Do people who lie to get a job usually get their comeuppance?

[TaleOfTheContinents]

A woman in my department recently moved to a new company and lied quite significantly about her past experience and her duties in my team to get the new job.

It really bugs me! I think it's the thought of someone getting a job through deception, and cheating someone else more deserving out of the position. It's also partially the frustration of knowing that being an honest/highly competent/hard working person in the corporate world won't get me as far as being someone who's willing to bluff or lie their way into a better position.

So, do you know of someone who got their comeuppance after lying their way into a job? Or is it a reality of the working world that those who take the moral high ground will never go as far as those who bluff their way to the top?

[HennyPennyHorror]

I'm a freelancer. I occasionally embroider in order to get a contract. I only do it when I know I am capable of doing the work well.

For example, I told one client I was familiar with WordPress. I wasn't. But I learned how to manage it within a day.

Had the job entailed complex management of the website, I wouldn't have lied. But it didn't.

[ilovesooty]

Someone I taught with was sacked and had to leave teaching and so was the person who acted as a referee.

[marathonrunner2019]

I worked with someone who went to prison for lying on his CV.

[Pinkruler]

Certainly not always. I know someone who made up experience to get a job - they had a long successful career on the back of it. Also know someone who made up O and A levels having left school with none - got a job off the back of that, kept working in that sector until retirement.

When Simon mayo had celebs on his confessions slot most of them admitted to lying to get their 1st break.

[SingleMumFighting]

I know a couple of people that lied on their cvs. They said they got 2:1 degrees when they have a 2:2 class. They have good careers and were never found out. The lies enabled them to get their first jobs.

[havingtochangeusernameagain]

went to prison for lying on his CV

seriously? I presume that was in a regulated industry?

[RussellSprout]

It wholly depends on the lie and how easy it is to dispute it
.
'I led a project' rather than 'I supported a project'.. probably not.

I have a first class honours degree in engineering as opposed to didn't pass maths a level - probably.

[Judashascomeintosomemoney]

So, do you know of someone who got their comeuppance after lying their way into a job?
Yes. Sorry bit difficult to be too specific because quite a lot of people know about this in the particular industry it relates to. DH is pretty high up in a company that was recently bought by a venture capitalist. There was a vacancy for someone to do a parallel role to him (same job, different product). DH knew the guy they went with from a previous job and wondered why they’d employed him as he wasn’t really the best fit. Turned out they went with him because of a rather big lie he told on his CV. The lie related to something he had supposedly achieved (in his personal, not professional life) that would have meant he was a great bit of publicity for the company, the venture capitalists liked this idea (more fool them). Only, he’d never achieved this particular accolade, in fact he’d not even been involved in it at all, at any level. It was the kind of thing that was so easily found out, the idiot. And stupidly, the company only checked it out after they’d employed him so he was sacked as soon as they discovered it. I can only imagine he did it to big himself up not realising how much store the company put on that particular bit of his CV as opposed to whether or not he could do the job. Lots of people know about it so I imagine he’s ruined his chances of being employed in the industry anytime soon.

[TaleOfTheContinents]

I guess it boils down to the size of the lie and whether the person who tells it can fulfil the role regardless of that lack of experience/knowledge.

After searching for my current job for 6 months (moving from another company, not unemployed), it is a bit disheartening to know that some of the positions I interviewed for may have gone to someone who lied more rather than someone who was better qualified. Perhaps a lesson for me on how to climb the ladder!

Judashascomeintosomemoney
So interesting! You would think he would know better if it was a lie that was easily uncovered.

[MaybeDoctor]

I often find it quite interesting to look at the LinkedIn profiles of people/colleagues whom I know well. Sometimes I read a profile and think: 'Oh no you didn't!' But there is definitely a lesson to be learned about presenting your experience as positively as possible.

I find it easier to forgive someone who tells a non-harmful porky pie to get their first break, as life isn't equal and it can be a bit random where people end up after leaving university. Someone can end up in a reprographics-room job who is just as able as someone who ends up as an admin assistant in marketing - but obviously the opportunities in the second role are likely to be a lot better. So if the reprographics person is ambitious and applies for other jobs, they might make their role sound a bit more technical than perhaps it is in reality, which I can forgive.

But 'I led XYZ project' when actually you were just working on that project and didn't carry any of the responsibility or decision-making, that's not fair to do so, as it implies that you are a whole pay-grade above your experience.

'I won this award' or 'I have XYZ professional qualification' - you have to be crazy to do that as it is so easily verifiable!

[Judashascomeintosomemoney]

interesting! You would think he would know better if it was a lie that was easily uncovered
I think because it was something that made his personal life sound more interesting rather than a professional qualification he lied about, he didn’t think it would be something an employer would necessarily put stock in. He was wrong!

[Happyspud]

We will never know the answer to that.

[daisychain01]

If someone's CV is a pack of lies, full of achievements they couldn't have done, when it comes to interview they won't be able to keep up the pretence, they'd be easy to see through. If they do get hired, their probation is the 2nd test, and again, easy to pick up a phoney.

Exaggerated claims about qualifications, easy to rumble.

Claims about activities the candidate has "led" rather than "contributed" to are generally forgivable if they have genuinely done most of the heavy lifting on a project. There are plenty of 'social loafers' on the projects I've been on, who leave it all to the critical few.

Comeuppance does eventually happen in one form or another. Often the need to lie comes from people not getting opportunities and breaks they need, so they apply for a role in the hope they are given the chance to make progress. If they're given the chance and they screw up majorly, then it's partially due to the risk taken by the recruiter not asking the right searching questions, and also, the person losing their nerve or being out of their depth.

I've had to do the searching questioning and it's often met with a prickly candidate response - ie they've been rumbled! Recruiters need to be bold enough to dig deeper and get the candidate to talk in specifics,. Again, I've had wafflers who can't be specific. It doesn't mean putting them under duress, gentle enquiry is fine.