to over sell yourself because the resume is the first selling point you have towards an employer, the competition is immense, you are competing against thousands and thousands of applicants for that one job, therefore you have to stand out by hook or crook, it's a highly competitive world, do not sell yourself short by any means on that document.

However once you get to the interview stage, you then have to assess from the interview and the job description as to what their expectations are, what kind of people are they, do you get any hints that they will demand high expectations from you from the get go where you have to perform perfectly from day one or will they give you some breathing space early on, what is the work environment like, if you get the feeling it's a good chilled company with a good work environment then relax and accept the job without revealing too much and make the most of the opportunity early on to showcase your work. However if you get hints that they have massive expectations then you should gently reveal the truth about your experience, what you actually know, don't know but you have shown in the past you are a fast learner etc.

 

[Technics 1210]

No, it is not worth it.

In my field, every successful candidate is then vetted and screened. Birth place, address, education, previous employments, references, HMRC records, Passport, VISA status, criminal record, a proper DBS check too.

 

[rickroll]

my favourite random cv story is of someone who put down attention to detail as a competency but typo'd "diary planning" for "dairy planning".

Man this is hilarious!

 

[PakLFC]

Jobs are also exaggerated as well when advertised. The description of an office job seems to be as if a genius is needed! A bit of exaggeration is okay otherwise it sounds as if the CV is of a pessimist. Most people are okay a few weeks after they start a new job.

 

[Cricket-lion]

You have to sell yourself on your CV as you are competing with many other people. However, never lie about technical or linguistic skills as you will swiftly get found out.

With most opportunities, you can learn on the job and it comes down to diplomacy. Always make the right friends who can support you when you need it.

Once you get a few years experience in the field, you do not need to exaggerate your CV.

 

[Yossarian]

If we're talking about hard facts, so for example grades, name of the role, name of employer and etc, you can't lie about that.

As for the rest, I agree with Mamoon it's not black and white because the idea is you have to sell yourself and convince the firm that you're the right fit for the role.

But at the same time, if you attempt to oversell yourself about your skills, you have to be prepared to showcase whether you can demonstrate and this can bite you.

It's not the HR initial recruiter that's going to catch you out. 99% of the time they don't have much clue about the job either.

But, it's when it gets to the stage where a 'professional', eg your future Dept Head or Line Manager, gets involved that you're likely to get caught out. They're the ones who's going to probe. And they're the ones who'll be working with you day-to-day. If they ever ask you to do a task, which they've just remembered you told them in the interview you have experience of, but it's something that you've exaggerated, then you're done for.

You can probably get away with it in the medical field, but not in the technical or IT fields, or project management.

 

[MenInG]

Newly elected Republican congressman George Santos has apologised after admitting he lied about his education and work experience.

Mr Santos, who was elected in New York, told the New York Post: "My sins here are embellishing my resume. I'm sorry."

He insisted he was "not a criminal" and said that the controversy would not deter him from serving his two-year term in Congress.

The allegation was first made in a New York Times report last week.

At the time, a lawyer for Mr Santos hit back at the claims that he misrepresented where he went to college and his alleged employment history, describing them as "defamatory" and a "shotgun blast of attacks".

He said during his campaign that he had worked at high-profile Wall Street firms Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

But Mr Santos told the New York Post he had "never worked directly" for either firm, admitting it was a "poor choice of words".

The 34-year-old said he actually worked at a company called Link Bridge, as a vice-president, where he did business with both of the financial giants.

He also admitted that he did not go to college, despite previously claiming to have received a degree from New York City's Baruch College in 2010.

"I didn't graduate from any institution of higher learning. I'm embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume," he said. "I own up to that… We do stupid things in life."

Mr Santos, who was elected to Congress on 8 November to represent part of Long Island and Queens, took a seat from the Democrats as the Republicans triumphed overall with a slim majority in the House of Representatives, Congress's lower chamber.

His Democratic opponent, Robert Zimmerman, tweeted that Mr Santos had admitted to being a liar and said he must be held accountable by the Department of Justice for his actions.

In a separate tweet he also suggested that Mr Santos should "resign and run against me in a special election" and "face the voters with your real past".

Mr Santos told the New York Post: "I campaigned talking about the people's concerns, not my resume... I intend to deliver on the promises I made during the campaign."

As things stand, he is set to be sworn in on 3 January, along with the rest of the incoming class of Congress.

BBC

Has other problems too:

The 34-year-old US politician has been charged on 13 counts including seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, according to the Justice Department.

Santos, who has resisted calls to resign for lying about his resume, was arrested ahead of an expected court appearance in New York.

He is due to appear in court at 1pm local time, where the charges against him will be read.

The indictment charges Santos with defrauding prospective political supporters by laundering funds to pay for his personal expenses and illegally receiving unemployment benefits while he was employed.

He is also accused of making false statements to the House of Representatives about his assets, income and liabilities.

The Justice Department said that if convicted, Santos would face up to 20 years in prison for the top counts.

SKY

 

[sweep_shot]

Has other problems too:

The 34-year-old US politician has been charged on 13 counts including seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, according to the Justice Department.

Santos, who has resisted calls to resign for lying about his resume, was arrested ahead of an expected court appearance in New York.

He is due to appear in court at 1pm local time, where the charges against him will be read.

The indictment charges Santos with defrauding prospective political supporters by laundering funds to pay for his personal expenses and illegally receiving unemployment benefits while he was employed.

He is also accused of making false statements to the House of Representatives about his assets, income and liabilities.

The Justice Department said that if convicted, Santos would face up to 20 years in prison for the top counts.

SKY

Good.

Blatantly fraudulent activities. Definitely deserves a heavy fine (if not imprisonment).