Have you ever lied on your CV? Were you found out?

[Shirleyphallus]

I’m in the process of applying for jobs and am keeping to the letter of the law on qualifications / results etc as I’m terrified of being found out for embellishing it somehow!

Has anyone ever lied on their cv and if so, what was the outcome?

Virtually every university nowadays has their own sodding application form if you are applying for academic jobs - takes flaming ages to complete, and you still need to include your cv (screeds of paper - not at all like a corporate cv) and covering letter and all sorts of other shit.

I think this is to make the short-listing easier and more transparent. Or at least, that's what we were told in training

That was a bit garbled. What I mean is they refuse to fill out the form and are then absolutely furious at not being shortlisted. Even though is says clearly on the (online) form that only the form will be considered.

You shouldn’t lie about qualifications because most companies will now check these. If not when you onboard then at some point within the 2 year ‘no fault’ dismissal period. However, where you can pad your CV is skills provided you are prepared to skill up fast (i.e. before you start ideally).

Someone came to work in our dept - they were known to our area manager through meeting at conferences/forums/workshops etc.
On paper and in reality highly academically qualified, experienced and suitable.
Within a week of this person starting work it became apparent that they were really seriously mentally unwell. To the point where they argued and shouted constantly. Challenged everything and refused to be helped or managed. They were so paranoid they hid a recording device in their open desk drawer to record conversations and those when they were out of the office. Their angry was palpable and we lived in fear - kept going to the area manager to no avail.
6 weeks in, this person threatened to hit a colleague - the fist came within inches of colleague's face. So the police were called and person was escorted from the premises (they refused to leave).
Gardening leave, dismissal, appeal, dismissal upheld and failed tribunal all took months.
But, the main issue was that no references had ever been taken up. At interview apparently they had said they couldn't provide up to date ones. On the basis of our manager 'knowing' of this person they were appointed and this put us all in danger. They had been dismissed from their previous employment for a number of reasons including violence.

Because of this experience I always followed up references and went over them meticulously reading what was actually being said and what was omitted. Over the years I have read some wonderful 'creative' references!

I have to remove some of my skills on my CV because I forgot them since not using those skills for so many years. I don't lie, I do put expired certifications on it with expired in bracket. I only put my degree grade and nothing before.

Lies are extremely common, my friend has been jobless for years, his CV don't show that. He did some self taught programming couple of years ago and claimed he has 25 years of exp? No wonder he still jobless. Some jobs people can tell, dh is a hiring manager, he constantly complain those claims on CVs are far from truth! I heard my managers say the same.

no I haven't
but my work checks thoroughly. including financial background (sensitive)

I’ve never once been asked for certificates in the 25 yrs since I left university which is quite annoying as I have kept them all - degree, highers, o grades the lot.

I confess - I have lied about having O level (I'm old) Maths for my whole working life.
The C grade just gets copied and pasted from one CV to the next . That's the only CV lie I've committed. I kind of believe that I have it in my heart.

Yes, application forms were introduced for senior posts (c£80k plus) about three years ago. We used them for junior posts before then.

The reasons was to allow better mapping and to get straight answers to questions thus making lies easier to spot.
A waffly cv or missing information takes effort to check out or is rejected. It’s not fair on those who aren’t used to presenting cvs. If you ask people to list all qualifications including dates and grades from secondary education, there is very little scope for lies. If there are blanks they are obvious.
The candidates are then required to sign this as a true and complete account of their qualifications, experience and career history. There is a paragraph about dismissal if information turns out to be untrue. Why would you employ someone who was basically dishonest?

I went back to work (NHS admin) after 20 years out of the workplace. It's a totally new role and employer for me. My cv was 100% truthful, and obviously light on recent work experience! What amazes me is that my HR manager hasn't taken up either of the references I gave them. They have totally take me at face value. (And I have all my certs from piano grade 1 and BAGA 1 upwards 😀, which no one ever wants to see)

I have one tiny our in my CV. I walked out of a job in my late teens due to months of endless bullying from the boss. It's down as a temp role and seeing as both jobs since then have lasted 5+ years I'm not worried about it.

Christ you use application forms? How 1980! Does anyone want to work where you do?

Second this. It all sounds very archaic and mountains of paperwork for the sake of it

Do you work for a government body perhaps?

We are a small company and we use online application forms. Otherwise we get hundreds of CVs for any vacancy and we have to spend days weeding out all those who don’t even meet the basic requirements for the job.

Our online form gets us all the vital info up front. We also ask people to do a competency assessment, which sorts out the women from the girls .

I've been asked for degree certs for at least 3 jobs, including my current one. I could provide pretty much every certificate I've ever received, if I really had to, but no one's asked other than degrees. I also know every job including dates, but most of them are covered by a comment about "various Saturday and vacation jobs; details available on request."

Meant to add we have had at least one person be sacked for claiming professional qualifications which didn't stand up to scrutiny.

I have never lied on my CV, but I sometimes wonder whether I would have been tempted to boost my grades or something if they had been lower.

No, but I say I'm in the process of passing a couple of courses, technically true, but I've been doing them several years online and am not v frequent

Agree, every job has wanted certificates - if they're lost or damaged you can request new copies from the place you earned them and those are fine...

I suppose it depends on the employer. It would be impossible to evade the truth in academia for example/

I had 3 months after uni unemployed and just say my mum was unwell so I did some volunteering to stay close to her....

I am usually very honest on my cv. Except when I was a nanny I had an awful job, I coped a lot of abuse so I walked out. I needed a reference so I listed a friend. I wouldn't lie about a qualification though.

“CherryPavlova

Yes, application forms were introduced for senior posts (c£80k plus) about three years ago. We used them for junior posts before then.
The reasons was to allow better mapping and to get straight answers to questions thus making lies easier to spot.”

I find this so odd. For every company I’ve qoekwd for senioe execs are headhunted or we use recruiters. The idea that a potential CEO you’re trying to attract would sit there filling out an application form is laughable.

@Ebearbug “various Saturday and vacation jobs” - why would you even put this on your CV? What useful information does it give the recruiter about you? How does it sell your skills and competencies for the role? It’s just a wasted sentence and on a 2 page CV that’s a waste of space

I'm 55, left school with GCEs & CSEs, got my Degree in 1986. I have never been asked to provide a single exam or degree certificate.

I've never been asked for exam certificates either, I'm mid-60s (retired now) and I don't have a degree so my clutch of O and A levels are the best I had to prove . . I haven't set eyes on the certificates in decades, no idea if I still have them. But I've never lied in a job application.

Not a good idea to lie
In my last interview I had to bring proof of professional qualifications proof of indemnity/ dbs/appropriate vaccinations/ and up to date certificates for our ongoing training and certificate of registration with our governing body
And references.

No wriggle room to lie at all

@Heatherjayne1972
You had to bring a DBS check that costs £25 and will be useless to the employer anyway as only they can request the enhanced check? Madness. I would’ve asked for a reimbursement.

I can’t work unless I have a valid dbs certificate so yeah. Had to produce it