What’s the biggest lie you’ve told to get a job?

[ThatCraftyLimeQuokka]

My friend once claimed to be vegan when applying for a vegan charity role, got the job and now just brings vegan lunches to work and sticks to plant-based meals when eating with colleagues. It worked out fine… but it got me thinking. Ever bent the truth to land a role?

Yes, I do interviews and when I ask why people want the role I don't mean, why do you want to be employed, I mean why do you want this specific £35,000 35 hour a week job over another £35,000 35 hour a week job.

I actually wouldn't mind if someone mentioned something like pay, hours etc as motivation though. At least it's honest and gives me the impression they will be less likely to leave if they acknowledge the job is well paid/suits their lifestyle etc.

Surely someone had noticed she couldn’t speak French😄

Oh no. Thats awful 😖 😱

I forged a PhD in astrophysics and they let me go to the moon

I don't have a degree - and never claimed too on CV - they offered me a graduate roll without it. Not sure that would have been the case with my real life mediocre A levels/GCSE but no way of ever really knowing

Hahahahha thank you

In my interview for pub manager I said I was a people person with a lot of patience who enjoys spending time with customers.

I am not, I was barring folk left and right. People would ask my now DH “is your horrible girlfriend in today?” But I was really good at my job and I was one of the only women who would stand up to some of our vile regulars (many of whom have now died). Plus I kept the place clean and was meticulous about wastage so we got killer bonuses - so people didn’t mind me. Also I would get us out really fast on a close.

Edited because posted twice

Years ago, but made up some roles to cover up a large gap, I don’t regret doing it, with the gap I was really struggling to get a job.

I pretended I had used a programme I hadn't. It was a prerequisite of the role, but they only needed you to be "beginner" level.

When I got the job, I took a short course to learn the basics before my start date.

Very glad I did that, I was at that job 5 years, promoted 3 times and it set me up for my career.

Strange that they offered you a graduate job without a degree.

On my cv, I lie about my GCSE and A Level results, my excel expertise and I have exaggerated the start/end dates of jobs to cover gaps but those jobs have been removed now.

I tell people that I'm a team player.
I am not. I like to be left completely alone to complete tasks by myself.
Ideally, I wouldn't even speak to another person during office hours.

I said I was good at spreadsheets and also that my certificates had been lost in a fire.

Not me but my friend. Years ago she applied for a job at the Foreign Office and had put on her CV that she was fluent in Cantonese (she'd done a stint as a waitress in a Cantonese restaurant). One of the interviewing panel brought this up and my friend reeled off a list of items from the menu of the restaurant, thinking she was being really clever. The guy burst out laughing; it later transpired after she was given the job that he was actually fluent in Cantonese 😂

Never!
Lying is a great way to lose a job, even if it did help to get it in the first place.

Never lied but certainly did nothing to dispel the impression I'd been working up until I was made redundant, not that I had been made redundant coming off maternity leave, so by the time I got my next next job I'd actually not been working for 18 months.

It didn't actually matter in the slightest to my capability to do my job and I presume would be discrimination to hold it against me, but I thought best not to draw attention to it. No one ever directly asked me about it.

I have never lied to get a job

Is head hunting when an agent puts you forward for a job because they think you'd be suitable? It always made me laugh when the people I worked with said they were head hunted as if no-one else in the country could do the job except them.

Maybe it was different for you though...this was in the nineties.

That I enjoy working with the public and doing presentations....

I wanted it

Not a lie as such but I didnt mention I was nearly 5 months pregnant and would be off on mat leave soon. I got the job.

I got a friend and colleague to briefly change her email signature to manager, when responding to a reference request for me.