Worst lie ever told in an interview

[PetrichorSoul]

I work in HR and as part of my role I manage recruitment.

I've seen people lie about all sorts. From university degrees (can't produce the transcripts) to reference calls from best mates or aunties who don't know the technical jargon someone in their supposed position would know.

I myself have previously inflated my experience because I had done the part of the job I was moving into and knew I could do it well?

Have you ever told a lie in an interview? The confessional booth is open

If you follow the news there is literally a nurse facing a criminal trial for lying on her CV at the moment.

Of course it could happen if the lie has risked (for instance) people's safety or national security

Indeed, not just lying about the nursing qualifications but Gold medal standard “walting” with regard to military activities.

One guy who inflated his previous experience to land a senior account manager's job. Emerged later (when our boss was chatting to his previous boss at an event) that he was several rungs down the ladder from what he had told our HR people.

He was sacked for it. Irony was, he was quite good as an account manager.

I have only ever worked in the private sector and at no job interview have I ever been asked to produce any certificates or diplomas. My word has always been taken (fortunately, I have never lied about my qualifications).

But you did have a driving licence only it was a provisional one not a full one.

Wow, lies upon lies upon lies. I almost admire her for managing to take over someone's email account in order to write her own references though. I said almost!! She sounds as if she suffers from some kind of mental health disorder.

Apart from pretending to like working with people, no.

I interviewed someone once who claimed to be fluent in German and Urdu, I introduced myself in Urdu and the look of fear showed they didn’t understand a word!

Whaaaattt...why?????

Nerves? I don't know, haha.

I didn’t mention I was sacked from my previous job once. And I got the team leader to write my reference as the manager would have mentioned I was dismissed.

But the back story is it was unfair dismissal (they didn’t want a part time manager they’d inherited from a previous manager so set me up) I had not been there long enough to take them to employment tribunal.

I have never lied on my CV. I have seen plenty of people who have, though.

One man who claimed to have managed a project for five years, and delivered several key documents; I was surprised I hadn’t met him, since that was my job, my project, and I wrote those documents.

Lots of men who claimed to have worked on projects that I had managed.

One man claimed to have left his last project for a fairly standard reason, but I knew he’d been kicked off the job for assaulting a client.

One guy who worked in the same office as me had been brought in because he was an expert in the area; after talking to him for 10 minutes it was clear he didn’t have a clue; he knew nothing about the tech, and did not have Scooby Doo about standards applicable to our industry. He got sacked eventually, but it took a lot longer than I had expected.

@WirelessWendy did you confront any of them?! Especially the one who said he had managed your project for 5 years 😁

Oh yes. I confronted him, and reported him to his professional body. I do not take that shit from anyone. I do not want to be in the position where people think I am lying.

I work in a very narrow field of employment, and we check references. I’m quite happy to say “I haven’t worked with him, and he tells lies on his CV” if he has lied when claiming to have been on my projects.

@WirelessWendy excellent!!! 👏

Yeah synonomous with a bloke saying : Yes I have a small probl4m: I keep getting excited ( down there) in female company .

I'm boring and haven't lied in a job interview or on a CV. I'm not good at selling myself at all.

Most people I know who say they have lied have pretended to have a degree. Not a job where the degree is relevant, but either to make their CV look better, where degree level is not required, or if it's some sort of customer service job (for example) and they request degree level (non specific, both topic, level and type of university).