To ask -do you lie on your CV

[FirestarterJackie]

Well do you?

I do. Yeah I move a few jobs around, fill in some gaps nothing major

No though my flatmate in my twenties nicked all my interests and work related voluntary roles from my cv. We did our cvs together I saw hers as she applied to my company and saw what she had done! Her out of hours hobby was shagging married men so…

No, what would I lie about? I assume people who do this wouldn't make great employees as not only dishonest but have substandard work history!

Right, but after a time, does years of a career not overtake school qualitative/mean there is no room for them? My degrees get less than a line on my CV. My professional qualification isn’t there at at all. My career history fills my CV. I can get why a 20 year old would list their GCSEs by subject, but less a 45 year old who has had decades of work experience.

Yes, I sat that I was in my first job much longer than I actually was, obliterating a few jobs that I had during that time. There is no way of checking the dates as the company shut down ages ago

I never have, although I’ve never had my first teenage job on there because it’s really irrelevant to my professional career and there’s no way anyone could get a reference.

My DH works in retail and says you get loads of people who claim to have worked at Woolworths, Toys R Us, Debenhams etc before they shut down. It’s usually obvious when they haven’t. One even claimed to have been a manager at one of them, not knowing that DH worked there at the time he claimed he was and knew it to be lies.

I have been economical with the truth. I had a crap job for 12 months when I went back to work after having a 10 years+ long break when the children were little. It would be an uncomfortable/irrelevant talking point, so I leave it off and claim to have had a break one year longer than I did.

When I accepted my current role they were forensic in checking every detail and getting references from every previous employer noted. Luckily my lie is about something unprovable 😬

My qualifications are just a line listing - 10 O levels, 2 A levels and then a professional qualification.

TBH I haven't updated my CV for about 10 years as I have been in the same job since 2004. I am 63 so have no intention of applying anywhere else to work now.

Also, in the last 41 years I have only had to submit my CV a handful of times as I have only woked for three different employers during that time, albeit in several different roles within each company.

Not really.

I possibly spin things in a positive light? Eg a project led by me together with a colleague, I would not mention the colleague.

Otherwise though ive never needed to lie. For the job i have now, i had most of the requirements. I don't have any gaps in my employment other than maternity leave, ive never had more than 1 week off between jobs.

Did she get the job @MsTSwift?

That's not a lie. That's data representation. 😂

No. I have bad enough imposter syndrome as it is. Lying to get a job I didn't have the skills/knowledge/experience for would not help me at all.

Mine is the biggest work of fiction since Harry Potter.

I think it comes down to truth.

Saying you worked in x department is not a lie, if you managed it. As the manager you work in that department. So I would consider that true.

If someone said they managed X department, when they didn't. That would be a lie because it isn't true. They didn't manage it.

Equally, I think putting 9 x A-C grades on a CV is fine if all were Bs, because the statement is true (the candidate does have 9 GCSE's between grade's A and C). However, specifically stating you have As or B's for something when you only have C's and Ds would be lying and wrong.

Telling the truth on CVs is very important in my opinion. I think it's fine to tell that truth in different and creative ways, as long as what you say is true (and defendable). Lying (not telling the truth) on a CV is not ok in my opinion.

On the basis that the OP posted and didn’t come back, I assume this is a journalist and in a few days there will be an article somewhere saying “x% of women lie on their CV” with quotes from this thread

i have not included a job I was in for 5 months which I hated. And slightly extended the time I was in a previous job from one year to 18 months. There is no record anywhere I was in five month job. Terrible employer and just wanted to forget about it

Never lied about anything

I have applied for jobs & I have had to provide all my original qualification certificates & various forms of identification

No - I wouldn't if I were you. I run a business with quite a few staff, so I'm forever talking to other CEOs/HR people etc about references. It's amazing how quickly people get found out if they lie!

Not just public sector now. I get requests from companies to check records for people who were here in 1977 with a 'if you don't complete this full reference we will withdraw their job offer' and it's something like a coffee shop or cheap clothing chain.

I've dumbed down my degree to get lower paid positions quickly, I also only provided the last 5 years of work experience and put on "additional details available on request" and was never asked for additional details.

I put in rather bland details for jobs that aren't really relevant to the one I am applying for.

I don’t. Morally it’s shaky but practically it’s daft in my business. I live in a small town and it would be just like the thing to lie on my CV and then show up to be faced with an ex-colleague who now works at the place I’m interviewing.

Equally, I think putting 9 x A-C grades on a CV is fine if all were Bs, because the statement is true (the candidate does have 9 GCSE's between grade's A and C).

Putting A-C if they're all Bs isn't so bad because it's making a range about the actual value, equally higher and lower than the achieved grades. Putting A*-B if they're all Bs is dodgy.

Your user name is very apt @FirestarterJackie. Are you going to come back to this thread?

No.

Once was shown an application by my boss because someone said they were really in to a niche hobby that I also do. They were obviously lying. They did not get interviewed.

Such a stupid lie when it wasn't even relevant to any job!

You can be jailed for fraud for lying on your cv. Very foolish thing to do.

No, never.

I'd be furious if someone I interviewed turned out to have lied on their CV. You should be able to be asked about any aspect of it and not have to lie.

There's a difference between outright lying (eg saying you've got a degree when you havent) and spinning some of the things you've done. For example, I might say that I led a team in developing X project, which is perfectly true, but I don't say that the team was only 2 people plus myself.

I'm amazed how many people are admitting to lying 🤥