Do Not Lie on a Job Application

Two stories, same result.

Before I retired, we were hiring for a senior management position in our marketing department. After several months looking for the person with the right skills and fit, we had a candidate we liked. He was at the final phases of the interview process. All he had to do was pass a background check and we would have extended him an offer.

Well the background check came back with something. He had been convicted of a minor felony. He had said he had no convictions in his past. To make a long story short, we ended up not hiring him. We didn't pass on him because of the conviction (it was long ago and not that big of a deal), but because he lied to us.

When we told him we weren't hiring him and why, he admitted that he had lied, apologized, and said he understood completely.

More recently my son took a job at our local grocery store. A week after he started, another new hire was let go. The reason: his background check had come back and revealed something he lied about. I don't know if it was the incident itself or the fact that he lied about it (or both!) that got him fired, but I'm sure that lying did not help. (BTW I'm not sure why they hired him and did the background check afterwards.)

Moral of the story: do not lie on your job application.

In fact, do not lie in any part of the job application process. Not on your resume, not in an interview, not ever. It's just not worth it. If you're ever found out (and odds are good you will be), you will likely be toast.

I would go farther and say not to lie at all in anything you do, but I'll leave that advice for your mom to give. :)

Comments

[cmadler]

Many years ago I had someone I hired who listed on their employment application that they had completed a college degree. The degree was not required for the position, and in fact at least 50% of the employees in that position didn't have one. The background check uncovered that the individual hadn't quite completed the degree -- like 2 or 3 courses short -- and we had to fire them. If the individual hadn't even listed the college at all, they would have been hired anyway, but because of the lie, they were gone.

If you lie on your job application, you will get found out, and you will get fired, even if what you lied about is completely immaterial to the job.

[Ten Factorial Rocks]

Good post FMF. As a senior manager who, over my career, has probably intereviewed over 500 people, I will say that one of the first things I look for is a mismatch between the resume and the candidate in person. I can smell lying in a resume within 10 minutes of an interview and I show the candidate the door. I don't even like candidates who aren't lying but hire resume writers, after all, it's your professional background and accomplishments - who better than you to summarize it in a resume? If you can't put a crisp resume together highlighting your career, then why would you be capable of holding a management or professional position where you will be expected to synthesize and get to the crux of every issue from the morass of data and business risks, and present solutions. Lying in a resume is, of course, the worst offense in my view.