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Lying on your CV?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
A recent survey by the BBC suggests that 64% of people either lie or put deliberately misleading information on their CVs. Employers are said to be 'horrified' at this.

Is this really such a bad thing? I can understand it being dangerous if the job is in the medical profession or something like that but for the rest of us, it's no big thing, surely?

If employers didn't make their requirements so unrealistically high then we wouldn't need to do it. My CV is, shall we say, 'creative' in places and no, I'm not appropriately qualified for the job I'm doing but.....I do a damn good job and have done so for 4 years. My employers are none the wiser so nobody gets hurt.

In fact it's better for them: if I really did have the qualifications/experience my CV says I have then I would most likely be looking for higher annual payrises.

It's even illegal to lie on your CV apparently - what the hell for? There are far worse things you could do
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm currently writing my CV, i'm not really lying...but I am twisting things a little so that they're far away enough from the truth to make me seem better but not far away enough from the truth so that people can accuse me of lying.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Baldruss wrote:
    Is this really such a bad thing?

    depends what you're lying about.

    i don't see a problem with pretending you enjoy the opera and dostoyevsky when you're really about as cultured as a big mac, or exaggerating the importance of your role as stationary cupboard prefect, but if you're lying about qualifications or experience, they yeah, it's a bad thing.
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    I have a criminal record yet have never declared it when applying for job. I just leave the 'Criminal Convictions' box blank.
    Weekender Offender 
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A few weeks ago, I was putting together my CV. When I told nothing but the truth on it, it turned into the most boring document I have ever seen. I don't lie about issues like qualifications and such, but I have put in one or two slight "exaggerations" in the Hobbies & Interests section of mine.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    well i know of someone who wrote they were a grade 6 violin player on their CV

    the interviewer brought his violin along
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The only lie i ever wrote on an application form was that i play a musical instrument, but i used to play it anyway so i suppose thats not bad, whats tha harm in a few white lies :hyper:
    The thing is no employers ever check up on things so they should be horrified - with themselves :naughty:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't lie on it.

    Although I sometimes think that I might as well put down that I have 700 years experience, or I'll never get a fucking job.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    bad seed wrote:
    Although I sometimes think that I might as well put down that I have 700 years experience, or I'll never get a fucking job.
    I don't blame you.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    kaffrin wrote:
    but if you're lying about qualifications or experience, they yeah, it's a bad thing.

    But why is that a bad thing?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Baldruss wrote:
    But why is that a bad thing?
    Because some employers do checks on these things, and if you're found to be lying about it, guess what would happen? Either they won't give you a job, or you'll be sacked. Honesty is the best policy on the qualifications and experience area of a CV.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Baldruss wrote:
    But why is that a bad thing?

    why the hell should you get any job based on qualifications you haven't got? it's unfair to people who have got them, and worked their ass off to get them.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote:
    Honesty is the best policy on the qualifications and experience area of a CV.
    If you want to be broke and homeless, yes.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Silverberg wrote:
    If you want to be broke and homeless, yes.
    So you're saying that you endorse openly lying on CVs?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    J wrote:
    Mooo! I was disadvantaged. How do you expect someone to perform living in a war zone every day?

    a lot of people are disadvantaged.

    the first time i took my A levels i was disadvantaged. it would have been very easy to just lie about what had and what grade i had, but instead i re-sat them.

    if people are allowed to get away with bumping up a grade here, and making up an extra A level there, the work i did in that year means nothing.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    kaffrin wrote:
    why the hell should you get any job based on qualifications you haven't got? it's unfair to people who have got them, and worked their ass off to get them.

    Blame the employers for that - they set their standards too high. If their unreasonable demands were lowered then I wouldn't need to lie about my qualifications.

    As I said, I'm not fully qualified to do my job but I've been doing it perfectly well for 4 years. The world of employment is dog-eat-dog and you need to do whatever you have to do in order to secure employment IMO.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote:
    So you're saying that you endorse openly lying on CVs?
    Not lying, no...more...imprecise.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Baldruss wrote:
    Blame the employers for that - they set their standards too high.
    How do you mean by too high? For example, when I go into a hospital, I want to be treated by a doctor who knows their stuff and is properly qualified, not by someone who botched their exams and lied on their CV to get a job in the first place. I'm rather scared by the prospect of being treated by an unqualified doctor, aren't you?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote:
    How do you mean by too high? For example, when I go into a hospital, I want to be treated by a doctor who knows their stuff and is properly qualified, not by someone who botched their exams and lied on their CV to get a job in the first place. I'm rather scared by the prospect of being treated by an unqualified doctor, aren't you?


    Read my original post again please.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    J wrote:
    I know what you mean... I'm just basing it on my actual intelligence. I hate being tested.

    exams aren't just about intelligence though. just like work isn't just about intelligence. they are as much a measure of how hard you are willing to work for what you want.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    kaffrin wrote:
    a lot of people are disadvantaged.

    I think I've managed to disadvantage myself more by bothering to study a subject for 5 years. Might as well have come straight out of school and started work, and got further along than now. :|

    </same old rant> ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Personally I think experience is more valuable than exams in most jobs. But even experience is easy to 'synthesis' - my usual trick is to set up an accomodation/mail holding service in the name of a company and put it on your CV as where you've been working for the last 5 years or so. If you're going for a job in sales, then your ficticious company was about selling, if you want office work then you worked in their admin department. The good thing is when your prospective employer contacts 'them' for a reference, it'll come to yourself and you end up writing your own sparkling report. Just put down that they don't give verbal references and you're laughing.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Baldruss wrote:
    Read my original post again please.
    OK, I did as requested, and have come to the same conclusion as earlier. I find the principle of lying on a CV wrong in the first place. The only area where one can be "creative" as you put it is in the Interests section. I told nothing but the truth in mine, handed it into an adviser at the job centre at an appointment I had there recently. Said it was "good stuff", apparently. Lying won't get you anywhere, someone's bound to find out the truth eventually.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote:
    OK, I did as requested, and have come to the same conclusion as earlier. I find the principle of lying on a CV wrong in the first place. The only area where one can be "creative" as you put it is in the Interests section. I told nothing but the truth in mine, handed it into an adviser at the job centre at an appointment I had there recently. Said it was "good stuff", apparently. Lying won't get you anywhere, someone's bound to find out the truth eventually.

    Ok, I respect your opinion, the reason I mentioned looking at my original post was because you brought up the medical profession which of course requires people to be highly qualified, one cannot argue with that. The same (IMO)goes for professions like Law etc.

    However in many many jobs specialist qualifications aren't required, yet are still asked for. I work in IT and would not have got through the front door without at least an HND in Computing however the highest I attained was an AS level, however I've been doing my job for several years without any problems or concerns for my employer. Now had I seen this job and thought "I'm not qualified for this" then I would have missed out on all the great experiences my work has brought me (such as travelling around Europe to their overseas branches).

    My employers are happy with me, I love my job, everyone benefits.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Baldruss wrote:
    My employers are happy with me, I love my job, everyone benefits.
    Good for you. May I say I hope it all continues to be well for you.
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    It's worth lying if you can get away with it.
    You don't get anywhere in life if you aint prepared to tell a few white lies.
    Weekender Offender 
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Skive wrote:
    It's worth lying if you can get away with it.
    You don't get anywhere in life if you aint prepared to tell a few white lies.
    Example please?
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    stargalaxy wrote:
    Example please?

    As I ahve already said, I've lied about the fact that I have a criminal record on plenty of applications. I have got away with it i.e it was worth doing.

    Misfit.
    Weekender Offender 
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Skive wrote:
    It's worth lying if you can get away with it.
    You don't get anywhere in life if you aint prepared to tell a few white lies.

    Yes of course it's lying but I feel justified as I see it as the employers' fault. An example for you, Carphone Warehouse require their sales staff to have 2 A Levels or equivalent. Since when did you need just 1 A level to sell mobile phones?

    People will say that they ask for this because people who have 2 A levels tend to be perhaps a modicum more intelligent - rubbish, and you don't need A levels to be intelligent.

    Incidentally I worked for them for 18 months. Did I have 2 A levels? Did I hell. During that time I met or exceeded my monthly sales targets 14 times and performed very well.

    IMO qualifications for this sort of job mean nothing. Think of all the good salespeople they are keeping away by having unreasonable requirements.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    J wrote:
    Btw, what qualifications did Ghandi or Joan of Arc hold? or Jesus for that matter!

    They didn't have jobs...Jesus was the Son of God so I suppose nepotism helped there :thumb:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Baldruss wrote:
    I work in IT and would not have got through the front door without at least an HND in Computing however the highest I attained was an AS level, .

    The reasoning behind a qualification for entry into a position is to state that a certain amount of knowledge is required to do it, so people do not waste each other's time. It doesn't necessarily mean that you *must* have that qualification but you should have something that equates to it.

    An employer cannot interview every single person in the world for every job, so they set a bar at a certain height saying "don't bother applying if you can't leap this bar."

    The fact that you managed to either bullshit or correctly answer the way through any interview and tests suggests that you had the knowledge that the employer was after at the time, or that you were lucky.

    Incidentally, the fact that you've been doing a job for a certain number of years is no guarantee of anything either. I know lots of people who have done jobs for years that they are absolutely shit at. They stay in the jobs by sponging off of others that are good at it or through the gift of the gab.

    Either way, lying on your CV is, in reality, a fairly bad idea. Any employer that conducts proper checks when they employ you is likely to pull you up for things that you have said that are not true. This could result in you not getting a job that you have interviewed for. At worst, it could result in prosecution.
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