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. Nor should you, or anyone.

Lying like that is wrong. You shouldn't do things that are wrong, even if you benefit in some way, or think you do.

Why? There are several reasons. Here's one. People who deliberately do things they know to be wrong are despicable.

Do you really want to be a despicable person? Not, notice, just considered to be a despicable person: do you want to be really a despicable person?

If you do want to be despicable, that in itself is a mistake. Why so? - Because being a despicable person is not a good thing.

(If you want to know what sort of things it's good to be, ask yourself what sort of person you would like your children to grow up to be. Would you like your child to grow up to be a despicable person? No, of course not. So that's not a good thing to be.)

Ethics - and associated morality - is really not so difficult. Which is lucky, given its importance: it defines for us how to live a good, fulfilled life, which (by definition, as it were) we all want to do.

It's part of being a proper human being, that is, not to lie on your CV. You probably knew that. But it's worth saying, anyway.

I have done, and so has nearly everyone i know! Its only on MN that people say they don't lie!

Everyone does it

We employed someone who it fairly rapidly became clear had tidied up his CV and removed some gaps. Claimed he'd been employed by a prestigious company when he'd temped there. Got a colleague to write a disingenuous reference. We sacked him.

Yes

Some dates, job titles and descriptions have been modified

No I have never needed too.

No. I work in education, and previously in social care. I have to account for gaps in employment honestly for safeguarding purposes.

Yep many times. Couldn’t give a flying shit what other people think. There are far worse things in life than lying on a cv.

(I’ve extended dates, given addresses for old jobs that I know don’t exist anymore, exaggerated job titles etc. I don’t work in medicine or anything life endangering so in the grand scheme of things it really doesn’t matter).

Not now but I did to get my first job at 19, as I had no experience or references. I'd just moved to my university city and made up a shop in my hometown where I claimed to have worked at weekends during 6th form. Went as far as creating an email address for the shop, and giving a friend name & phone number as supervisor for references.

So many black and white responses here! Lying encompasses a whole lot of grey areas:

Stating I’ve got qualifications or skills I obviously don’t - nope, would never do this

Exaggerating or embellishing the role I had in a particular project - yeah probably.

I interviewed someone recently whose CV claimed she ‘managed a small team’. At interview it transpired the small team consisted of herself and one other part-time colleague!

No. I've never needed to.

No, never needed to.

@Afterfire what kind of work do you do?

Ethics are not simple. That's why they've been the subject of study for thousands of years and will continue to do so in the future.

It is very simple - the criminal offence mentioned above occurs if you lie on a CV. People saying everyone does are also lying about that too - liars to the core this kind of person.

Nor have I ever had a need to lie as it all accurate from university prizes to pretty good career. Even if that were not so I would not lie about it as I could not live with myself

😱😵 You do know it's totally not ok don't you? It's fraud. Where the flip have your ethics gone?

No, no they don't. It is v wrong.

I think it says a lot about you and the people you mix with, and maybe the type of work you do.

I don't lie on my CV, and therefore believe people who say they don't because I assume that they share the same values as me.

No, I see no point. If I pretend I can do things or have experience that I don't, I would come a cropper if hired on that basis. Naturally I try to present myself in the most favourable light, but I don't lie.

Marketing. I haven’t worked for the last 14 years in all honesty (various reasons, disability but also downsized and moved out of London). I used to work as Senior Marketing Manager for a luxury cosmetics brand. I guess advertising and marketing is a lot of lies in general anyway.

Honestly, unless you are specifically asked about school grades, the fact that you have a degree trumps school grades.

Given you have a degree (& thus got minimum req GCSEs and Alevels) You really don’t need to specify school grades, particularly GCSEs, and thus you don’t need to lie!

I would assume you had got at least some A*s and A grade a levels from the way you’ve stated it. Don’t do it. As someone who DID get a bunch of school As, and worked damn hard for them, if I employed you and asked for proof of what you claimed, I’d be annoyed and think you a lie. You don’t even need to!

Never out right lied but bigged up jobs. Like most people probably do. Couldn’t make up a job though - too honest

I would never lie on a CV. I work in a field where integrity is important, and I consider it important personally as well.

No, never have.
if I’m not qualified or experienced for the role then I’ve not applied.

some of my CV isn’t great (did badly at school) but other bits are good (good degree and masters).