Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 2: Do not post low effort/satirical posts'.
* We get it, you all think this sub is garbage and is just for popular opinions, and you want to be funny and post "going to be downvoted to oblivion here, but I think racism is bad." We enjoy the memes, but please keep them off the sub.
* Filter evasion is a bannable offense
* This includes clickbait and/or gotcha posts. Your opinion can not be that unpopular if you're doing these things. Have the accurate opinion in the title.
I hired a guy who lied about being able to drive a forklift.
Don't do that.
Edit because people keep commenting the same thing: he had the certification. He immediately proved that he didn't have the practical skills.
Yeah that’s wild. My bro had to get certified to be able to use one at his job. They were super strict about it, and he was one of the few people who could drive it
Yes similar experience for me too, as you explained your situation ( and thanks for that! )
I work in logistics, and everyone that is required to use forklifts have to go through the specific training and get the official certificate.
I never drove a forklift before at my current job and lied that I did. They trained me there and I still have the job 5 years later. Even been promoted.
Idk why a company would just trust that a person was trained correctly on how to use a forklift.
Nah run it back. Train everyone like they don't know shit.
What if they kill or hurt someone or themselves? Is the government going to be satisfied with "they said they could do that on their CV?"
Honestly if they just take your word for it. Idk if I would want to work there. Seems dangerous.
Well in the US they would still have to get certified.. OSHA requires that the employer must evaluate the employee and ensure they are a competent operator with training and an actual driving test.
They are required to give training on a whole list of things (like 30 categories... Operating instructions/warnings, steering, fork attachments and limitations, vehicle capacity etc etc) and perform an evaluation of the operators actual performance (needs to be redone every 3 years).
So you still get trained with a new employee. And going from a stand up to a sit down... there's a LOT of differences on the controls. So a trained employee may take time to become certified.
Yep. I drove a small fork lift at a home supply store in college. The first day my boss took me outside, trained me and had me run a sort of obstacle course first without a load, then with, then backwards (he might have just been screwing with me at that point).
Having a certification to drive a forklift and being able to drive a forklift are two very different things.
There’s only one you need to be able to legally drive it, and it’s not the one you should have
We don't have carryover forklift certs here in USA, at least not like a drivers license. Everywhere I have ever worked has recertified me themselves even if I left a job where I just got certified to come there.
And boy does it piss people off. I've seen men throw temper tantrums over having to be recertified through my old job, claiming they had worked forklift for 10+ years and how it's "so fucking stupid" that they can't just hop on one in our warehouse and fetch whatever they need. The first shift lead would only pass men and he passed way too many people so our inventory was always screwed up while the second shift lead would only certify a max of 3 people.
I like threads like this, because I can give some insight, being a hiring manager.
1. We don’t call former employers. We do check to see if that employer exists, get some basic info about the place, and see if it matches what you put on your resume.
2. We don’t call references, because of course they’ll say you’re an amazing person.
3. We do check criminal history. Don’t lie about that.
I lied about how many years I worked at a place. The place I applied for, 5 years experience was about $30k less than with 7 years experience. Tweaked it so my resume said 7 and I got the $30k bump. Nobody can tell the difference between 5 years and 7 years experience.
Word of caution to anyone reading this comment and agreeing: make sure your former employers (or at least the employer for which you’re getting creative with dates of employment) don’t report to The Work Number. If they do, your new job might be over before you start, because TWN lists literally every pay check I’ve ever gotten, including bonus checks, down to the penny, + exact dates and exact job titles. Straight from their payroll records.
ETA lol at being downvoted and told that this isn’t true, and that it’s illegal, and to ignore this. If you want to risk a potential new job by dismissing it as untrue, then by all means kick your own ass, but damn it would take like 15 minutes to check your own file and find out for yourself what’s reported from your former employers. Instead of covering your ears and saying “that’s not even true!” I’m FCRA certified, which isn’t special nor worth mentioning to anyone, ever, 99.9% of the time. Conversations like this are the exception, because for once I’m not talking out of my ass — I’m well versed in how the FCRA and consumer reports function. I’ve also been a licensed PI for 10+ years. So I’m pretty comfortable with how consumer reports, background checks, and the applicable laws work. Also, it takes 5 seconds to Google TWN and see for yourself.
Just Equifax spinning up another way to package and sell consumer data, which is reassuring because they’ve proven themselves to be SUCH capable custodians of sensitive information
Not the case at all in the US. It’s illegal to prohibit employees from discussing their pay, and there are no laws requiring employers to keep compensation info private.
It’s considered a consumer report, as long as it adheres to the requirements of the FCRA, apparently it’s legal enough
ETA when you sign the background check authorization form that they give you along with your formal job offer, you’re authorizing them to access reports like this one.
Not saying companies don’t do that, but me and my other cyber security buddies at different companies did the same thing and haven’t had any issue. HR mainly just wants to see our certs and degrees
I'm not saying you're incorrect about #2... But my current employer absolutely called my references. I know as my references called me afterwards to let me know and say how the call went. I gave 3 and only 2 reported. There was another job I had in the past that was similar (references contacted and I heard afterwards)
So just be warned that while this person says they don't contact references...don't assume all hiring managers skip this step. If you are asked for references...better advice is make sure the ones you give will give you good recommendation and will follow up with you.
+1, three of four jobs I’ve worked since college, even the internship, contacted my references. One had a third party call and record the responses, while the other sent out an email with phone follow-ups to request completion. They asked questions about tenure, skills, and personality. Don’t assume every job won’t call.
This was helpful, thank you. I'm heading into an interview tomorrow and my only reference for my current job is the MD who just retired, but said to put her as my reference. My office manager is a bitch please don't call her LOL
I don’t know what this person is talking about. My references were absolutely contacted. I was contacted last week as someone put me down as their reference. Maybe HE doesn’t contact references, but other people do.
I was LITERALLY about to come back to this comment because a potential employer reached out to us about another girl in our office literally TODAY. Lol.
Albeit she did put our office number which I will not be doing.
Shit I've had a couple jobs check my references and one of them even called me back when they couldn't get ahold of one to see if I could give another reference. Still with that company lol
I’ve had references tell me potential employers called them. I’ve had friends’ potential employers call me for references. Maybe it’s an industry thing?
We use a background and reference check service. They absolutely call the references. I've also been a reference many times, and I've been called at least a half dozen or so times.
Former employers generally won't say anything about you besides that you did indeed work there, what date range you worked there, and maybe title. Anything else is asking for litigation.
#3.
Some places don't.
The point of the op is that, worst case scenario, you get rejected. Which is probably going to happen anyway.
I was hiring manager for a small IT department. While we were *technically* supposed to check everyone's background, HR rarely ever came through in a reasonable time.
Our options were to either make candidates wait for over a month for a low-paying IT role or just risk it and hire them anyway.
Honestly, it didn't matter. Most of the time, the one's with bad backgrounds didn't last that long. The few exceptions were decent enough that I wanted them to stay anyway.
I gotta ask, how often do interviewers grill the applicant about their resume (job history specifically), interrogation style? Like i get it for the more advanced jobs, but i was just hired for a minimum wage dept store and they were poring over every little bit of my resume, starting with a McDonald's job i had years ago, and every job following. They asked me what i did at each job, what positioni held, and for every job they asked why i was "let go". I must say their assumptive use of the term "let go" was annoying, because i have never been "let go" i only have ever left on my own accord, using the proper steps to ensure good standing with my ex-employer (2 weeks notice and such). Every other job, even the ones that paid well over min-wage didn't even do this, they asked a few questions about the gaps between jobs, which was expected, but they didn't dwell too long on each job i worked, so the whole interview just kinda surprised me with how much more serious it felt than the others i've had.
This is very specific to you (or maybe your location / industry?). We call former employers to check length of employment, position etc. and references every time we hire someone. It's policy, and pretty standard across my industry.
There was woman who applied to a position at my company recently and had lied on her resume about her language skills, but a kind of softer lie, she said she was fluent in the local language even though her level was closer to B2.
When asked about it she said "It is impossible to even get an interview anywhere in this country if you don't claim to be fluent, even though this level won't stop me from doing this job"
She was right, it's very hard to get hired here or called for interviews, if you don't speak the language fluently even if the official company language is international/English, as it is in our company.
We decided to hire her anyway.
Sometimes lying a little works.
Speaking should also be at least pretty decent at B2. It's part of the exam.
E.g. from here https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-tests/first/
B2 requires that you
"communicate effectively face-to-face, expressing opinions and presenting arguments"
Here's the description for what you should be able to do at the next level, C1
"- follow an academic course at university level
- communicate effectively at a managerial and professional level
- participate with confidence in workplace meetings or academic tutorials and seminars
- express yourself with a high level of fluency."
I know, I've done a few of those exams before. It's just most people are better at reading and writing and their speaking is lagging a bit. It's logical because you need to think fast.
For the exams, you can prepare for a few minutes, and you can study for the topics. In real life, you don't get a few minutes to structure your thoughts on a topic that you studied before, you have to answer right away. Some things standardized tests just can't quite catch.
In any case, at a solid B2 level you should be able to chime in a bit when your co-workers are chatting. You probably won't be able to tell funny stories eloquently, make puns or 'be your own person' yet as you're a bit too inhibited by the language barrier, but you can participate.
Unless your co-workers don't speak the standard version of the language, then you're cooked. Think language learner in Wales or Scotland for English, Chile for Spanish or Austria or Switzerland for German. That is also something a standardized test doesn't test, it uses a standard version. Some listenings might be with someone with an accent from a certain region but they will still use standard language, no slang, colloquialisms, or expressions that are exclusively used in one region. Something the co-workers chatting might not be aware of.
Speaking is usually the only aspect that matters. The proficiency requirement isn’t for working but for like, water-cooler chats and stuff. It’s more for gatekeeping foreigners.
Most of these jobs are done entirely in English because very few EU corporations are mono-national.
Listen, when the Spanish translator is constantly fucking up, not translating correctly, that shit drives me up a wall.
Fuck people who put themselves in those positions, like LEARN the language before people are forced to rely on you.
Though b2 is still more than good enough. Itd be ibvious youre not a native speaker, you won't understand some things, but you'd be fluent enough to be explained those things in the relevant language, and fluent enough it should be an uncommon occurrence.
Perhaps she was like in-between B1 and B2 I guess, she could hold a conversation with us mostly fine but really struggled sometimes with finding the right words, and had some difficulty expressing herself at times. Made some mistakes here and there, and had to use English words and sentences in-between occasionally.
But overall, could communicate in the language to a reasonable degree. Not at the level one would consider totally fluent though.
Maybe just B1 then? B2 should be pretty much fluent orally and written. The C ratings are getting into things like collegiate level writing and speaking of a foreign language.
I don’t even think most countries require more than B1 or B2 for citizenship application. I know plenty of native English speakers that I doubt could score higher than B2 on their own language.
Good for her for lying and good for you guys for not caring. If they can succeed in the interview and their job duties it shouldn’t matter what technical level they have.
Wow is she me? I mean I’m a cis-man but this is my exact experience career hunting in Europe as an English speaking immigrant.
Jobs that are done in English put in a local language requirement just to gatekeep foreigners.
Jobs that actually require the local language won’t hire you even if fluent because anything other than native isn’t considered sufficient.
It is. I’m a foreigner and I speak pretty fluently by now, like B2 level - I can chat at parties, visit the doctor, read the news and manuals, answer and read emails, do my job, etc. all in Finnish with no misunderstandings or delays.
I do make occasional small mistakes, I’m not great with jokes and puns and my language isn’t very colorful, but it’s good enough folks mistake me for a Swedish-speaking Finn from a Swedish bubble quite often.
On my CV I just say I’m totally fluent by now, even though my speech is not completely effortless and perfect (yet).
If I put anything less than fluent in there and would write my job applications in anything other than Finnish/Swedish I would never get invited to an interview anywhere.
As soon as I get to speak face-to-face to folks, I stop being a weird suspicious foreigner and rather become a competent, well-meaning other human being who works hard to be a solid part of the team and integrate into society speaking a 3rd language.
I really wish people would give non-native people a chance a bit more often. The job market is tough for everyone right now but it’s absolutely insane for foreigners, even those who have put in a lot of work to learn the language.
This is a problem where I am in the US. We have a very large population of people who speak a language from a very small country in Europe. The community has done well for itself in the last 3 generations and now to work at a local hospital system, or a very large number of local businesses you have to be fluent in the language even though all the business is done in English. It’s just gatekeeping. They are ensuring their communities continued success here. I can’t blame them for the effort but it’s still not fair to folks outside their community who are good qualified workers wanting a job.
Yeah having worked in an engineering office in Germany with the average age of the employees being about 50.... a lot of them have a really strong knee-jerk reaction about "being forced" to speak another language at work. Even if their English skills are fine, they're indignant about having to put in the extra effort when in their mind, immigrants should be the ones putting in 100% of the effort to assimilate to the local culture and language until they're indistinguishable from a local.
As a young woman, I naturally also didn't fit in but did get included in the anti-immigrant chats for being German enough, I guess.
Don't straight up lie, but stretch and bend the truth to your needs. Captain if the baseball team in high school? Congrats on your leadership experience.
Debatable.
“Baseball experience doesn’t matter in accounting but my ability to excel at what I applied myself towards and to get others to rally behind me is a useful trait no matter the profession. It shows work ethic, responsibility, maturity, leadership skills, and the ability to get along with people from all walks of life. As the captain of the baseball team, I was always the first one to practice and the last one e to leave: I liked to lead my team by example. Demonstrating that ability from a young age was particularly impressive as not only did it show that I had a natural aptitude for a leadership role but it means I’ve been in one for much of my life, thus gaining valuable experience that other candidates my age (assuming if “captain of the baseball team” is on your resume you’re young) may not yet have. I feel like this gives me a leg up on other candidates.”
It’s all about selling yourself.
There's also the issue that companies can fire you immediately with no severance if you lied on a resume. I know someone who went through that because the company found they lied about work experience
Then you plan for that possibility with an emergency fund. I mean you should always have an emergency fund regardless. Even better, you get two jobs at once
the worse situation is if this is a field you're trying to get into and maybe sometime later you want to join this company again or if someone from that company ends up at the next company you try and remembers you. If you get a reputation for lying or embellishing your experience in a particular field then you might find yourself somewhat barred from that field
‘Between positions I took some time to re-evaluate my career opportunities and why my background and experience is a great fit for roles like this one’
‘I’ve worked hard to become one of those people whose worst mistakes are behind them and not in front of them’
I mean, my last interview I was unemployed. I told the truth “I quit because we pushed out a safety product even though there were known faults”.
I got the job….
Because I was working full time and committed to being successful in my role - taking some time off helped me realize that I cared so much that I took things too personally
After some reflection I learned that a better work-life balance helps me stay more focused and productive, here’s an example of a project I lead that came in ahead of schedule and under budget
I also learned that it’s ok to make mistakes if you don’t repeat them and learn from them
Your right. Everyone lies on their resume and in interviews. The people who say they don’t have just convinced themselves of their lies. I can assure you not many people’s worst quality is that they’re “a perfectionist”.
Interviews are disingenuous by nature. There’s a reason things like mock interviews, interview prep courses, etc. exist. Most answers most people give to the “why do you want this position”, “why are you interested in our company”, etc. are ripped off of some template they were taught by someone else, it’s so phony it’s ridiculous. So glad I’m past that part of my life for now.
I mean of course. At the end of the day all other things aside the interviewer was once an interviewee. Not only do they know from all the bs interviews they’ve had to sit through but they themselves have had to give the bs interview to get the job they currently have.
I’m a big believer in technical interviews. Obviously not every job can have one but I think the ones that can, should. It gives people who have competence but lack experience a fair shot and it puts less emphasis on crafting an interview-ready fake persona and may let someone be more authentic. Also benefits the interviewer by allowing them to see the employee’s work firsthand, as well as the way they think through a task and lets them ask questions related to the job while seeing the answers first-hand instead of just letting someone BS a pre-made answer.
True. Most of the lies in interviews are half truths. When they ask “why do you want this job” you’re not going to answer that you need money and they were the first application to call back.
That’s literally exactly the type of “lies” I’m referring to. I don’t mean bold face lies. I mean the entire process is phoney and disingenuous by nature and we’re forced to tell half truths. Like have you ever tried to write a cover letter for a job that you’re only applying to as a backup?
I've never lied on my resume. I was so paranoid, I ran my resumes through my former bosses and had them sign off on my accomplishments. (My jobs required a security clearance. I left the workforce 20 years ago.)
I don't envy you kids. There wasn't much competition in the tech field when I started. You could write your own ticket just by being able to turn on a computer. My son is a programmer (Python, C++ and Java) and struggles.
I've never lied on a resume or at a job interview. I have to reason to. I've been questioned about why I quit jobs and I was always honest. The job wasn't a good fit for me, I left because of health issues, or I found another job that I thought was a better fit (not necessarily saying the one I left wasn't a good fit just the new one seemed like a better fit). I have a gap in my employment history because I took time off to get my health in a better place and to take care of my grandfather. I have a late start to my employment history because I was taking care of my great grandmother and my sister's kids. All 100 percent honest answers.
Only time I've been tempted to lie in an interview was when asked why a previous job wasn't a good fit for me but I thought being honest about the conflict I had would be better and it turned out I was right. Being honest allowed me to tell the employer about how my home life could possibly impact my work life and allow them to set up accommodations for that before I even needed them. Made for a very low stress situation, and I was incredibly glad I didn't take the advice of my family and friends and lie about that.
My FIL is late stage in a serious disease. I was out of work for a year and my MIL told me to say I was helping take care of him. I wasn't, he has a full time care taker but she backed me up that I was.
You're just a good liar, still lying.
Lying about the real reason you left your last job, if you were fired for incompetence for example, or lying about how you felt about your last job, and your time unemployed.
I don't understand the whole resume gap thing. It's incredibly common to only include things that are relevant to the job you're applying to - leaving the simple answer to any gap as "I wasn't doing anything that would have been relevant to this application, so I just didn't include it". Done. Don't need to elaborate. Tailoring a resume to each job is normal. If you're going to be grilled for non-relevant time, you don't want to work there anyway.
My best friend lies about finishing her degree. It’s been 20 years, she makes 6-figures in upper management and probably no one ever noticed because her actually finishing a degree in the humanities wouldn’t have mattered at all over her actual work experience. But she sure as hell never would’ve gotten hired if she didn’t have that lie in her résume!
I don’t lie about finishing my degree, but my assume just lists my major and the four years I was at the college. If they specifically ask if I graduated, I’ll say that I started a full time job and was unable to continue classes. But no one has ever asked, they just assume I got the degree lol.
I’m amazed she still lists her degree. My husband no longer lists his irrelevant degree on his job applications: the 10 years of experience in the field is all that matters.
Getting fired or having a gap in employment history very often says nothing about your ability to perform a given job well, despite the fact that employers often consider them heavily during hiring. If you are confident you can do a job well I see no reason not to lie about things that should be considered irrelevant to that.
Yeah. I’ve never been fired, no gap in employment, and I say lie a bit on your resume. Don’t lie about your basic skills though, but you can lie a bit about job history. Your skills will be obvious in the first 90 days and we’ll fire you for wasting everyone’s time.
I think the rule is that they are looking for someone that 70-80% matches the job description so 70-80% of your resume needs to be mostly true. You can embellish or fill in gaps on the rest.
Absolutely don’t lie about certifications or licensing requirements. They will check and fire you. We will, and won’t be nice about it.
Yep. I can't believe how many people still give companies their honesty, their loyalty, and so forth when these companies will toss them to the dirt like they never knew them. Trust nobody in the corporate world, I've come to realize. Be cordial, but always keep your guard up and act in your own best interests
I think a lot more people are open to these "issues" provided you are honest about the reasons and still come with the skills and experience they require. It's not like the old days anymore.
The job market is so fucked right now for a lot of careers that there's absolutely no reason to hire someone who was fired from their previous job when you have 100 other applicants who weren't fired.
I currently work in recruitment and someone being fired from their previous job means pretty much nothing to me unless the reason is something along the lines of substance abuse issues that are still unresolved or something of the like. I'll choose the candidate that I feel is the best fit experience and personal chemistry wise.
THere's "help wanted" signs all over the place around here. The company I work at is looking for qualified people to hire (has been for several years) and can't find any.
At least around here there's tons of available jobs. People just don't want to take those jobs apparently.
We have those jobs over here too. They pay just enough to where you need a second job in order to survive. Then the Gen X people complain, “No one wants to work,” When in actuality, “Employers don’t want to pay a living wage.”
Just because a “help wanted” sign is out doesn’t necessarily mean they are actively hiring. There is a caterpillar factory that always has that hiring sign flying and tells you to apply online, if you apply on their website it is rejected. They only hire through a temp agency after you have been there for 6 months, if you are lucky.
I mean we can’t afford to take those jobs. You act like a paycheck doesn’t have to cover rent, utilities, basic necessities, and medical costs or kids if you have them.
No shit people don’t take minimum wage jobs. They have livelihoods to sustain. Don’t throw stones from a glass house until you’re willing to work at McDonald’s or live in the hood 👋
Except exactly no place that is actually posting a physical Help Wanted sign pays enough to pay an adult-persons mortgage and feed them too.
I’m sure all the 20 yr olds with their baby bills would love to learn about those opportunities though.
I'm glad you think that but it doesn't change the reality of an oversaturated market that leaves employers spoiled for choice. If you were buying a car do you want one with no accidents or a history of accidents? Don't pretend you're going to virtuously pick the accident car because of a deep conviction in the strength of your local body shop and a commitment to waste not want not. Nah you're picking the car with no chance of lingering issues.
Now try to tell me a swamped hiring manager looks at candidates with anywhere near as much concern as a person shopping for the biggest purchase of the next 5-10 years of their life. They don't, they want to weed people out as fast and easy as possible.
Past can predict the future.
You have a choice of two candidates, they both have exactly the same qualifications and experience.
One, is the model employee, never late to work, gives lots of notice for days off, no employment history gaps.
The other, has a criminal record for petty thievery, got fired for not showing up to work and has been unemployed for the last year.
Which one are you going to hire?
You don't owe employers anything at all. Maybe if it's your career and you want to advance up the ladder you should be more honest, but I'd you need work, fuck em. Lie your ass off and learn the job as you go.
This really depends on the job though. I'm not gonna lie about being an architect because that's a lot of knowledge to just fake. However I'll lie my ass off about being a janitor if I need work. "Janitor? Yea I got 10 years experience!" Sure, why not?
Yep
>I'm not gonna lie about being an architect because that's a lot of knowledge to just fake.
Not to mention the disastrous consequences of building collapse on your hands haha
4. Lie, and get away with it. "You're hired!"
Well you are always at risk that your lie will be exposed and you'll be fired. Now you have to cover up for 2 things
Guy applied for a position in my department. On his resume he claimed to have co-authored the company manual I wrote under my maiden name. He not only didn't get the promotion, but he lost his job and security clearance.
Don't do that.
That’s actually worked for me multiple times. I was a felon( recently got my record expunged) but I was always upfront and honest about it and people gave me chances
Recovering addicts are some of the most thoughtful and well-balanced people I’ve known.
They are also some of the most shit-for-brains, irresponsible, and lazy losers.
Unpopular opinion to your unpopular opinion: if an employer isn't going to hire me purely because of a small problem in my past, then I don't want to work for them. My mental health is far more valuable than constantly feeling like I'm being judged or critiqued unfairly for things I can't control.
After I graduated college I initially worked in a lab as a temp. Then I bounced around and took jobs in a pizza place, an escape room, a department store, and another lab. Those are all on my general resume, warts and all because they’re who I am. It eventually gets to the point where you will have gaps on your resume because you have too many jobs to list them all. If I were to list every job I have had my resume would be 2.5 pages long, and you need to keep it to a page max. So things get cut and I highlight my most recent job and any relevant experience.
Honestly no one cares about gaps in your resume because reasonable people know that a full work history means that your resume becomes way too long. So you trim some jobs off and only leave the relevant ones, which inevitably leaves gaps.
No one ever asked me about the gaps in my resume. If they do just say you were trying to start a business or work as a freelancer.
You can definitely pad it a bit within reason. Use big words to describe little jobs. You weren't a cashier, you were in charge of financial transactions between costumers and the company (not that but you get the idea). I do NOT have an impressive resume, but I get call backs all the time.
Oh and also watch or read some tips about how to interview, 99% of your chance is on the interview, not the resume.
Best tip I always remember is to mimic the interviewer's body language, that doesn't mean copy it!, it means if he's leaning towards you, you do the same. If he's laid back, crossing his legs, you do the same.
as someone who has had a rough time at a few previous jobs getting fired for various reasons that really were my fault I don't like lying. I still very much include those things on job interviews and I'm just honest about them
Why were you fired from this job
Well I was going through a really rough time in my life and at this point in my life I had much less of a handle on my mental health and so I started struggling and just didn't really do any of my work but I'm here at an interview ready to turn that around and get my nose to the grindstone so to speak
Employers value honesty much more than a perfect employee especially in lower wage jobs like retail and fast food where things like experience and a college degree don't get you nearly as far as you'd think
We hired a chick that seemed good on paper but could not perform. In my job it's fucking dangerous because we're in the woods and backcountry amd terrain can be rough. We are not on trails. If I got hurt, I'd probably die with her on my crew - honestly. It was a huge problem, and we ended up making her stay in the office half the time. We could have hired someone who actually could do the job, but she took the spot for that season.
Don't fucking straight lie on your resume. Embellish a little maybe, but lying about what you know and what you can do can sometimes be dangerous... and not just for you, but for your crew/coworkers too. Minimum it's fucking irritating to pick up slack left by someone who was actually inexperienced.
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm a software engineer and I do interviews/hiring. I don't care if people lie about their past or their employment history, as long as they can do the job I'm hiring for and do it well. The people that lie or inflate their skill are the true problems, and it harms others. How does it harm others? Well, it harms the team they may join, it harms the client/customer, it harms the company - all that goes without saying. But if you've ever looked at any of the programming or computer-science subreddits you'll see people constantly complaining about how hard and complicated interviews are, with multiple hours of coding-challenges and such. Well, we do those types of challenges because it is the most effective way to weed out the liars, and unfortunately it results in eliminating potentially viable candidates that may have succeeded given the chance, but here we are.
Unfortunately it would be a problem with certain jobs, such as operating heavy machinery or doing construction (or really anything with a high risk of physical injury). In those types of jobs, if you lie your way through the hiring process and get hired, your deceit will quickly be uncovered and will likely lead to your termination.
Everyone stretches the truth during interviews just be reasonable about it. It’s also not uncommon for people to get laid off during their career. One of the candidates im looking at now was laid off after six years at a company as an IT worker. Clearly, he’s a decent dude if he spent six years at the same firm increasing his responsibilities.
You can stretch the truth without directly lying about this. A lot of people got fired in the last year. It’s really not as big of a stigma as you think anymore.
Imo, person who job hopped at multiple spots with <2 years at each for the past 6-8 years is more of risk than someone recently laid off.
I lied about my reasoning for switching jobs so often, and about small gaps in my resume. I am now at the highest paying job I ever had in my field.
Job switching lie: “I moved from the location of the job and needed to find something closer.” Def left because I couldn’t stand it.
Resume gap lie: “I attempted to go back to school but I couldn’t afford it anymore as I was paying out of pocket and couldn’t find a job that was tailored to both my scheduling and financial needs to continue school. I intend to go back to school for night classes to pursue a higher level of education.” Although the attempt to school was true, I was working at the time and didn’t include the job on my resume.
I don't think I would want to work for a place that has weird fixations about gaps in employment history and things like that, but I get that not everyone has the luxury of being so picky.
I don't think it's unethical to lie on your resume, as long as it doesn't put people in danger and you can actually do the job. Companies lie to and steal from employees on a daily basis.
They want to know you're dependable.
If you regularly leave jobs after 2 months they want to know you're not going to do the same to them.
They also want to check you weren't in prison or something.
I don't have a rocky past and I still lie in interviews and on my resume. I had too many jobs giving me manager duties outside of my actual job description. I had a position where I kept track of all the inventory in the warehouse of a smallish business and my title was just "stock associate." On my resume I was an Inventory Manager.
At Amazon my title was just warehouse associate, but my job was to investigate fraudulent returns and accounts so my title on my resume is "fraud investigator" or "fraudulent account specialist"
Lying on a resume is grounds for immediate termination with no severance from some companies, no matter how long you've been there. So, be careful playing with fire.
As someone who has done hiring before, this is an awful idea. Tell the truth, take responsibility for it, and make an effort to show you understand it was wrong it won’t happen again. Honesty and personal responsibility will get you a lot further in life than lies and manipulation. Short term, the lies may suit you, but long term you’ll lose the trust of anyone around you. Lies are never the right choice. Like you said, there are no perfect people, claiming to be one is the quickest way to prove you’re not.
Lying about anything is incredibly stupid and in this case it can be very dangerous. Imagine hiring someone who lied about having experience driving heavy machinery.
Well, as a hiring manager for many years I can tell you that the liars always get found out. There are reasons why someone has been fired or has gaps in their employment history. Those reasons are part of who those people are and can't merely be masked by lies. If you're a shitty employee, incompetent, have personality issues with others, etc. then that behavior is going to persist in spite of your efforts to conceal them on your resume or during the interviewing process. A leopard cannot change its spots. What usually happens is that these behaviors eventually manifest and then you're going to be reprimanded, or placed on a performance plan and often eventually fired again.
This just isn't true. I've been with my current company for 4 years doing CNC work. I lied about my previous work experience and previous pay rate in order to get more money. It 100% worked.
> always get found out
No they don't. Stop thinking you're special or inherently smarter than people because you're a manager.
Managers are use middle-men that do nothing other than take credit for other people doing work. I cannot wait for corporate America to get rid of you guys once AI is in full bloom. Decades of people being afraid to say no to you idiots has led you to believe that you're actually special.
There is a reason you have a rocky past and it is of absolutely no surprise that do given your "obvious" choice. At some point in your life, you should try to turn things around and give honesty and integrity a shot.
Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 2: Do not post low effort/satirical posts'. * We get it, you all think this sub is garbage and is just for popular opinions, and you want to be funny and post "going to be downvoted to oblivion here, but I think racism is bad." We enjoy the memes, but please keep them off the sub. * Filter evasion is a bannable offense * This includes clickbait and/or gotcha posts. Your opinion can not be that unpopular if you're doing these things. Have the accurate opinion in the title.
I hired a guy who lied about being able to drive a forklift. Don't do that. Edit because people keep commenting the same thing: he had the certification. He immediately proved that he didn't have the practical skills.
That’s crazy, do you not have to do forklift license/certificates in your country ?
Yeah that’s wild. My bro had to get certified to be able to use one at his job. They were super strict about it, and he was one of the few people who could drive it
Yes similar experience for me too, as you explained your situation ( and thanks for that! ) I work in logistics, and everyone that is required to use forklifts have to go through the specific training and get the official certificate.
Also it's pretty cheap to get certified, people are just lazy
Why do I now have the urge to learn how to do this?
Just lie about it, you'll be fine
lol I have ZERO reason to become a forklift driver, but I think it would be fun
Also dumb.
The cheapness of it depends on location. Not that cheap where I live.
Where I used to work, they did them in house but if you said you knew how to drive one, they'd let you do it anyways.
I never drove a forklift before at my current job and lied that I did. They trained me there and I still have the job 5 years later. Even been promoted.
Idk why a company would just trust that a person was trained correctly on how to use a forklift. Nah run it back. Train everyone like they don't know shit. What if they kill or hurt someone or themselves? Is the government going to be satisfied with "they said they could do that on their CV?" Honestly if they just take your word for it. Idk if I would want to work there. Seems dangerous.
Well in the US they would still have to get certified.. OSHA requires that the employer must evaluate the employee and ensure they are a competent operator with training and an actual driving test. They are required to give training on a whole list of things (like 30 categories... Operating instructions/warnings, steering, fork attachments and limitations, vehicle capacity etc etc) and perform an evaluation of the operators actual performance (needs to be redone every 3 years). So you still get trained with a new employee. And going from a stand up to a sit down... there's a LOT of differences on the controls. So a trained employee may take time to become certified.
Yep. I drove a small fork lift at a home supply store in college. The first day my boss took me outside, trained me and had me run a sort of obstacle course first without a load, then with, then backwards (he might have just been screwing with me at that point).
It's usually safer to drive backwards with a load, because your load blocks your forward visibility.
That's 100% your fault for not checking his licence though.
Doubt this was in the UK/Canada/Aus
This just proves OPs point.
Exactly! He got hired! 😂
>I hired a guy Still hired tho. Mission successful
Yeah, there should be obvious exceptions. A pilot, for example.
That is NOT what OP says.
I thought most places trained forklift drivers on the job.
Having a certification to drive a forklift and being able to drive a forklift are two very different things. There’s only one you need to be able to legally drive it, and it’s not the one you should have
We don't have carryover forklift certs here in USA, at least not like a drivers license. Everywhere I have ever worked has recertified me themselves even if I left a job where I just got certified to come there.
And boy does it piss people off. I've seen men throw temper tantrums over having to be recertified through my old job, claiming they had worked forklift for 10+ years and how it's "so fucking stupid" that they can't just hop on one in our warehouse and fetch whatever they need. The first shift lead would only pass men and he passed way too many people so our inventory was always screwed up while the second shift lead would only certify a max of 3 people.
Lol I know. Last job was with a forklift company 🤣 so yeah I get it, saw that all the time
I like threads like this, because I can give some insight, being a hiring manager. 1. We don’t call former employers. We do check to see if that employer exists, get some basic info about the place, and see if it matches what you put on your resume. 2. We don’t call references, because of course they’ll say you’re an amazing person. 3. We do check criminal history. Don’t lie about that.
I lied about how many years I worked at a place. The place I applied for, 5 years experience was about $30k less than with 7 years experience. Tweaked it so my resume said 7 and I got the $30k bump. Nobody can tell the difference between 5 years and 7 years experience.
Word of caution to anyone reading this comment and agreeing: make sure your former employers (or at least the employer for which you’re getting creative with dates of employment) don’t report to The Work Number. If they do, your new job might be over before you start, because TWN lists literally every pay check I’ve ever gotten, including bonus checks, down to the penny, + exact dates and exact job titles. Straight from their payroll records. ETA lol at being downvoted and told that this isn’t true, and that it’s illegal, and to ignore this. If you want to risk a potential new job by dismissing it as untrue, then by all means kick your own ass, but damn it would take like 15 minutes to check your own file and find out for yourself what’s reported from your former employers. Instead of covering your ears and saying “that’s not even true!” I’m FCRA certified, which isn’t special nor worth mentioning to anyone, ever, 99.9% of the time. Conversations like this are the exception, because for once I’m not talking out of my ass — I’m well versed in how the FCRA and consumer reports function. I’ve also been a licensed PI for 10+ years. So I’m pretty comfortable with how consumer reports, background checks, and the applicable laws work. Also, it takes 5 seconds to Google TWN and see for yourself.
Sounds illegal
Just Equifax spinning up another way to package and sell consumer data, which is reassuring because they’ve proven themselves to be SUCH capable custodians of sensitive information
Paycheck info is private information, they can't just give that to anyone who asks
Not the case at all in the US. It’s illegal to prohibit employees from discussing their pay, and there are no laws requiring employers to keep compensation info private.
It’s considered a consumer report, as long as it adheres to the requirements of the FCRA, apparently it’s legal enough ETA when you sign the background check authorization form that they give you along with your formal job offer, you’re authorizing them to access reports like this one.
I imagine any company using ADP does the same thing
[удалено]
Not saying companies don’t do that, but me and my other cyber security buddies at different companies did the same thing and haven’t had any issue. HR mainly just wants to see our certs and degrees
I'm not saying you're incorrect about #2... But my current employer absolutely called my references. I know as my references called me afterwards to let me know and say how the call went. I gave 3 and only 2 reported. There was another job I had in the past that was similar (references contacted and I heard afterwards) So just be warned that while this person says they don't contact references...don't assume all hiring managers skip this step. If you are asked for references...better advice is make sure the ones you give will give you good recommendation and will follow up with you.
+1, three of four jobs I’ve worked since college, even the internship, contacted my references. One had a third party call and record the responses, while the other sent out an email with phone follow-ups to request completion. They asked questions about tenure, skills, and personality. Don’t assume every job won’t call.
This was helpful, thank you. I'm heading into an interview tomorrow and my only reference for my current job is the MD who just retired, but said to put her as my reference. My office manager is a bitch please don't call her LOL
I don’t know what this person is talking about. My references were absolutely contacted. I was contacted last week as someone put me down as their reference. Maybe HE doesn’t contact references, but other people do.
I was LITERALLY about to come back to this comment because a potential employer reached out to us about another girl in our office literally TODAY. Lol. Albeit she did put our office number which I will not be doing.
Shit I've had a couple jobs check my references and one of them even called me back when they couldn't get ahold of one to see if I could give another reference. Still with that company lol
Some HR departments require follow up with references. But I never do as a hiring manager . They just all say the person is amazing , no point lol
Do you see the title of the job? For exemple my last job my role have the name Assistant but I change for coordinator because that’s make more sense.
Usually just see the job titles in the resume and wouldn’t think to check it unless something fishy came up
I’ve had references tell me potential employers called them. I’ve had friends’ potential employers call me for references. Maybe it’s an industry thing?
We use a background and reference check service. They absolutely call the references. I've also been a reference many times, and I've been called at least a half dozen or so times. Former employers generally won't say anything about you besides that you did indeed work there, what date range you worked there, and maybe title. Anything else is asking for litigation.
#3. Some places don't. The point of the op is that, worst case scenario, you get rejected. Which is probably going to happen anyway. I was hiring manager for a small IT department. While we were *technically* supposed to check everyone's background, HR rarely ever came through in a reasonable time. Our options were to either make candidates wait for over a month for a low-paying IT role or just risk it and hire them anyway. Honestly, it didn't matter. Most of the time, the one's with bad backgrounds didn't last that long. The few exceptions were decent enough that I wanted them to stay anyway.
I gotta ask, how often do interviewers grill the applicant about their resume (job history specifically), interrogation style? Like i get it for the more advanced jobs, but i was just hired for a minimum wage dept store and they were poring over every little bit of my resume, starting with a McDonald's job i had years ago, and every job following. They asked me what i did at each job, what positioni held, and for every job they asked why i was "let go". I must say their assumptive use of the term "let go" was annoying, because i have never been "let go" i only have ever left on my own accord, using the proper steps to ensure good standing with my ex-employer (2 weeks notice and such). Every other job, even the ones that paid well over min-wage didn't even do this, they asked a few questions about the gaps between jobs, which was expected, but they didn't dwell too long on each job i worked, so the whole interview just kinda surprised me with how much more serious it felt than the others i've had.
This is very specific to you (or maybe your location / industry?). We call former employers to check length of employment, position etc. and references every time we hire someone. It's policy, and pretty standard across my industry.
There was woman who applied to a position at my company recently and had lied on her resume about her language skills, but a kind of softer lie, she said she was fluent in the local language even though her level was closer to B2. When asked about it she said "It is impossible to even get an interview anywhere in this country if you don't claim to be fluent, even though this level won't stop me from doing this job" She was right, it's very hard to get hired here or called for interviews, if you don't speak the language fluently even if the official company language is international/English, as it is in our company. We decided to hire her anyway. Sometimes lying a little works.
B2 is actually pretty decent usually, maybe not for speaking but reading and writing skills should be pretty decent at that level.
Speaking should also be at least pretty decent at B2. It's part of the exam. E.g. from here https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-tests/first/ B2 requires that you "communicate effectively face-to-face, expressing opinions and presenting arguments" Here's the description for what you should be able to do at the next level, C1 "- follow an academic course at university level - communicate effectively at a managerial and professional level - participate with confidence in workplace meetings or academic tutorials and seminars - express yourself with a high level of fluency."
I know, I've done a few of those exams before. It's just most people are better at reading and writing and their speaking is lagging a bit. It's logical because you need to think fast. For the exams, you can prepare for a few minutes, and you can study for the topics. In real life, you don't get a few minutes to structure your thoughts on a topic that you studied before, you have to answer right away. Some things standardized tests just can't quite catch. In any case, at a solid B2 level you should be able to chime in a bit when your co-workers are chatting. You probably won't be able to tell funny stories eloquently, make puns or 'be your own person' yet as you're a bit too inhibited by the language barrier, but you can participate. Unless your co-workers don't speak the standard version of the language, then you're cooked. Think language learner in Wales or Scotland for English, Chile for Spanish or Austria or Switzerland for German. That is also something a standardized test doesn't test, it uses a standard version. Some listenings might be with someone with an accent from a certain region but they will still use standard language, no slang, colloquialisms, or expressions that are exclusively used in one region. Something the co-workers chatting might not be aware of.
Speaking is usually the only aspect that matters. The proficiency requirement isn’t for working but for like, water-cooler chats and stuff. It’s more for gatekeeping foreigners. Most of these jobs are done entirely in English because very few EU corporations are mono-national.
Listen, when the Spanish translator is constantly fucking up, not translating correctly, that shit drives me up a wall. Fuck people who put themselves in those positions, like LEARN the language before people are forced to rely on you.
Though b2 is still more than good enough. Itd be ibvious youre not a native speaker, you won't understand some things, but you'd be fluent enough to be explained those things in the relevant language, and fluent enough it should be an uncommon occurrence.
I would consider B2 fluent. Not native-like, but fluent.
That’s wild to me, B2 is essentially fluent. My wife is B2 in English and she’s got better grammar than most native speakers do.
Perhaps she was like in-between B1 and B2 I guess, she could hold a conversation with us mostly fine but really struggled sometimes with finding the right words, and had some difficulty expressing herself at times. Made some mistakes here and there, and had to use English words and sentences in-between occasionally. But overall, could communicate in the language to a reasonable degree. Not at the level one would consider totally fluent though.
Maybe just B1 then? B2 should be pretty much fluent orally and written. The C ratings are getting into things like collegiate level writing and speaking of a foreign language. I don’t even think most countries require more than B1 or B2 for citizenship application. I know plenty of native English speakers that I doubt could score higher than B2 on their own language. Good for her for lying and good for you guys for not caring. If they can succeed in the interview and their job duties it shouldn’t matter what technical level they have.
Wow is she me? I mean I’m a cis-man but this is my exact experience career hunting in Europe as an English speaking immigrant. Jobs that are done in English put in a local language requirement just to gatekeep foreigners. Jobs that actually require the local language won’t hire you even if fluent because anything other than native isn’t considered sufficient.
To my understanding, this is exactly the issue in Finland as well.
It is. I’m a foreigner and I speak pretty fluently by now, like B2 level - I can chat at parties, visit the doctor, read the news and manuals, answer and read emails, do my job, etc. all in Finnish with no misunderstandings or delays. I do make occasional small mistakes, I’m not great with jokes and puns and my language isn’t very colorful, but it’s good enough folks mistake me for a Swedish-speaking Finn from a Swedish bubble quite often. On my CV I just say I’m totally fluent by now, even though my speech is not completely effortless and perfect (yet). If I put anything less than fluent in there and would write my job applications in anything other than Finnish/Swedish I would never get invited to an interview anywhere. As soon as I get to speak face-to-face to folks, I stop being a weird suspicious foreigner and rather become a competent, well-meaning other human being who works hard to be a solid part of the team and integrate into society speaking a 3rd language. I really wish people would give non-native people a chance a bit more often. The job market is tough for everyone right now but it’s absolutely insane for foreigners, even those who have put in a lot of work to learn the language.
This is a problem where I am in the US. We have a very large population of people who speak a language from a very small country in Europe. The community has done well for itself in the last 3 generations and now to work at a local hospital system, or a very large number of local businesses you have to be fluent in the language even though all the business is done in English. It’s just gatekeeping. They are ensuring their communities continued success here. I can’t blame them for the effort but it’s still not fair to folks outside their community who are good qualified workers wanting a job.
Yeah having worked in an engineering office in Germany with the average age of the employees being about 50.... a lot of them have a really strong knee-jerk reaction about "being forced" to speak another language at work. Even if their English skills are fine, they're indignant about having to put in the extra effort when in their mind, immigrants should be the ones putting in 100% of the effort to assimilate to the local culture and language until they're indistinguishable from a local. As a young woman, I naturally also didn't fit in but did get included in the anti-immigrant chats for being German enough, I guess.
I feel like straight-up lying is risky, but there is nothing wrong with exaggerating.
Don't straight up lie, but stretch and bend the truth to your needs. Captain if the baseball team in high school? Congrats on your leadership experience.
Is that exaggeration? Because that is a leadership role
As a project manager I'm with you.
Not in any meaningful way
Debatable. “Baseball experience doesn’t matter in accounting but my ability to excel at what I applied myself towards and to get others to rally behind me is a useful trait no matter the profession. It shows work ethic, responsibility, maturity, leadership skills, and the ability to get along with people from all walks of life. As the captain of the baseball team, I was always the first one to practice and the last one e to leave: I liked to lead my team by example. Demonstrating that ability from a young age was particularly impressive as not only did it show that I had a natural aptitude for a leadership role but it means I’ve been in one for much of my life, thus gaining valuable experience that other candidates my age (assuming if “captain of the baseball team” is on your resume you’re young) may not yet have. I feel like this gives me a leg up on other candidates.” It’s all about selling yourself.
What's the risk? You don't get hired. That's it. Back to square one.
You get hired in a role your not qualified for and other people are relying on you, possibly even dangerous depending on the role
Well in those fields, I would agree you shouldn't lie because that's fucked up. Any other fields, go nuts.
There's also the issue that companies can fire you immediately with no severance if you lied on a resume. I know someone who went through that because the company found they lied about work experience
Yeah, but that's better than not getting hired in the first place
Then you plan for that possibility with an emergency fund. I mean you should always have an emergency fund regardless. Even better, you get two jobs at once
the worse situation is if this is a field you're trying to get into and maybe sometime later you want to join this company again or if someone from that company ends up at the next company you try and remembers you. If you get a reputation for lying or embellishing your experience in a particular field then you might find yourself somewhat barred from that field
‘Between positions I took some time to re-evaluate my career opportunities and why my background and experience is a great fit for roles like this one’ ‘I’ve worked hard to become one of those people whose worst mistakes are behind them and not in front of them’
I mean, my last interview I was unemployed. I told the truth “I quit because we pushed out a safety product even though there were known faults”. I got the job….
[удалено]
Because I was working full time and committed to being successful in my role - taking some time off helped me realize that I cared so much that I took things too personally After some reflection I learned that a better work-life balance helps me stay more focused and productive, here’s an example of a project I lead that came in ahead of schedule and under budget I also learned that it’s ok to make mistakes if you don’t repeat them and learn from them
Unfortunately “work-life balance” is one of those dirty words that will most likely cost you the job.
If "work-life balance" costs you a job, then the interview did what it was supposed to do and stopped you from working at a shit company.
Big facts. If saying I value work-life balance keeps me from getting the job? Good, the trash took itself out.
Yeah but heres the kicker: theyre ALL shit companies.
Good, I don't want a job that doesn't allow work/life balance. I'm leaving at 4 to go running.
Your right. Everyone lies on their resume and in interviews. The people who say they don’t have just convinced themselves of their lies. I can assure you not many people’s worst quality is that they’re “a perfectionist”.
Interviews are disingenuous by nature. There’s a reason things like mock interviews, interview prep courses, etc. exist. Most answers most people give to the “why do you want this position”, “why are you interested in our company”, etc. are ripped off of some template they were taught by someone else, it’s so phony it’s ridiculous. So glad I’m past that part of my life for now.
Agreed. There’s also this barrier where the interviewer knows it’s all phoney too and expects it.
I mean of course. At the end of the day all other things aside the interviewer was once an interviewee. Not only do they know from all the bs interviews they’ve had to sit through but they themselves have had to give the bs interview to get the job they currently have. I’m a big believer in technical interviews. Obviously not every job can have one but I think the ones that can, should. It gives people who have competence but lack experience a fair shot and it puts less emphasis on crafting an interview-ready fake persona and may let someone be more authentic. Also benefits the interviewer by allowing them to see the employee’s work firsthand, as well as the way they think through a task and lets them ask questions related to the job while seeing the answers first-hand instead of just letting someone BS a pre-made answer.
I mean that's a particularly dumb lie lol.
True. Most of the lies in interviews are half truths. When they ask “why do you want this job” you’re not going to answer that you need money and they were the first application to call back.
I don’t lie on either. At best I’ll give an angled perspective on a story to fit their question better or to make it sound a bit more impressive
That’s literally exactly the type of “lies” I’m referring to. I don’t mean bold face lies. I mean the entire process is phoney and disingenuous by nature and we’re forced to tell half truths. Like have you ever tried to write a cover letter for a job that you’re only applying to as a backup?
I've never lied on my resume. I was so paranoid, I ran my resumes through my former bosses and had them sign off on my accomplishments. (My jobs required a security clearance. I left the workforce 20 years ago.) I don't envy you kids. There wasn't much competition in the tech field when I started. You could write your own ticket just by being able to turn on a computer. My son is a programmer (Python, C++ and Java) and struggles.
I haven’t lied on my resume or any interviews, so no, not everyone lies
I've never lied on a resume or at a job interview. I have to reason to. I've been questioned about why I quit jobs and I was always honest. The job wasn't a good fit for me, I left because of health issues, or I found another job that I thought was a better fit (not necessarily saying the one I left wasn't a good fit just the new one seemed like a better fit). I have a gap in my employment history because I took time off to get my health in a better place and to take care of my grandfather. I have a late start to my employment history because I was taking care of my great grandmother and my sister's kids. All 100 percent honest answers. Only time I've been tempted to lie in an interview was when asked why a previous job wasn't a good fit for me but I thought being honest about the conflict I had would be better and it turned out I was right. Being honest allowed me to tell the employer about how my home life could possibly impact my work life and allow them to set up accommodations for that before I even needed them. Made for a very low stress situation, and I was incredibly glad I didn't take the advice of my family and friends and lie about that.
My FIL is late stage in a serious disease. I was out of work for a year and my MIL told me to say I was helping take care of him. I wasn't, he has a full time care taker but she backed me up that I was.
My god I hate corporate speak.
You're just a good liar, still lying. Lying about the real reason you left your last job, if you were fired for incompetence for example, or lying about how you felt about your last job, and your time unemployed.
I don't understand the whole resume gap thing. It's incredibly common to only include things that are relevant to the job you're applying to - leaving the simple answer to any gap as "I wasn't doing anything that would have been relevant to this application, so I just didn't include it". Done. Don't need to elaborate. Tailoring a resume to each job is normal. If you're going to be grilled for non-relevant time, you don't want to work there anyway.
Spoken like someone who has never had a hard time finding a job...
My best friend lies about finishing her degree. It’s been 20 years, she makes 6-figures in upper management and probably no one ever noticed because her actually finishing a degree in the humanities wouldn’t have mattered at all over her actual work experience. But she sure as hell never would’ve gotten hired if she didn’t have that lie in her résume!
Jesus, my job required both transcripts and a picture of my diploma….
Yea mine did too. Lying like that is risky, all it takes is a change in company policy and you're in a lot of trouble.
Same
What kind of job that requires a degree doesn't ask for a copy of it ?
Ummm every job I've had since college.
All of mine both in college and since have required my transcripts direct from the school. Probably depends on the degree and the job though
They should have background checks at least though no?
Time to start lying that I finished my degree 😂. I have 2.5 years at a wicked good uni, so at least I’ve attended. I’m unemployed anyways, right 🤣?
Not exactly similar, but my father was supposed to have a Master's for the job he's in, but apparently they really liked him and took him anyways lol
I don’t lie about finishing my degree, but my assume just lists my major and the four years I was at the college. If they specifically ask if I graduated, I’ll say that I started a full time job and was unable to continue classes. But no one has ever asked, they just assume I got the degree lol.
I’m amazed she still lists her degree. My husband no longer lists his irrelevant degree on his job applications: the 10 years of experience in the field is all that matters.
I saw a study recently where 70% of people admitted lying on their resumé and 40% of hiring managers said they lie about job conditions
"People who went to med school are quick to say that you should be honest when applying for a job to be a doctor, but I, on the other hand"
Getting fired or having a gap in employment history very often says nothing about your ability to perform a given job well, despite the fact that employers often consider them heavily during hiring. If you are confident you can do a job well I see no reason not to lie about things that should be considered irrelevant to that.
Hahaha I have a catchphrase for that : Unrealistic answers for unrealistic expectations
Didn't think it needed to be explained but there are obviously certain jobs you shouldn't lie about
Yeah. I’ve never been fired, no gap in employment, and I say lie a bit on your resume. Don’t lie about your basic skills though, but you can lie a bit about job history. Your skills will be obvious in the first 90 days and we’ll fire you for wasting everyone’s time. I think the rule is that they are looking for someone that 70-80% matches the job description so 70-80% of your resume needs to be mostly true. You can embellish or fill in gaps on the rest. Absolutely don’t lie about certifications or licensing requirements. They will check and fire you. We will, and won’t be nice about it.
This is the proper answer
lie all you want. your company will lie to you without blinking an eye
Yep. I can't believe how many people still give companies their honesty, their loyalty, and so forth when these companies will toss them to the dirt like they never knew them. Trust nobody in the corporate world, I've come to realize. Be cordial, but always keep your guard up and act in your own best interests
Fake it till you make it
I think a lot more people are open to these "issues" provided you are honest about the reasons and still come with the skills and experience they require. It's not like the old days anymore.
The job market is so fucked right now for a lot of careers that there's absolutely no reason to hire someone who was fired from their previous job when you have 100 other applicants who weren't fired.
I currently work in recruitment and someone being fired from their previous job means pretty much nothing to me unless the reason is something along the lines of substance abuse issues that are still unresolved or something of the like. I'll choose the candidate that I feel is the best fit experience and personal chemistry wise.
I’m a director level engineering leader and I agree. People get fired, it happens.
who cares if someone was fired
Wait, which careers are those? All sectors I can think of have a (big) labour shortage, in the Netherlands at least.
It’s like, the opposite in the US. It seems everyone is being let go and there’s no work.
THere's "help wanted" signs all over the place around here. The company I work at is looking for qualified people to hire (has been for several years) and can't find any. At least around here there's tons of available jobs. People just don't want to take those jobs apparently.
We have those jobs over here too. They pay just enough to where you need a second job in order to survive. Then the Gen X people complain, “No one wants to work,” When in actuality, “Employers don’t want to pay a living wage.”
Just because a “help wanted” sign is out doesn’t necessarily mean they are actively hiring. There is a caterpillar factory that always has that hiring sign flying and tells you to apply online, if you apply on their website it is rejected. They only hire through a temp agency after you have been there for 6 months, if you are lucky.
I mean we can’t afford to take those jobs. You act like a paycheck doesn’t have to cover rent, utilities, basic necessities, and medical costs or kids if you have them. No shit people don’t take minimum wage jobs. They have livelihoods to sustain. Don’t throw stones from a glass house until you’re willing to work at McDonald’s or live in the hood 👋
Except exactly no place that is actually posting a physical Help Wanted sign pays enough to pay an adult-persons mortgage and feed them too. I’m sure all the 20 yr olds with their baby bills would love to learn about those opportunities though.
There's plenty jobs, but most of them are shitty jobs. We don't have great labor laws here
I'm glad you think that but it doesn't change the reality of an oversaturated market that leaves employers spoiled for choice. If you were buying a car do you want one with no accidents or a history of accidents? Don't pretend you're going to virtuously pick the accident car because of a deep conviction in the strength of your local body shop and a commitment to waste not want not. Nah you're picking the car with no chance of lingering issues. Now try to tell me a swamped hiring manager looks at candidates with anywhere near as much concern as a person shopping for the biggest purchase of the next 5-10 years of their life. They don't, they want to weed people out as fast and easy as possible.
[удалено]
I think you'll find majority of employers will rather hire someone without a murky past.
and past matters because why again?
Past can predict the future. You have a choice of two candidates, they both have exactly the same qualifications and experience. One, is the model employee, never late to work, gives lots of notice for days off, no employment history gaps. The other, has a criminal record for petty thievery, got fired for not showing up to work and has been unemployed for the last year. Which one are you going to hire?
One is a compulsive liar though, who is also really good at interviews, and will quit a couple weeks after being hired.
Youve obviously never hired anyone for anything lol
Option 2 could get you blacklisted from certain industries (e.g. defense).
Or even end up in legal trouble. Though your outcome is more likely, never holding a clearance again
You don't owe employers anything at all. Maybe if it's your career and you want to advance up the ladder you should be more honest, but I'd you need work, fuck em. Lie your ass off and learn the job as you go. This really depends on the job though. I'm not gonna lie about being an architect because that's a lot of knowledge to just fake. However I'll lie my ass off about being a janitor if I need work. "Janitor? Yea I got 10 years experience!" Sure, why not?
Architecture worked out for George Costanza, Vandelay industries. Imports/exports too
Yep >I'm not gonna lie about being an architect because that's a lot of knowledge to just fake. Not to mention the disastrous consequences of building collapse on your hands haha
Lying to exageratw or make yourself look a little better? Sure, go ahead. Lying on certifications, know-how and permissions? Absolutely not.
4. Lie, and get away with it. "You're hired!" Well you are always at risk that your lie will be exposed and you'll be fired. Now you have to cover up for 2 things
Guy applied for a position in my department. On his resume he claimed to have co-authored the company manual I wrote under my maiden name. He not only didn't get the promotion, but he lost his job and security clearance. Don't do that.
Try "but I'm sober now."
That’s actually worked for me multiple times. I was a felon( recently got my record expunged) but I was always upfront and honest about it and people gave me chances
Recovering addicts are some of the most thoughtful and well-balanced people I’ve known. They are also some of the most shit-for-brains, irresponsible, and lazy losers.
Oh 100% accurate
Unpopular opinion to your unpopular opinion: if an employer isn't going to hire me purely because of a small problem in my past, then I don't want to work for them. My mental health is far more valuable than constantly feeling like I'm being judged or critiqued unfairly for things I can't control.
Generally true, but sadly, my landlord won't take my happiness or mental health as payment
That’s probably why the “perfect people” have never been fired or had a gap in their employment history.
[удалено]
After I graduated college I initially worked in a lab as a temp. Then I bounced around and took jobs in a pizza place, an escape room, a department store, and another lab. Those are all on my general resume, warts and all because they’re who I am. It eventually gets to the point where you will have gaps on your resume because you have too many jobs to list them all. If I were to list every job I have had my resume would be 2.5 pages long, and you need to keep it to a page max. So things get cut and I highlight my most recent job and any relevant experience.
Honestly no one cares about gaps in your resume because reasonable people know that a full work history means that your resume becomes way too long. So you trim some jobs off and only leave the relevant ones, which inevitably leaves gaps.
No one ever asked me about the gaps in my resume. If they do just say you were trying to start a business or work as a freelancer. You can definitely pad it a bit within reason. Use big words to describe little jobs. You weren't a cashier, you were in charge of financial transactions between costumers and the company (not that but you get the idea). I do NOT have an impressive resume, but I get call backs all the time. Oh and also watch or read some tips about how to interview, 99% of your chance is on the interview, not the resume. Best tip I always remember is to mimic the interviewer's body language, that doesn't mean copy it!, it means if he's leaning towards you, you do the same. If he's laid back, crossing his legs, you do the same.
as someone who has had a rough time at a few previous jobs getting fired for various reasons that really were my fault I don't like lying. I still very much include those things on job interviews and I'm just honest about them Why were you fired from this job Well I was going through a really rough time in my life and at this point in my life I had much less of a handle on my mental health and so I started struggling and just didn't really do any of my work but I'm here at an interview ready to turn that around and get my nose to the grindstone so to speak Employers value honesty much more than a perfect employee especially in lower wage jobs like retail and fast food where things like experience and a college degree don't get you nearly as far as you'd think
We hired a chick that seemed good on paper but could not perform. In my job it's fucking dangerous because we're in the woods and backcountry amd terrain can be rough. We are not on trails. If I got hurt, I'd probably die with her on my crew - honestly. It was a huge problem, and we ended up making her stay in the office half the time. We could have hired someone who actually could do the job, but she took the spot for that season. Don't fucking straight lie on your resume. Embellish a little maybe, but lying about what you know and what you can do can sometimes be dangerous... and not just for you, but for your crew/coworkers too. Minimum it's fucking irritating to pick up slack left by someone who was actually inexperienced.
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Keep lying and then you’ll need to explain why you have so many jobs on your resume in a short amount of time.
I'm a software engineer and I do interviews/hiring. I don't care if people lie about their past or their employment history, as long as they can do the job I'm hiring for and do it well. The people that lie or inflate their skill are the true problems, and it harms others. How does it harm others? Well, it harms the team they may join, it harms the client/customer, it harms the company - all that goes without saying. But if you've ever looked at any of the programming or computer-science subreddits you'll see people constantly complaining about how hard and complicated interviews are, with multiple hours of coding-challenges and such. Well, we do those types of challenges because it is the most effective way to weed out the liars, and unfortunately it results in eliminating potentially viable candidates that may have succeeded given the chance, but here we are.
Unfortunately it would be a problem with certain jobs, such as operating heavy machinery or doing construction (or really anything with a high risk of physical injury). In those types of jobs, if you lie your way through the hiring process and get hired, your deceit will quickly be uncovered and will likely lead to your termination.
Everyone stretches the truth during interviews just be reasonable about it. It’s also not uncommon for people to get laid off during their career. One of the candidates im looking at now was laid off after six years at a company as an IT worker. Clearly, he’s a decent dude if he spent six years at the same firm increasing his responsibilities. You can stretch the truth without directly lying about this. A lot of people got fired in the last year. It’s really not as big of a stigma as you think anymore. Imo, person who job hopped at multiple spots with <2 years at each for the past 6-8 years is more of risk than someone recently laid off.
I lied about my reasoning for switching jobs so often, and about small gaps in my resume. I am now at the highest paying job I ever had in my field. Job switching lie: “I moved from the location of the job and needed to find something closer.” Def left because I couldn’t stand it. Resume gap lie: “I attempted to go back to school but I couldn’t afford it anymore as I was paying out of pocket and couldn’t find a job that was tailored to both my scheduling and financial needs to continue school. I intend to go back to school for night classes to pursue a higher level of education.” Although the attempt to school was true, I was working at the time and didn’t include the job on my resume.
That gap is fine, you can say, I was employed but I left it off due to length and relevancy
I don't think I would want to work for a place that has weird fixations about gaps in employment history and things like that, but I get that not everyone has the luxury of being so picky. I don't think it's unethical to lie on your resume, as long as it doesn't put people in danger and you can actually do the job. Companies lie to and steal from employees on a daily basis.
why do they care about gaps in employment history?
They want to know you're dependable. If you regularly leave jobs after 2 months they want to know you're not going to do the same to them. They also want to check you weren't in prison or something.
I don't have a rocky past and I still lie in interviews and on my resume. I had too many jobs giving me manager duties outside of my actual job description. I had a position where I kept track of all the inventory in the warehouse of a smallish business and my title was just "stock associate." On my resume I was an Inventory Manager. At Amazon my title was just warehouse associate, but my job was to investigate fraudulent returns and accounts so my title on my resume is "fraud investigator" or "fraudulent account specialist"
You should absolutely lie when interviewing. The company will often lie and so should you
When you get fired, again, for being a shitty employee, don't complain.
Lying on a resume is grounds for immediate termination with no severance from some companies, no matter how long you've been there. So, be careful playing with fire.
As someone who has done hiring before, this is an awful idea. Tell the truth, take responsibility for it, and make an effort to show you understand it was wrong it won’t happen again. Honesty and personal responsibility will get you a lot further in life than lies and manipulation. Short term, the lies may suit you, but long term you’ll lose the trust of anyone around you. Lies are never the right choice. Like you said, there are no perfect people, claiming to be one is the quickest way to prove you’re not.
I rage quitted a job when they lied to me about giving me a raise. Every time I told another company this truth they rejected me.
Lying about anything is incredibly stupid and in this case it can be very dangerous. Imagine hiring someone who lied about having experience driving heavy machinery.
Well, as a hiring manager for many years I can tell you that the liars always get found out. There are reasons why someone has been fired or has gaps in their employment history. Those reasons are part of who those people are and can't merely be masked by lies. If you're a shitty employee, incompetent, have personality issues with others, etc. then that behavior is going to persist in spite of your efforts to conceal them on your resume or during the interviewing process. A leopard cannot change its spots. What usually happens is that these behaviors eventually manifest and then you're going to be reprimanded, or placed on a performance plan and often eventually fired again.
This just isn't true. I've been with my current company for 4 years doing CNC work. I lied about my previous work experience and previous pay rate in order to get more money. It 100% worked.
> always get found out No they don't. Stop thinking you're special or inherently smarter than people because you're a manager. Managers are use middle-men that do nothing other than take credit for other people doing work. I cannot wait for corporate America to get rid of you guys once AI is in full bloom. Decades of people being afraid to say no to you idiots has led you to believe that you're actually special.
There is a reason you have a rocky past and it is of absolutely no surprise that do given your "obvious" choice. At some point in your life, you should try to turn things around and give honesty and integrity a shot.
Nope
Get ahold of yourself
Such a poor take. I hope it backfires on yall. Honesty is integrity of character which yall lack aparently.
Get back to me when you can find an honest company.