Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Work

Chat with other users about all things related to working life on our Work forum.

Original poster

Husband lied on CV - offered job but they want a reference!

260 replies

PeanutyButtery · 25/03/2021 21:34

DH lost his job last February and he's finally been offered a job back in his field. He's been working in a supermarket for the last six months.

He left the supermarket job off his CV because it's not relevant and instead put that he's been working as a consultant for an organisation (prestigious well-known company that's relevant to the new role) from last March until now. Problem is that he won a tender to provide that organisation with services, signed a contract and everything but they never actually sent him any work.

HR called this week to say that they are offering him the job and does he accept. He said yes and then they asked for references. He gave two people from his previous employer but HR replied asking specifically for a reference from X organisation as it's his "current employer".

He replied to say that since that consultancy has ended, HR can contact the company he is working for right now (which is a freelance client he has actually been working for). But he did put the email address for a contact person at X organisation.

I'm so worried they are going to contact X organisation who will say sorry but this guy never worked for us, and that they'll rescind the offer (it's only an oral offer anyway). DH doesn't seem so worried. He was convinced they wouldn't contact references, but actually his previous employer and freelance client have both said they've already been contacted.

Is there anything he can do to fix this situation? It's been two days and nothing... they contacted the references immediately who both replied that same day

OP posts:
Original poster
PeanutyButtery · 26/03/2021 13:48

I know he’s not lying to me about not mentioning it during the interviews because they were on zoom and I heard every word from the other room.

He didn’t talk about it in the interview because X organization is huge with loads of different agencies and branches worldwide so in the interview he spoke about his work for branches Xa, Xb and Xc etc. not about doing anything for Xy (the consultancy)

OP posts:
Anne1958 · 26/03/2021 14:12

Op, please be careful as you go forward in life with your husband. Lying on his CV and being the type of person to try and dodge a train fare doesn’t bode well for the future.

CleverCatty · 26/03/2021 14:15

@Anne1958

Op, please be careful as you go forward in life with your husband. Lying on his CV and being the type of person to try and dodge a train fare doesn’t bode well for the future.
Oh come on - this is ridiculous - he probably panicked and said this lie then realised he should've talked it through with OP or that it was a silly thing to do.

People do this all the time, some get caught, some not. If he gets found out and doesn't get this job then it'll be a lesson learned but it doesn't make him a terrible person going forward as long as he doesn't do it again.

CleverCatty · 26/03/2021 14:17

@SunshineCake

I hate how he's now blaming you. What a prick.
He should not be blaming OP at all though and should be told in no uncertain terms which I think OP has told him, that it's his mistake and to own it.
Zilla1 · 26/03/2021 14:18

HNRTT OP as busy so don't know if the following has been discussed but trying to be helpful - if your DH wants to take the risk then could you clarify the category error the new employer's HR seem to be making. The client from whom HR want an employment reference wouldn't have been his employer if he won a tender, they would have been his consultancy's client. His employer would have been the umbrella or his own company. He should explain to HR that the big firm wasn't ever an employer so can't provide an employment reference.

Happy to explain though I know I haven't RTT so things will have been proposed and discussed already.

Good luck.

Anne1958 · 26/03/2021 14:21

Oh come on - this is ridiculous - he

I had some sympathy for him until the OP mentioned that he would take a chance and try to get away without paying a train fare even for one stop. He’s a risk taker and he has a liking for dishonesty. It doesn’t bode well for a future with him.

FlyingBurrito · 26/03/2021 14:28

@PeanutyButtery

Personally I would never dream of lying about a position on my CV, but then I'm the kind of person who would never not buy a bus/train ticket even if I knew I would never get caught or it was just one stop etc.

He's the type who would chance it. Maybe this will be a learning experience for him - it's just unfortunate that it's one that will affect the whole family

You aren't making it any better, he's a thief as well as a CV liar?
dreamingbohemian · 26/03/2021 14:36

Yeah I'm also a bit Hmm about the fare skipping.

The overall impression is someone who will lie and cheat as long as they can get away with it, even when they don't have to

CleverCatty · 26/03/2021 14:57

@Anne1958

Oh come on - this is ridiculous - he

I had some sympathy for him until the OP mentioned that he would take a chance and try to get away without paying a train fare even for one stop. He’s a risk taker and he has a liking for dishonesty. It doesn’t bode well for a future with him.

Oh - I didn't see the fare skipping!
celiafforcandle · 26/03/2021 15:11

My older brother used to do things like that, fare dodging, walking into secure areas where he wasn't authorised, parking in VIP area. He would speak quite confidently to the attendant and ooze his way through. It was just that he wanted to beat the system. We were relieved that he didn't buy a high speed motorcycle and spread himself across the North Circular as one of his pals did.

It is all about risk taking and not conforming for young and not so young men.

Any commonalities?

Diverseopinions · 26/03/2021 15:24

I don't know much about employment law - although, happily, many posters on this thread do - but I'd be inclined to back out of taking the job.

Surely the industry is inter-connected if it's a bit niche. This reputation could follow him, if found out. What if personnel know each other in the two companies?

Seen from the new employer's point of view, they want to know what he has done, with whom, and at what level and for how long. These facts are a kind of password for unlocking the door to the job. They are a shorthand way of picking which candidates would be good in a job, and it's a method applied fairly and equally to all candidates. Lying on a CV is not unlike cheating in an exam, from this pov. You can say, you knew enough to pass anyway, but it's not really the point. You know that so much confidence is being placed in this one determiner of whether you are right for the job - especially in Covid times, with no face-to-face or trial days.

It's a big organisation anyway, the one he said he worked for. It isn't a little set-up. It could be on the basis that he did satisfactory work for this particular outfit, that he has been offered the job.
Saying you did certain roles for a company is distorting facts, it's not 'styling' , as the word has been used on this thread, to describe some sharp practices. It's not claiming your occasional supervising was managing - it's claiming you did certain tasks which you either could have executed or not at all, it isn't like a matter of opinion of whether you describe a role as supervising or managing.

I'd say step back - and keep looking for jobs. There's a lot of risk in going ahead.

CleverCatty · 26/03/2021 16:03

@celiafforcandle

My older brother used to do things like that, fare dodging, walking into secure areas where he wasn't authorised, parking in VIP area. He would speak quite confidently to the attendant and ooze his way through. It was just that he wanted to beat the system. We were relieved that he didn't buy a high speed motorcycle and spread himself across the North Circular as one of his pals did. It is all about risk taking and not conforming for young and not so young men. Any commonalities?
There was someone I saw a couple of years ago (quite high up professional too) - who was prosecuted for fare dodging going into London for months on end.

I think he just wanted to risk take!

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 26/03/2021 16:56

There was someone I saw a couple of years ago (quite high up professional too) - who was prosecuted for fare dodging going into London for months on end. If it's the one I'm thinking of (coming in from Surrey?) he'd been doing it for a matter of years. But you're right that he was in a senior professional position so money was not the reason for doing it!

Anne1958 · 26/03/2021 17:28

I think he just wanted to risk take!

I remember the case you’ve mentioned. He’d defrauded the train company of many thousands and yes, I think he was travelling from Surrey I to London.

EmmaGrundyForPM · 26/03/2021 19:31

@Anne1958

I think he just wanted to risk take!

I remember the case you’ve mentioned. He’d defrauded the train company of many thousands and yes, I think he was travelling from Surrey I to London.

wasn't he a barrister or lawyer of some sort?
EmmaGrundyForPM · 26/03/2021 19:33

www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-england-london-37494501

memberofthewedding · 26/03/2021 21:18

The way this thread is rambling on the poor guy will have morphed into a serial killer!

OysterMonkey · 26/03/2021 21:33

Or will be H from Line of Duty 😂

notacooldad · 26/03/2021 21:43

I had some sympathy for him until the OP mentioned that he would take a chance and try to get away without paying a train fare even for one stop. He’s a risk taker and he has a liking for dishonesty. It doesn’t bode well for a future with him
Where does it say that he is a fare dodger.
OP says that she is the sort that would never do anything like that to illustrate how honest she is. I can't see that her DH has.

Apologizes if I have misunderstood.

harknesswitch · 26/03/2021 21:49

Oh dear, well he's dropped himself well and truly in it. There's one thing bugging yourself up feuding an interview but another lying with regards to who you've worked for.

Anne1958 · 27/03/2021 01:46

OP says that she is the sort that would never do anything like that to illustrate how honest she is. I can't see that her DH has

The op says that she wouldn’t but he would.

Ineedaduvetday · 27/03/2021 06:07

Your problems are bigger than the reference. Even if he gets the job, he could be fired at anytime for such a large lie on his CV.

MyOtherProfile · 27/03/2021 06:54

I'm the kind of person who would never not buy a bus/train ticket even if I knew I would never get caught or it was just one stop etc. He's the type who would chance it.

Yesterday around noon, @notacooldad

MarshaBradyo · 27/03/2021 07:06

Interesting thread

Personally I would not have said supermarket work but would have said exactly what happened

Client - tender won and date

MarshaBradyo · 27/03/2021 07:14

Also hang in there op he might still get it

Swipe left for the next trending thread