10 most outrageous resume lies
August 7, 2008 by Fred HosierPosted in: Dubious decisions, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
As an HR pro, you know people write their resumes to put themselves in the best possible light — nothing wrong with that. However, some applicants don’t know where to draw the line between a little embellishment and outright lies.
Careerbulider.com surveyed hiring managers to collect the most outrageous claims they’re seen on resumes.
Applicants claimed:
- That they were a member of the Kennedy family
- To attend a school that didn’t exist
- Membership in Mensa
- That they looked much different — resumes included photos of someone else
- To be a CEO of a company when they were an hourly employee
- They had worked for someone when they actually hadn’t
- To have military experience that dated back to before they were born
- They had done work they hadn’t done (and the work was actually done by the interviewer)
- To be Hispanic when they were 100% Caucasian, and
- To have played pro baseball.
The hiring managers surveyed said lies about job duties and responsibilities were the most common.
The survey found the most lies and embellishment in the hospitality industry, with transportation/utilities and information technology close behind.
What lies have you found on applicants resumes? Let us know in the comments box below.
Tags: lies, responsibilities, resumes
August 8th, 2008 at 9:57 am
A candidate claimed to have 5 years of relevant experience, but he said not to contact his former employer because he worked for cash, and under a different identity because he was in the witness protection program. He didn’t know I had worked for that employer as well and had never heard of him, or met him. Of course, he had plastic surgery done to protect his identity.
August 8th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Worse was a gentleman who claimed to have graduated from the London School of Economics with a Master’s degree and he produced the diploma showing that he graduated in 1970, when he would have been 12 years old
August 8th, 2008 at 10:41 am
I’m troubled by the “lie” that someone claimed “to be Hispanic when they were 100% Caucasian.” How do we know another person’s ethnicity without some kind of genetic test? And what constitutes “100% Caucasian”?
August 8th, 2008 at 11:13 am
I candidate claimed on his resume that he had a Master’s degree from one of the best schools for that major. In reality, he was kicked out of that Master’s program midway through, for poor grades. He then sued the university, lost the case, appealed to the Supreme Court, and lost again. The Supreme Court decisions are public and can be found on the http://www. Actually, I googled him and found out.
August 12th, 2008 at 9:00 am
I interviewed a candidate for a staff attorney position who did actually graduate from law school, but not cum laude and not law review - easily verified with one phone call. The most recent work experience was for a law firm that did not exist (the wrong area code for the office phone number was my first clue). The voice on the phone for the previous employer and the voice of a law school professor that was provided as a reference sounded remarkably similar. The issue with this candidate was not so much identifying the lies, but finding any truth at all!
September 5th, 2008 at 10:09 am
My comment is in response to Angel M’s comment. That is the funniest HR story I’ve heard in a long time!
September 12th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
This can be a 2-way street. Back in 2000, I interviewed for a position that required 5 years of experience with Windows 2000 Active Directory, despite the fact that the operating system had only been on the market for about 4 months. Only a Microsoft developer would have that much experience, and they would have demanded much more than the $35,000 per year that the position was offering. I politely declined their offer, not wanting to work for such a clue-less operation.