I lied on my CV - AMA

[Cvlying]

Following on from a recent thread about cvs. Nc for this.
I have a fabricated cv- not completely but in my 20s what is on my cv isn't what I actually did.
After having children I changed career and couldn't find a job so I invented a job history that was fake. It worked and for the past 12 years I've been doing this career. I no longer put the fake history on cvs as I now have the experience to back it up.
Never got into trouble and always kept track of my lie.
So AMA

I'm not saying I'd do it myself, but she still got the job on the basis of genuine qualifications and a successful interview, and was obviously competent enough to retain the job. If she was chosen above people who had actual experience of similar roles then she must have had some natural ability and relevant skills.

People do all sorts of "fake it until you make it" scenarios in different careers.

I know childcare is very expensive, but this was 10 years ago when it was not as cripplingly extortionate as it is now.
No excuses. You are wrong and you have no shame.

This would not work in my field but I have a grudging respect for it.

The point OP makes is that often the jobs don’t require what the interviewers think they want. Resourceful people can get a long way.

I would never do this, partly morality and partly the anxiety would eat me up! But I sort admire the gumption. I suspect men do this all the time and get away with it for less valid reasons than the OP.

Yes; they are good liars. This does not make it okay.

Me neither.
Also the idea that someone else would be 'more deserving'. That someone else may have got the job because of someone they know or just sheer luck. People with better work experience are not morally superior.

"I suspect men do this all the time and get away with it for less valid reasons than the OP."

It's proven that men are more likely to go for jobs they don't have proven experience in. They just believe they can do them!

Agreed. Many studies have shown that men tend to embellish their CVs, exaggerate and/or lie about their education, qualifications and experience compared to women.

They tend to do all that even though they do not have the option to rock up to work pregnant.

"I think massaging the truth is fairly common on cvs and linked in. I have seen numerous examples of people I know who have embellished their job titles or made it appear they were in more senior roles than they actually were in, or making out they led projects and were responsible for all the outputs. Not saying it is right, but definitely common."

On a CV I can understand, but everyone can see your Linked In so it makes me laugh that people would do it.
As for embellishing the job titles, it's often the employers themselves who give people bullshit titles.

So you're a sociopath - meh.

@Cvlying would you now adjust your employment history / tell a more truthful story if asked?

in some ways once you’d done the first few jobs in the new career it didn’t really matter anymore.

i did something completely different in my 20s. Freelance creative.

i now hold a senior position in a big corporate.

i was looking to make a change and managed to make a succession of sideways moves over 3 different jobs a decade ago.

when it occasionally comes up colleagues are surprised but don’t care.

I’m not sure why this matters if the OP is good at her job. There are far too many people with “good CVs and relevant experience” who are incompetent in their job.

It doesn't bother you that she could have beaten out genuinely qualified candidates for the role? How would you feel if the disappointed candidate was your DM, Dd, Ds etc? You'd be happy a liar got the role?

Yes, she kept the role but that isn't the point.

@Correlation well on that basis why don't we just scrap all the CV/Relevant skills and experience rubbish and just recruit on the basis of who can tell the biggest lie. Some of the posters on this thread are truly batshit.

"Many studies have shown that men tend to embellish their CVs, exaggerate and/or lie about their education, qualifications and experience compared to women."

Some of it is probably just over-condifence eg in answer to 'can you do x' they may answer that they can even if they've never done it before whereas a woman might say that she hasn't done it yet. Both answers can be true.

There's a class element to it as well. I remember a BBC documentary when posh youngsters, particularly male, were just 'yes, I can do all that'.

I didn’t want to say it.

"@Cvlying would you now adjust your employment history / tell a more truthful story if asked?"

Ironically, once people are at the top, starting at the bottom seems to be seen as a badge of honour.

I’ve lived with the guilt of saying I passed my CSE maths on my CV for years. I’ve been expecting a knock on my door from the CV police for years.
my husband has embellished his CV as well, doesn’t make us bad people, just hustling to get through life like most folk.

Agreed.

I’m a very confident woman, but I’m not a liar.

I definitely concur re. class. Just look at the current state of the UK!

Playing devil’s advocate… OP wouldn’t have got the job she did had she sent in her actual CV. But clearly, she could do the job and do it well. Is it a bad thing that she lied in that case?

Of course it is a bad thing! There would have been a number of applicants who applied who would have been up to the job but there are also core values required like...honesty (who knew!). She robbed more ethical candidates of the job.

"Not surprising though. OP puts 10 years of false work experience on her CV and gets a job that she shouldn't have been awarded versus other candidates who actually had the experience required."

But she's good at the job so she should have been awarded it!

Going forward - let’s all lie on our CVs/job applications then!

A bit like Ineed said above, how would you like it if a liar beat out your dp, dd, ds etc for a job by lying? Wouldn't be so happy then I suspect. Maybe OP could manage to do the job but how much better could those with experience have been, given the chance.

So let's use our imagination. She has now (supposedly) been promoted to a level where she actually might be able have some real impact within an organisation many people are relying on for their livelihoods. What do we think she would do if she made an error that could really harm the organisation as a whole if she didn't fess up to it. Would she do the right thing or save her own skin and sacrifice the team? It's all about integrity. You can learn to do a job but you either have integrity or you don't and she doesn't.