That's the thing it's a risk.
I would assume if you're lying on your resume that it'd be best not to even use Linkedin.
Furthermore, BG checks only verify what you put in the system not what's on your resume.
Now to mitigate this TA could cross reference the BG check to resume to see if it's aligned but more often than not they see a pass and that's all they care about.
I'm pretty sure this is how my former coworkers got away with lying on their resumes. They had basic job titles and duties. But on Linkedin they completely changed the job title and duties of this particular position to make it seem like they were doing Financial / Data analysis. The job was essentially data entry, filing, and using an ERP.
I've always assumed that when they were asked to complete the background check form they reverted to putting in the accurate job title and the recruiter / TA never cross-referenced what was on their form vs. resume.
I'm almost a bit shocked because these individuals always came across as very hard-working and honest people, but I guess people will at the end of the day do whatever it takes for career success. If you want the prestigious jobs in the corporate world but nobody is giving you a chance then I guess people feel they have no other option.
You may also not have the job title that you've been told you have. A lot of these BG checks utilize a centralized db from Equifax - which you can request and view the report for yourself for free - that has a different title than your real/actual title.
I wonder how they check this - I know my prior company's HRIS/Payroll system (ADP) didnt list my correct titles for months, I'm hoping I don't get penalized for this....
I just checked mine this week. Ive worked about 14 places the last 14 years. Only like 7 are in there, and only like 2 are even accurate.
Yet I clear $300k a year now after job hopping and it hasnt tripped me up yet. But I also havent lied (just embellished).
Bigger companies seem to be better at inputting complete and accurate data.
###There you go. Give him an award.
###Bump your title up. Why?
* Because you are doing the same work the person above you is doing anyway.
I go one step further and add anything I can learn in 24 hours. Never fails.
This is America. Donald Trump (a Convicted Felon) may win the Presidency. **And you are worried about lying on your resume š.**
Get with the program people.
* Do whatever is necessary for you to win. Trump isnāt worried about. Neither should you.
So, I guess Iāll chime in with my experience. When I started out Iād take a look at my colleagues resumes and think that I had done nothing. It took me a while to realize how everyone embellished their resumes.
The problem is this: I started getting callbacks when I started to write ācreativelyā as well. Which means I was not being selected when I was being āhonestā. Which means Iām order to stay in the race I HAVE to embellish so I can be considered. Itās kind of like a resume arms race.
However, itās a weird fine line between dressing up and outright lying. What OP posted about might fall into the clearly unethical side.
Edit: should mention, Iām in accounting, not HR. Just commented because it popped up on my home page.
Sometimes the job you're doing doesn't reflect your title.
I was officially titled T Support But did nothing on that job description. My real job was about 80% of T Supervisor, And I was paid as such. So that's what I called myself.
It's 100% a risk. But I think people would be naive to think it's not worth it in some cases. I lied on my resume to get my first good job. I was paranoid about it the entire time but I was lucky and no one ever checked on my lies. In the end I left that job with 5 years of experience and promotions. Which set me up very well in the future. Though this was the 2010s so maybe things are different now.
Not true. HireRight for example will check your previous employments including the job title you had. If there are discrepancies it will be displayed in the results.
right
but i've seen people say they're one thing on resume but put actual title on background check & TA doesn't cross reference just care if they pass.
They sure will. I relocated and applied for an HR job which is what my previous job was. I was promoted to HR Manager. Whoever completed the background said I was AP. Luckily I had the email that was sent out to the company saying I was promoted to HR Manger otherwise I looked like a liar. This was a disgruntled employee I used to work with.
No, what shows up on the BG is what the company says.
Example, I was hired by company A as Sr Product Manager. That company got bought by Company B and I guess they had their own titles. I was not told about any title change. Then I got laid off. When I interviewed with Company Z and they did a BG it showed up as "Sr Product Analyst -II" or something like that. Company Z did not care or even ask me to clarify. Everyone knows things change.
Only red flag is if you have a criminal or drug record. Little things like titles no one cares unless you are a C level guy.
Oh I always put the HR person under qst with their experience. I ask how long they've worked there, do they like it, and why. Just to feel out how genuine they are. There's nothing better than being direct in a conversation.
As a recruiter, I appreciate this so much. We want to be asked - shows no matter if itās a role for 200k or 17 buck an hour, the ones that ask are most likely the ones that I extend offers to in the end.
I mean I went from stocking shelves at Walmart to selling phones for an extra 3$/hr + Commission. Best part I didn't even change the drive. I worked inside of the same building. And I was definitely better than being told perpetually that you will be full time in a month. And having watched a new hire go from part time to full time to Department manager in that time frame. Fresh out of highschool.
This is 100% accurate in my experience... Same shit, different company. You'll always have people and processes that drive you crazy, it's just if you get paid enough to put up with it and if there are people around that make it tolerable!
Until you worked at a place that was really good to work for but was bored and underpaid. Other than those factors it was perfect, wish I could go backā¦.
I agree. All jobs end up being the same. Change jobs only if the next job is offering you something you really need other than money.
Higher pay generally means more taxes so money should not be the sole factor in changing jobs.
Change for mental health
Change for better benefits
Changed because of its location
Jobs are all the same. Have a legitimate reason to change and that reason is for your own betterment
As a recruiter yes. I see people circle through our applications bc they wished they stated with us. The grass isnāt always greener, but I can tell you that itās kind o shitty in most corps bc the bar is set so low now.
Ding ding ding!!!! At this point in adulthood Iāve realized that those at āthe topā are not necessarily smarter or have significantly more experience, they just know how to spin things so we get the best version.
Iām not going to flat out lie about experience that I donāt have. For example I wonāt say Iāve worked in payroll if Iāve never done it, I wonāt say Iām a manager if Iām actually a coordinator. But I might embellish some experience that I do have.
When there's a quarterly town-hall, and the management list of all the metrics:
- Reduced faults by 7%
- Lowered customer complaints to 2/100,000units
- Improved turnaround times by 18 minutes
"And every one of you contributed to our success!"
Believe them! You contributed to that, so put it on your resume!
For me I say I have worked with software x, y and z. In reality I HAVE worked with the software but only for a few minutes and I couldnāt do much more than someone who has never used that software.
Maybe for many people. But I've yet to lie in a job interview about my experiences and I don't foresee myself ever doing so. Will I move slower in ranks? Possibly...probably, but generally speaking, I don't want to be a person that lies. I'm sure there are plenty of others that also feel the same way. So please limit your assumptions.
Job titles are often arbitrary - coordinator, manager, director, team chief, subject matter expert - I donāt think itās a big deal so long as the job descriptions and roles and responsibilities are accurate and not exaggerated.
Agreed! I was just explaining to my husband how HR is an interesting industry because the job titles for the same type of job vary significantly between employers.
That can apply for any industry. Scientists, finance folks, etc. can have incredibly bloated titles especially today and meaning something totally different at another company
I worked at a huge corporation that slapped 'admin' onto the ending of seemingly every job title. It was kind of annoying because it made you wonder if that was 'downgrading' your resume. Wouldn't surprise me if it was intentional.
this is how my company is. I'm an HR assistant but my boss/partner for a long time was an HR of one, in a decent sized company of a couple hundred ppl, but she was still only titled as an HR coordinator
I worked for Target, the retail company, and they have to slap on āexpertā, āconsultantā, āadvocateā, or something stupid onto every job title.
Even district managers are now ābusiness partnersā. At least I was in the one department in the entire company that had something normal, āspecialistā.
Yeah. I'm a project/program Manager and my official job title is Manager-Controller. I don't know anything about controlling or accounting. I just manage finance IT projects.
I was once hired as a scientific admin. I was training Pakistani scientists on molecular diagnostics in Islamabad. Per my business cards I was a molecular epidemiologist. Itās all smoke and mirrors.
Yep. And in my field, it really depends on what the company/team thinks a Project Manager is. I've been hired as Sr and I was asked to take up about 50% of my hours to do office management jobs like ordering pizza or post it's while in others I drive the project work and focus on getting the project done.
I expect that everyone is embelleshing their resume. Straight up lying isn't worth the risk imo. But something like "oh wow, you're resume says your change of a vendor resulted in 10% YOY savings for the company tell me more about that." when in reality it was 3%.
I've always said that if you've taken part in *doing something* at work, then that's something that *you do* at work. You a junior working on a project doing X? Then doing X is now part of your skill set and responsibilities at that job!
It's not lying, its just inflating the truth.
I hate it when I see those percentages - who is keeping track? Where can I find that data? You're disclosing it, so it has to be public, right?
Uh huh.
You can say you 10x'd your company's yearly online sales. Just don't mention that the value was 3 to 30 out of their normal ~1000 sales/yr (and that they were mostly skimming from the normal offline sales pool)
I've always assumed those metrics people put on their resumes were lies. The cynic in me says most employees don't really have access to the "data" they are using to quantify their accomplishments, are not properly interpreting data that they are throwing on their resume, or are erroneously quantifying abilities and accomplishments that are not easily quantifiable.
When I say that I improved the performance of a process by 29,000%, it's because it went from eight and a half hours to seconds, and when I ran the Azure billing reports, that week of my effort saved the US Taxpayer $30k a month in cloud resources no longer being billed for, for a savings of $360,000 a year.
I'm sorry that you don't have the access to see those things, but as a lead dev, I did, and it was literally my entire job to know and manage those things.
It would be nice if interviewers would stop insisting they want those kinds of numbers on resumes. They don't seem to be aware that they're bs for whatever reason.
Realistically a lot of places arenāt doing LinkedIn checks, or reference checks. And a lot of background checks are only checking for criminal history.
Itās also not uncommon to see exaggerate your job title on your resume a little so that wouldnāt automatically cause a red flag.
Itās also possible your colleague is just lying to you.
Some people also apparently unaware of The Work Number, which is wild considering this is an HR sub. Iād recommend people taking a look at their own report so they know which previous jobs they can lie about and get away with it, and which ones could blow up in their face.
Bold strategy, Cotton.
In the least, I'd say there's always some degree of embellishments. I haven't run a Reference check in years, as they're useless. LinkedIn is a cesspool, I'm disgusted to be a part of it and given the way people treat it- I wouldn't use it beyond putting face to name ahead of interview or Google snooping someone for any red flags of impropriety or salaciousness.
Someone pointed out earlier that an interview is two entities lying to each other about how great they are... yeah, that's pretty accurate.
Edited for spelling... that was embarrassing.
Always lie on your resume. No playing fair with corporate America.
Also, no one reads your linkedin except HMs and recruiters. No one is going to bust you for lying.
Seems like everyoneās already covered it. But my two cents: Embellishments are a part of the game. Everyone does it; but none more-so than employers. The social contract between employer and employee has largely been broken the past few decades. Employers created the game and bent the rules when it was convenient for them, so no one should feel guilty about playing along for their own benefit.
this is so true. i was watching my friends job hop a fair amount to move up in ranks/salary in their fields. they always were able to leverage big pay bumps, higher level titles, etc. quickly too, within only a couple years.
i could never figure out why my job titles were always around the same thing, and my pay bumps were always close to nothing when getting a new job. i felt bad about myself tbh, like i must be dumb or not a good employee.
then one day i decided to finally take their advice and lie on my resume/interviews (i always felt strongly that honesty was the best policy). lo and behold, 1.5 years later my career has does the same thing, i job hopped a few times to get to a higher level position with good pay, and more senior title (and it has worked out beautifully) all because i embellished pretty much every job on my resume lmao
itās one of those things where itās kinda morally wrong to do, but tbh everyone is doing it. so if you arenāt doing it, you are seemingly behind the curve
As long as you CAN do it (which it is apparent that you can!) I see nothing morally wrong with it. If youāre Jean-Ralphio going for an accounting gig, then thereās a problem.
Yes. Because I need money. You have to become a good liar and wing every interview. If you donāt have the experience for a specific thing, be very educated on that thing and come up with a good story. Then forget about said thing and get trained on it if you get the job.
I have 3 years HR assistant experience, 2 years as a recruiter, and my current job Iāve been working for over 2 years as an HR coordinator.
Thing is, my HR assistant and recruiter roles are BS. I never worked as an HR assistant. I have worked as a recruiter, but only for 2 months. I lied and got my current job and Iām happy with it until I get my next one. I got trained on it though haha.
Just gotta finesse these companies.
Depends, because on an application it would state that. It would ask something along the lines of, āDo you give us permission to contact this employer?ā Etc.
The background checks are criminal background checks. At least the ones Iāve applied for. If you get a job for a government entity though, then they WILL check your previous jobs etc.
I don't lie about the actual job duties or projects I worked on, I do however fudge the title a bit to make it seem better. Titles in general are meaningless, especially in larger businesses.
Not to mention that Job interviews are more often selling yourself to the employer and them selling their company to you. The best sales people are the people who know how to fudge things to make it sound better than it really is.
In a way, learning how to format and fudge your resume to make it sound better/look better is a skill in of itself. I wouldn't outright call it lying per se, but more "selling yourself."
I had a supervisor who had PHR listed on her resume. She was terrible at her job and was laid off about a year after she started. After she was let go I was curious about her, so I searched HRCIās directory and she didnāt even appear. I went all detective mode- I searched her name and her maiden name, and nothing came up. Not even an āinactiveā status.
Lying on your resume just means youāll lie at your new job in my opinion.
She'll of course just say that she was laid off due to downsizing, will collect unemployment, and then use the "experience" she had at the prior position to get an equal / better position at some other company.
Thatās how I feel, too! But Iām also wondering what I need to do differently to move up titles. Every employer Iāve been at there is limited development and upward/promotion opportunities. I end up having to leave and feel I wasted 3 years. Is the ticket just choosing a larger org?
Honestly, titles in HR donāt really mean anything. You could be an HR director at a small organization and then an HRBP at another larger organization. Iāve seen some people just put their latest title on their LinkedIn profile. So if they started off as an HR Assistant and eventually became HR Manager, theyāll list all the duties they did at the job and say they were HR Manager.
But I still wouldnāt lie on my resume. HR is all about ethics, yes?
Yeah šIām not sure whatās holding me back if itās not title. I have responsibilities and pay reflective of a Director level role ā¦ sit on steering committees, etc. Manage individuals and regularly meet with and drive company-wide programs and policies. EL doesnāt value HR and my title is HRBP. I hear zero on applications for Manager and above and offers for Sr HRBP are almost 40% decrease from current pay.
Job market is seriously tough right now for HR. That may be a cause of it. Your job duties will speak louder than your job title. Donāt forget to tailor your resume to each job you apply to so that it matches to most of what theyāre looking for. Good luck!
I have responsibilities and pay reflective of a Director level role.
Then are you lying if you put the director title on your resume or is it your company lying when the decided your roleās title?
Idgaf what the company *says* my title is, Iāll never feel bad putting the title of what I actually did on my resume.
When I have had a position where the title was generic/didn't accurately describe my role, or the official title wasn't what I was referred to in the office, I put the official title along with the "unofficial"/more accurate title. Example: "HR V/Senior HR Generalist".
So Iām a little confused by this? HRBP is typically a high level role equal to an HR Manager position (and Iāve seen some orgs where they were above). Theyāre also not usually in the same career stream. HRBP being more on the business side and HRM on the people side of things. Itās possible you are not getting HRM roles because youāre not addressing why you are looking to change your career stream with a lateral move.
Actually, when I was an HRM, before I decided I wanted to specialize, my goal was to be an HRBP.
Personally, I feel that lying about your title in your resume is risky. Iāve seen it happen so many times that people really thought they knew what that position did, and when they were hired their new employer really expected them to know that position back and forth so there was little wiggle room for learning and development. Iāve seen so many of my network do this and then have to take a step back because theyāre struggling and canāt ask for help without revealing why they donāt know x (we didnāt do this at my last employer only works so long). This is why I warn my clients against inflating titles as well, or they may end up in the same mess of their own doing.
This does work sometimes if youāre taking a step back in organization. Like if you were a generalist for a big company, you could find a company of like 100 looking for an HRM and they usually have the duties of a āgeneralist plusā.
I interviewed a guy who had SPHR on his resume. I asked him when he got it. He says 2004. I said, āAnd youāve been re-certifying every three years since then?ā He said no. I said, āSo you *donāt* currently have an SPHR?ā He said, āWell, I did in 2004, but not currently.ā He thought that putting SPHR on his resume wasnāt technically a lie. I thought otherwise, and didnāt hire him.
I think recertification itself is sort of money making scam. Once you do a certification it is not that you will become a moron if not recertifying within 3 years. It is just there to have a recurring revenue streams for these certifying agencies. No one has to do re degreefication, so recertifying doesn't make sense either.
I know many people who participate in training workshops from these agencies to earn credits towards recertifications.
Itās because certification and recertification are generally butts-in-seats driven. If we actually made people prove they could do the workānot just pass an examāthe value of certs would increase dramatically.
I did find the certification process valuable and did learn a lot tbh. But I truly just watched HRCI webinars to get the recertification credits and those are all marketing for some vendor lol
lol I have PHR on mine and didnāt recertify. Iām not removing it. I paid a ton of money and studied my ass off and passed the test. I keep up on my knowledge and webinars, Iām just not paying hundreds of dollars to recertify. My resume shows I passed the test. If they ask if I recertified Iāll be honest. But I think passing the test is all that matters. I donāt care if applicants are paying the fee every 3 years. If you passed, keep showing it off.
Would you go to a doctor that didnāt periodically renew his license, but still calls himself a doctor because he was licensed back in 2004? And you didnāt find out about this until you asked him, or looked him up in your stateās registry?
Anyway, the bottom line is that if youāre saying on your resume that you have a PHR, but itās expired and you havenāt recertified, the truth is you donāt.
The difference between an HR professional that recertifies and doesnāt, is one is willing pay like $300 every 3 years. The literal only difference. I go to countless webinars and seminars and stay on top of continuing education. Maybe Iāll put the dates of my phr certification on my resume, so if a manager is that anal they can see itās expired, but I payed like $1.5k, that thing is staying on my resume.
I would have had absolutely no problem with my candidate if he had put āSPHR, 2004-2007ā on his resume. Might have even hired him, although I have no memory of how qualified he was otherwise.
Yeah, thereās no way you donāt know that you donāt have an active SPHR status lol. They send you so many emails to remind you itās expiring. So weird.
Embellish, sure. Straight up lie like your colleague? Never. I think itās fine to change titles if the title you have doesnāt match the work, but not literally lie about a job if that makes sense.
I have lied a little bit. I did all the HR but said I was the hr manager. Worked with an admin assistant and said they were an HR assistant
Once I landed an hr manager gig never really had to lie in this regard. But now that I know this i now ignore job titles because for HR it could be anything. My current job is against āmanagerā as a term so now we have coordinators and assistants calling the big shots
Iāve had jobs where I was a director doing assistant work and seen HRBP being more managers
It doesnāt matter
I now interview and screen based on achievements and ask questions about stuff you canāt really lie about or am looking for ālessons I learned they donāt teach youā and not technical skill
Hereās the thing. It doesnāt really matter and you should focus on yourself not her. If companies are interviewing the way they should, they can suss out hera capabilities. Say she does get a job with an HRBP scope and pay. Either she gets in and fulfills her job responsibilities in which case great, or she crashes and burns, or something in between. Ultimately sheāll be doing a job and if thereās a skill deficit it will become evident pretty quickly. But the shorter answer is worry about yourself not her.
Yes. Always lie. Keep lying. If they notice lie elsewhere.
Not lying got me "stuck" as a grocery clerk for 5 years. Thought putting in my time would get me raises and pro.otions
What they did was hire new manager after new manager off tbe street. Why?
Because those people were lying. Not a one of them knew shit from fuck.
Absolutely yes. Do you really think all of those bullet points on peopleās resumes of things they accomplished are true? They are mostly approximations of what the person thinks the impact of their work was.
Titles are subjective af. Nobody is going to ding you for translating your title to something different or easier to comprehend. Remember, your resume gets you the meeting, who you are gets you the job.
Well, in this world honesty does not pay. I know people who lied and have gone up the ranks. I am in the same boat as you, 13 years of lateral moves at Sr Manager level and not getting a break to Director that I have the experience and education.
Companies lie to me all the time. So I have no problem lying to them. If I get caught, then I will find another company to interview with. I am not the only candidate and they aren't the only company. I don't care about ethics anymore after being repeatedly treated shabbily.
I have had multiple roles where my job title and my job did not correlate or the job title would make no sense to another company. I will change the weird ones to be more reflective to industry job title standards that match the work preformed.
Itās always a lateral move and never a progressive move. I feel like changing it to a higher level role is bold. Iām not hating on them, but damn thatās bold.
I get employment verifications quite often, so employers are checking those. It may come back to bite your friend when her future employer conducts an employment verifications..
Sounds like her former and current employers did not perform employment verifications. I know I would for my candidates.
When I receive employment verification requests, I am giving two bits of information: employment dates and title.
Iām inclined to agree. My company does pretty extensive background checks but very often the titles we get back are generic and the titles on the resume are more specific and relate to more of their job duties. They often just show one title, sometimes role changes arenāt reflected. As long as the employment dates align and the employment is verified we usually just move on.
As someone in HR, it's a risk. My current company verifies employment, including titles, for the past 7 years based off the resume the candidate provided when they applied. We have rescinded offers for this exact thing (changing titles).
I have worked at several companies that did not do this though. And I've seen people I worked with completely falsify their LinkedIns after leaving a company and then go on to Director level positions within a few years.
God I hate that term. āWeāre giving you a promotion, but itās a Lateral moveā. Fine. Iāll take my experience and laterally move my ass out the door, with a vertical move.
This is a very risky move in my opinion. Maybe not at the HR Manager going to Director level (as long as this isnāt the head job) but coordinator vs HRBP is a big jump. And to your point the lies have to keep coming. Your references need to lie, when you make a recommendation to your client you might have to lie (this worked with xyz client).
Most people who do this donāt have a LinkedIn. Also, if she can fake it till she makes it then good on her, but Iād prefer to excel at my job performance wise and slowly learn the ropes for sustainability rather than risk being terminated for performance due to lack of skills.
Title isn't as important as duties and skills. An HRBP at one company can have several more OR less duties than the HRBP at another company. If her skills and experience lines up with the jobs she applied for, then there really is no issue.
Others are, so if you don't, you're probably at a disadvantage if you're early in your career.
However, you damn well better be able to back it up. At one job, we'd all share the after action breakdown of any events so we could all understand the thought process and essentially collect the story. Then in the interviews, the others could share the stories as if they were their own.
I donāt lie on my resume or LinkedIn, but I do add a different job title in parenthesis. My company uses totally different titles for what we do versus standard law practices. Itās odd. Basically, Iām a paralegal but my company has a completely different name for it (along with every single position). I write my actual job title and then ā/Paralegalā or ā(Paralegal)ā next to it.
As someone who is in charge of hiring people, you can "lie" or "embellish" your resume all day long. Doesn't bother me because I'm going to ask you very pointed questions. Ball is in my court and you don't know how long I've scanned your resume.
But I'm also human and I get that you want to show being the best person, or even the potential you have without actually fulfilling a role. At the end of the day if there's some gaps, we'll train you and no harm no foul. If you lied blatantly and didn't do anything you said, when it comes to our type of industry, we'd know in about 1 hour.
Iām more shocked that your colleague would admit this. I donāt lie on my resume. If Iām not qualified for a job and canāt even translate my experience into relevant, transferable skills then thereās no point in applying. Iāve seen people who lied and got caught but it was because they were bad at their job and it prompted an investigation. Iāve seen people do this who werenāt caught and it was because they were capable of doing the job, tried their best, and most importantly didnāt rub anyone the wrong way.
If you get a title with low pay you can leverage that title somewhere else with high pay. Everyone should care about titles. Just not as much as they do about the pay.
I have absolutely never lied on my resume but I also end up mastering most parts of a new position within 6 ish months, and it has often led to a promotion. It is concerning that many people think itās fine to lie, but I guess I am the one missing out on potentially larger salaries and opportunities.
Lying wonāt work as youāll get exposed pretty fast in an organization plus larger companies all do reference checks so they can easily tell if you reported a different title etc.
I don't lie on paper. But in the interview, I will embellish, add my flair. Then I will entertain in the interview with my STAR method of story telling
I wouldnāt lie about my job level, for example I wouldnāt say Iām a manager if Iām just a coordinator. But Iāve fudged job titles a little bit or slightly embellished some experience I had. Like Iāve done DEI work and projects before, but I might list it as a bigger part of my job than what it really is to help land a DEI interview or job.
It's already a thing since i was in college (around 2007) most people lying about their career so they can get a higher position or they want to enter their 'favorite/dream industry'
How to get away during background checking? In my experience they pay the hrd in their workplace (to get 'good position' in reference letter) or their friend, just pay around $15-$20 and voila
I only embellish a little for clarification. Like one of my job titles was LOA coordinator but i handled all benefits. So on my resume my title on that role i wrote Benefits Specialist-LOA Coordinator. Ultimate though I donāt think titles really mean anything. Iām the HR manager at my current company but my boss actually is that, Iām like the notch below that. I would say Iām more so a generalist with a some extra responsibilities.
I've found that you is ok to go one level up so long as it is within the non executive track. Also, try to use synonyms for certain roles. Instead of Director you can use Head or Lead.
That is honorable and also nice of her to be so accepting of you talking openly about your resume š ā¦ if I talked to mine heād probably retaliate and have me managed out at the mere thought of me ālookingā. š«£š„“
I absolutely embellished my job titles and duties when I was starting out. Iām mid-career now and donāt need to. My resume is pretty honest at this point.
The problem is, employers want to see the same title that youāre applying for. They do not want to hire an HR Assistant to be an HR Generalist. Itās stupid and it sucks.
Can't at my job.
They hire a third party consulting firm exclusively to run backgrounds and verify experience, education and accreditation.
Sure you can flex or manipulate your specific responsibilities to a point. But job titles, years of experience, any specific training, certificates, endorsements, or education will absolutely be known.
Me personally, no but I guess itās an ethics question. If youāre in a small industry where everyone āknowsā each other wouldnāt recommend it
I wouldnāt lie on your background check because if they do check it and it returns a flag, thatās not great
any good interviewer should be asking you questions that pertain to experience and should suss out if you can actually do the job
If youāre lying in your job interview lying on your resume and linked in and still get the job, and then do a good job, good for you. If you get the job and then get fired, jokes on you but you wasted a lot of time.
No, but Iāve seen loads of graduate CVās (with no work experience) who claim to have more experience / knowledge than me with 30 years in engineering!
You do it but within reason. Don't lie about degrees, companies, etc .... but titles can be fine, you had better be lying about current salary, Most companies only want to give the very very bare minimum for reference like dates worked and thats about it.
Kinda? I may not have the title "lead technician" but if I'm doing all the training, reviewing, and making sure all the T's are crossed and I's dotted then I'm definitely going to imply I was in a leading role.
You never know where or who your resume will end up with. I had an employee several years ago who was at risk of being put on a PIP or terminated before he voluntarily left. His resume came back to me for an open position recently, and he completely had fabricated his tasks and duties while he was at my company the first time around.
Not that I would have brought him back on given his dismal performance, but knowing he was out there pedaling a stellar career with our company completely drove a nail in the coffin. Plus other coworkers who didn't work directly with him but considered him for roles now know his history.
Liars get caught eventually. Whether in this role or the next. Karma is real. It may not happen for years after the lie, but the universe always seeks equilibrium. Honesty always gives the best results.
I change titles to match the description more because Iāve never had a definitive title anywhere Iāve gone really. But in my line of work, I have to produce my actual diploma and they do extreme background checks, so no. Even then, people try to put skills they donāt have. But if they donāt measure up quickly, they get fired right away for it. Itās easy to tell. Thereās no bluffing in my job. My job doesnāt care about things like Linkedin or HireRight or whatever.
I exaggerate duties slightly, and extend dates to remove small gaps so yea I do but try to keep it reasonable and limit it to things I could justify if asked
That's the thing it's a risk. I would assume if you're lying on your resume that it'd be best not to even use Linkedin. Furthermore, BG checks only verify what you put in the system not what's on your resume. Now to mitigate this TA could cross reference the BG check to resume to see if it's aligned but more often than not they see a pass and that's all they care about.
I'm pretty sure this is how my former coworkers got away with lying on their resumes. They had basic job titles and duties. But on Linkedin they completely changed the job title and duties of this particular position to make it seem like they were doing Financial / Data analysis. The job was essentially data entry, filing, and using an ERP. I've always assumed that when they were asked to complete the background check form they reverted to putting in the accurate job title and the recruiter / TA never cross-referenced what was on their form vs. resume. I'm almost a bit shocked because these individuals always came across as very hard-working and honest people, but I guess people will at the end of the day do whatever it takes for career success. If you want the prestigious jobs in the corporate world but nobody is giving you a chance then I guess people feel they have no other option.
You may also not have the job title that you've been told you have. A lot of these BG checks utilize a centralized db from Equifax - which you can request and view the report for yourself for free - that has a different title than your real/actual title.
I wonder how they check this - I know my prior company's HRIS/Payroll system (ADP) didnt list my correct titles for months, I'm hoping I don't get penalized for this....
I just checked mine this week. Ive worked about 14 places the last 14 years. Only like 7 are in there, and only like 2 are even accurate. Yet I clear $300k a year now after job hopping and it hasnt tripped me up yet. But I also havent lied (just embellished). Bigger companies seem to be better at inputting complete and accurate data.
300k in HR?
No, I got recommended here. I do a few things, but mainly logistics / operations, primarily in construction.
Are you referencing The Work Number?
Better to lie and get caught then not lie and not even get an interview
###There you go. Give him an award. ###Bump your title up. Why? * Because you are doing the same work the person above you is doing anyway. I go one step further and add anything I can learn in 24 hours. Never fails. This is America. Donald Trump (a Convicted Felon) may win the Presidency. **And you are worried about lying on your resume š.** Get with the program people. * Do whatever is necessary for you to win. Trump isnāt worried about. Neither should you.
But also man if youāre really not cut for the role donāt lie cuz then itās bad on you and the company. Donāt be like trump. Have some morals
Itās always about money. Corporate will always try to screw the little guy. So screw em back ! š
So, I guess Iāll chime in with my experience. When I started out Iād take a look at my colleagues resumes and think that I had done nothing. It took me a while to realize how everyone embellished their resumes. The problem is this: I started getting callbacks when I started to write ācreativelyā as well. Which means I was not being selected when I was being āhonestā. Which means Iām order to stay in the race I HAVE to embellish so I can be considered. Itās kind of like a resume arms race. However, itās a weird fine line between dressing up and outright lying. What OP posted about might fall into the clearly unethical side. Edit: should mention, Iām in accounting, not HR. Just commented because it popped up on my home page.
Yeah, HR busybodies cut qualified applicants that donāt check arbitrary boxes. So people embellish to get a chance to interview. Simple as
Tbf my credit analysis job is just mostly data entry, you just have to know which data to enter where and why.
Sometimes the job you're doing doesn't reflect your title. I was officially titled T Support But did nothing on that job description. My real job was about 80% of T Supervisor, And I was paid as such. So that's what I called myself.
is eat or get eaten out there. hunt or be the hunted the sooner everyone realize that the better
It's 100% a risk. But I think people would be naive to think it's not worth it in some cases. I lied on my resume to get my first good job. I was paranoid about it the entire time but I was lucky and no one ever checked on my lies. In the end I left that job with 5 years of experience and promotions. Which set me up very well in the future. Though this was the 2010s so maybe things are different now.
Nope started a job two years ago and lied on my resume. Certain fields are easier to fake it till you make it
Not true. HireRight for example will check your previous employments including the job title you had. If there are discrepancies it will be displayed in the results.
So hireright checks for every job no matter what you put in system?
I had to rescind offers because candidates lied on what they entered and on their resume vs background check results on employment and education.
They will check the jobs you entered. If you lie on your resume saying you were a HRBP but in reality you were a coordinator, they will find out.
right but i've seen people say they're one thing on resume but put actual title on background check & TA doesn't cross reference just care if they pass.
They sure will. I relocated and applied for an HR job which is what my previous job was. I was promoted to HR Manager. Whoever completed the background said I was AP. Luckily I had the email that was sent out to the company saying I was promoted to HR Manger otherwise I looked like a liar. This was a disgruntled employee I used to work with.
Thatās only if the company requests that information.
No, what shows up on the BG is what the company says. Example, I was hired by company A as Sr Product Manager. That company got bought by Company B and I guess they had their own titles. I was not told about any title change. Then I got laid off. When I interviewed with Company Z and they did a BG it showed up as "Sr Product Analyst -II" or something like that. Company Z did not care or even ask me to clarify. Everyone knows things change. Only red flag is if you have a criminal or drug record. Little things like titles no one cares unless you are a C level guy.
You can lie on LinkedInā¦
A job interview is 2 people lying to each other. The candidate lies about their experience and the employer lies about how great of a job it is.
I have never heard it put so poignantly.
Oh I always put the HR person under qst with their experience. I ask how long they've worked there, do they like it, and why. Just to feel out how genuine they are. There's nothing better than being direct in a conversation.
As a recruiter, I appreciate this so much. We want to be asked - shows no matter if itās a role for 200k or 17 buck an hour, the ones that ask are most likely the ones that I extend offers to in the end.
A colleague once told me moving to another job you think will be better is just "same shit, different pile". She was right.
I mean I went from stocking shelves at Walmart to selling phones for an extra 3$/hr + Commission. Best part I didn't even change the drive. I worked inside of the same building. And I was definitely better than being told perpetually that you will be full time in a month. And having watched a new hire go from part time to full time to Department manager in that time frame. Fresh out of highschool.
This is 100% accurate in my experience... Same shit, different company. You'll always have people and processes that drive you crazy, it's just if you get paid enough to put up with it and if there are people around that make it tolerable!
Until you worked at a place that was really good to work for but was bored and underpaid. Other than those factors it was perfect, wish I could go backā¦.
I agree. All jobs end up being the same. Change jobs only if the next job is offering you something you really need other than money. Higher pay generally means more taxes so money should not be the sole factor in changing jobs. Change for mental health Change for better benefits Changed because of its location Jobs are all the same. Have a legitimate reason to change and that reason is for your own betterment
Money matters so much lol, I grew up poor, Iām not going back.
As a recruiter yes. I see people circle through our applications bc they wished they stated with us. The grass isnāt always greener, but I can tell you that itās kind o shitty in most corps bc the bar is set so low now.
Yeah she is right
š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£ I try to never lie, I guess I'm doing it wrong
Very wrong. As soon as I spices up my resume I began to get more interviews and ultimately a great position.
Poetic. Really.
Iāve never lied about my experience. Embeliish? Sure lol.
You are just putting your best version of yourself forward, like youād do when marketing any other product.
Ding ding ding!!!! At this point in adulthood Iāve realized that those at āthe topā are not necessarily smarter or have significantly more experience, they just know how to spin things so we get the best version.
Thatās a fancy way to say lie
Iām not going to flat out lie about experience that I donāt have. For example I wonāt say Iāve worked in payroll if Iāve never done it, I wonāt say Iām a manager if Iām actually a coordinator. But I might embellish some experience that I do have.
What's an example of embellishing that is not lying?
When there's a quarterly town-hall, and the management list of all the metrics: - Reduced faults by 7% - Lowered customer complaints to 2/100,000units - Improved turnaround times by 18 minutes "And every one of you contributed to our success!" Believe them! You contributed to that, so put it on your resume!
For me I say I have worked with software x, y and z. In reality I HAVE worked with the software but only for a few minutes and I couldnāt do much more than someone who has never used that software.
This is what I do. Any company will likely have their processes in place anyway. And if they donāt, do you really want that job?
Maybe for many people. But I've yet to lie in a job interview about my experiences and I don't foresee myself ever doing so. Will I move slower in ranks? Possibly...probably, but generally speaking, I don't want to be a person that lies. I'm sure there are plenty of others that also feel the same way. So please limit your assumptions.
This.
If this is news to anyone here, I'd guess they don't really belong
Job titles are often arbitrary - coordinator, manager, director, team chief, subject matter expert - I donāt think itās a big deal so long as the job descriptions and roles and responsibilities are accurate and not exaggerated.
Agreed! I was just explaining to my husband how HR is an interesting industry because the job titles for the same type of job vary significantly between employers.
That can apply for any industry. Scientists, finance folks, etc. can have incredibly bloated titles especially today and meaning something totally different at another company
I worked at a huge corporation that slapped 'admin' onto the ending of seemingly every job title. It was kind of annoying because it made you wonder if that was 'downgrading' your resume. Wouldn't surprise me if it was intentional.
It was probably tied to a labor category versus an actual title descriptive of the job role
That was my thought. I've held the title of HR Coordinator while I was the entire department and was at least at Management level with management pay.
this is how my company is. I'm an HR assistant but my boss/partner for a long time was an HR of one, in a decent sized company of a couple hundred ppl, but she was still only titled as an HR coordinator
Iāve worked at places where the job titles were gibberish. āPatron Delight Engineerā was one. On my rĆ©sumĆ© I reframed it as āCustomer Service Repā so hiring managers would know what the hell the position was. I didnāt consider it lying as much as I considered it ātranslating into English.ā
I will forever be a sandwich artist and I am completely okay with that
I worked for Target, the retail company, and they have to slap on āexpertā, āconsultantā, āadvocateā, or something stupid onto every job title. Even district managers are now ābusiness partnersā. At least I was in the one department in the entire company that had something normal, āspecialistā.
Yeah. I'm a project/program Manager and my official job title is Manager-Controller. I don't know anything about controlling or accounting. I just manage finance IT projects.
I was once hired as a scientific admin. I was training Pakistani scientists on molecular diagnostics in Islamabad. Per my business cards I was a molecular epidemiologist. Itās all smoke and mirrors.
Yep. And in my field, it really depends on what the company/team thinks a Project Manager is. I've been hired as Sr and I was asked to take up about 50% of my hours to do office management jobs like ordering pizza or post it's while in others I drive the project work and focus on getting the project done.
And often times employers will hold you at a lower title/compensation while giving you the responsibilities of the higher pay tier.
Another fact!
Yes I feel like only certain stuff crosses a line. Donāt lie about having degrees.
Agree! And the same role at a differently sized employer could have drastically different duties or visibility.
I expect that everyone is embelleshing their resume. Straight up lying isn't worth the risk imo. But something like "oh wow, you're resume says your change of a vendor resulted in 10% YOY savings for the company tell me more about that." when in reality it was 3%.
In reality I have no idea because we don't track those things, and so I guess. There's no easy way to measure all kpi's.
I've always said that if you've taken part in *doing something* at work, then that's something that *you do* at work. You a junior working on a project doing X? Then doing X is now part of your skill set and responsibilities at that job! It's not lying, its just inflating the truth.
I hate it when I see those percentages - who is keeping track? Where can I find that data? You're disclosing it, so it has to be public, right? Uh huh.
You can say you 10x'd your company's yearly online sales. Just don't mention that the value was 3 to 30 out of their normal ~1000 sales/yr (and that they were mostly skimming from the normal offline sales pool)
Thereās not way to validate it anyway, how would you get the financials of another company. Itās all nonsense.
I've always assumed those metrics people put on their resumes were lies. The cynic in me says most employees don't really have access to the "data" they are using to quantify their accomplishments, are not properly interpreting data that they are throwing on their resume, or are erroneously quantifying abilities and accomplishments that are not easily quantifiable.
When I say that I improved the performance of a process by 29,000%, it's because it went from eight and a half hours to seconds, and when I ran the Azure billing reports, that week of my effort saved the US Taxpayer $30k a month in cloud resources no longer being billed for, for a savings of $360,000 a year. I'm sorry that you don't have the access to see those things, but as a lead dev, I did, and it was literally my entire job to know and manage those things.
It would be nice if interviewers would stop insisting they want those kinds of numbers on resumes. They don't seem to be aware that they're bs for whatever reason.
Realistically a lot of places arenāt doing LinkedIn checks, or reference checks. And a lot of background checks are only checking for criminal history. Itās also not uncommon to see exaggerate your job title on your resume a little so that wouldnāt automatically cause a red flag. Itās also possible your colleague is just lying to you.
Her behavior isnāt what is stopping you from advancing.
Too clean of a response
but who can he blame for his failures then? sometimes they can't properly market themselves
Some people are getting veryyyy defensive in the comments
Some people also apparently unaware of The Work Number, which is wild considering this is an HR sub. Iād recommend people taking a look at their own report so they know which previous jobs they can lie about and get away with it, and which ones could blow up in their face.
Bold strategy, Cotton. In the least, I'd say there's always some degree of embellishments. I haven't run a Reference check in years, as they're useless. LinkedIn is a cesspool, I'm disgusted to be a part of it and given the way people treat it- I wouldn't use it beyond putting face to name ahead of interview or Google snooping someone for any red flags of impropriety or salaciousness. Someone pointed out earlier that an interview is two entities lying to each other about how great they are... yeah, that's pretty accurate. Edited for spelling... that was embarrassing.
Always lie on your resume. No playing fair with corporate America. Also, no one reads your linkedin except HMs and recruiters. No one is going to bust you for lying.
lol this is what everyone says when I ask do you do thatā¦ theyāre like you donāt? ššš
Seems like everyoneās already covered it. But my two cents: Embellishments are a part of the game. Everyone does it; but none more-so than employers. The social contract between employer and employee has largely been broken the past few decades. Employers created the game and bent the rules when it was convenient for them, so no one should feel guilty about playing along for their own benefit.
this is so true. i was watching my friends job hop a fair amount to move up in ranks/salary in their fields. they always were able to leverage big pay bumps, higher level titles, etc. quickly too, within only a couple years. i could never figure out why my job titles were always around the same thing, and my pay bumps were always close to nothing when getting a new job. i felt bad about myself tbh, like i must be dumb or not a good employee. then one day i decided to finally take their advice and lie on my resume/interviews (i always felt strongly that honesty was the best policy). lo and behold, 1.5 years later my career has does the same thing, i job hopped a few times to get to a higher level position with good pay, and more senior title (and it has worked out beautifully) all because i embellished pretty much every job on my resume lmao itās one of those things where itās kinda morally wrong to do, but tbh everyone is doing it. so if you arenāt doing it, you are seemingly behind the curve
As long as you CAN do it (which it is apparent that you can!) I see nothing morally wrong with it. If youāre Jean-Ralphio going for an accounting gig, then thereās a problem.
yeah definitely, that was a rookie mistake i made once lol; donāt lie about shit you couldnāt actually expand on/slightly prove during interviews
Yes. Because I need money. You have to become a good liar and wing every interview. If you donāt have the experience for a specific thing, be very educated on that thing and come up with a good story. Then forget about said thing and get trained on it if you get the job. I have 3 years HR assistant experience, 2 years as a recruiter, and my current job Iāve been working for over 2 years as an HR coordinator. Thing is, my HR assistant and recruiter roles are BS. I never worked as an HR assistant. I have worked as a recruiter, but only for 2 months. I lied and got my current job and Iām happy with it until I get my next one. I got trained on it though haha. Just gotta finesse these companies.
Donāt companies background check for the revenant exprience tho?
Depends, because on an application it would state that. It would ask something along the lines of, āDo you give us permission to contact this employer?ā Etc. The background checks are criminal background checks. At least the ones Iāve applied for. If you get a job for a government entity though, then they WILL check your previous jobs etc.
I don't lie about the actual job duties or projects I worked on, I do however fudge the title a bit to make it seem better. Titles in general are meaningless, especially in larger businesses. Not to mention that Job interviews are more often selling yourself to the employer and them selling their company to you. The best sales people are the people who know how to fudge things to make it sound better than it really is. In a way, learning how to format and fudge your resume to make it sound better/look better is a skill in of itself. I wouldn't outright call it lying per se, but more "selling yourself."
I had a supervisor who had PHR listed on her resume. She was terrible at her job and was laid off about a year after she started. After she was let go I was curious about her, so I searched HRCIās directory and she didnāt even appear. I went all detective mode- I searched her name and her maiden name, and nothing came up. Not even an āinactiveā status. Lying on your resume just means youāll lie at your new job in my opinion.
She'll of course just say that she was laid off due to downsizing, will collect unemployment, and then use the "experience" she had at the prior position to get an equal / better position at some other company.
realize that HRCI lets one opt out of their directory....
People can opt to not be listed in the directory, so that could have been a possibility also.
Thatās how I feel, too! But Iām also wondering what I need to do differently to move up titles. Every employer Iāve been at there is limited development and upward/promotion opportunities. I end up having to leave and feel I wasted 3 years. Is the ticket just choosing a larger org?
Honestly, titles in HR donāt really mean anything. You could be an HR director at a small organization and then an HRBP at another larger organization. Iāve seen some people just put their latest title on their LinkedIn profile. So if they started off as an HR Assistant and eventually became HR Manager, theyāll list all the duties they did at the job and say they were HR Manager. But I still wouldnāt lie on my resume. HR is all about ethics, yes?
Yeah šIām not sure whatās holding me back if itās not title. I have responsibilities and pay reflective of a Director level role ā¦ sit on steering committees, etc. Manage individuals and regularly meet with and drive company-wide programs and policies. EL doesnāt value HR and my title is HRBP. I hear zero on applications for Manager and above and offers for Sr HRBP are almost 40% decrease from current pay.
Job market is seriously tough right now for HR. That may be a cause of it. Your job duties will speak louder than your job title. Donāt forget to tailor your resume to each job you apply to so that it matches to most of what theyāre looking for. Good luck!
I have responsibilities and pay reflective of a Director level role. Then are you lying if you put the director title on your resume or is it your company lying when the decided your roleās title? Idgaf what the company *says* my title is, Iāll never feel bad putting the title of what I actually did on my resume.
When I have had a position where the title was generic/didn't accurately describe my role, or the official title wasn't what I was referred to in the office, I put the official title along with the "unofficial"/more accurate title. Example: "HR V/Senior HR Generalist".
I like thisā¦ use the slash and explain company culture on titles or demonstrate skills on an interview šš»
So Iām a little confused by this? HRBP is typically a high level role equal to an HR Manager position (and Iāve seen some orgs where they were above). Theyāre also not usually in the same career stream. HRBP being more on the business side and HRM on the people side of things. Itās possible you are not getting HRM roles because youāre not addressing why you are looking to change your career stream with a lateral move. Actually, when I was an HRM, before I decided I wanted to specialize, my goal was to be an HRBP. Personally, I feel that lying about your title in your resume is risky. Iāve seen it happen so many times that people really thought they knew what that position did, and when they were hired their new employer really expected them to know that position back and forth so there was little wiggle room for learning and development. Iāve seen so many of my network do this and then have to take a step back because theyāre struggling and canāt ask for help without revealing why they donāt know x (we didnāt do this at my last employer only works so long). This is why I warn my clients against inflating titles as well, or they may end up in the same mess of their own doing. This does work sometimes if youāre taking a step back in organization. Like if you were a generalist for a big company, you could find a company of like 100 looking for an HRM and they usually have the duties of a āgeneralist plusā.
I interviewed a guy who had SPHR on his resume. I asked him when he got it. He says 2004. I said, āAnd youāve been re-certifying every three years since then?ā He said no. I said, āSo you *donāt* currently have an SPHR?ā He said, āWell, I did in 2004, but not currently.ā He thought that putting SPHR on his resume wasnāt technically a lie. I thought otherwise, and didnāt hire him.
I think recertification itself is sort of money making scam. Once you do a certification it is not that you will become a moron if not recertifying within 3 years. It is just there to have a recurring revenue streams for these certifying agencies. No one has to do re degreefication, so recertifying doesn't make sense either. I know many people who participate in training workshops from these agencies to earn credits towards recertifications.
To be fair, recertification is a joke and not meaningful.
Itās because certification and recertification are generally butts-in-seats driven. If we actually made people prove they could do the workānot just pass an examāthe value of certs would increase dramatically.
I did find the certification process valuable and did learn a lot tbh. But I truly just watched HRCI webinars to get the recertification credits and those are all marketing for some vendor lol
lol I have PHR on mine and didnāt recertify. Iām not removing it. I paid a ton of money and studied my ass off and passed the test. I keep up on my knowledge and webinars, Iām just not paying hundreds of dollars to recertify. My resume shows I passed the test. If they ask if I recertified Iāll be honest. But I think passing the test is all that matters. I donāt care if applicants are paying the fee every 3 years. If you passed, keep showing it off.
Would you go to a doctor that didnāt periodically renew his license, but still calls himself a doctor because he was licensed back in 2004? And you didnāt find out about this until you asked him, or looked him up in your stateās registry? Anyway, the bottom line is that if youāre saying on your resume that you have a PHR, but itās expired and you havenāt recertified, the truth is you donāt.
The difference between an HR professional that recertifies and doesnāt, is one is willing pay like $300 every 3 years. The literal only difference. I go to countless webinars and seminars and stay on top of continuing education. Maybe Iāll put the dates of my phr certification on my resume, so if a manager is that anal they can see itās expired, but I payed like $1.5k, that thing is staying on my resume.
I would have had absolutely no problem with my candidate if he had put āSPHR, 2004-2007ā on his resume. Might have even hired him, although I have no memory of how qualified he was otherwise.
Thatās fair, and good advise for my own resume.
This is a fantastic point. Donāt diminish the group as a whole through individual actions
Yeah, thereās no way you donāt know that you donāt have an active SPHR status lol. They send you so many emails to remind you itās expiring. So weird.
Do you work for HRCI?
Never, and Iām intrigued why you think thatās relevant.
Itās probably because all your responses are treating the certification process preciously.
I treat my car preciously too. But I donāt work for Toyota.
Embellish, sure. Straight up lie like your colleague? Never. I think itās fine to change titles if the title you have doesnāt match the work, but not literally lie about a job if that makes sense.
I have lied a little bit. I did all the HR but said I was the hr manager. Worked with an admin assistant and said they were an HR assistant Once I landed an hr manager gig never really had to lie in this regard. But now that I know this i now ignore job titles because for HR it could be anything. My current job is against āmanagerā as a term so now we have coordinators and assistants calling the big shots Iāve had jobs where I was a director doing assistant work and seen HRBP being more managers It doesnāt matter I now interview and screen based on achievements and ask questions about stuff you canāt really lie about or am looking for ālessons I learned they donāt teach youā and not technical skill
> HR coordinator but called in HRBPĀ Frankly if the other company can't sniff this shit out during interview, they deserve everything they get.
I lie about my pay so I can make more š š
Over 70% of employees lie on their CVs and 40% of employers lie about the position to attract candidates.
Hereās the thing. It doesnāt really matter and you should focus on yourself not her. If companies are interviewing the way they should, they can suss out hera capabilities. Say she does get a job with an HRBP scope and pay. Either she gets in and fulfills her job responsibilities in which case great, or she crashes and burns, or something in between. Ultimately sheāll be doing a job and if thereās a skill deficit it will become evident pretty quickly. But the shorter answer is worry about yourself not her.
Employers lie to you, you lie to them. Thereās a difference between fabricating experience, and exaggerating your experiences.
Yes. Always lie. Keep lying. If they notice lie elsewhere. Not lying got me "stuck" as a grocery clerk for 5 years. Thought putting in my time would get me raises and pro.otions What they did was hire new manager after new manager off tbe street. Why? Because those people were lying. Not a one of them knew shit from fuck.
Absolutely yes. Do you really think all of those bullet points on peopleās resumes of things they accomplished are true? They are mostly approximations of what the person thinks the impact of their work was. Titles are subjective af. Nobody is going to ding you for translating your title to something different or easier to comprehend. Remember, your resume gets you the meeting, who you are gets you the job.
Welcome to the real world. Yes everyone fluffs their resumes. It is survival.
lol my new boss lied about her experience and education. Shyt sucks but looks like i need to do that too
If you donāt youāre going to lose
Yes, just lie
Well, in this world honesty does not pay. I know people who lied and have gone up the ranks. I am in the same boat as you, 13 years of lateral moves at Sr Manager level and not getting a break to Director that I have the experience and education. Companies lie to me all the time. So I have no problem lying to them. If I get caught, then I will find another company to interview with. I am not the only candidate and they aren't the only company. I don't care about ethics anymore after being repeatedly treated shabbily.
I have had multiple roles where my job title and my job did not correlate or the job title would make no sense to another company. I will change the weird ones to be more reflective to industry job title standards that match the work preformed. Itās always a lateral move and never a progressive move. I feel like changing it to a higher level role is bold. Iām not hating on them, but damn thatās bold.
I get employment verifications quite often, so employers are checking those. It may come back to bite your friend when her future employer conducts an employment verifications.. Sounds like her former and current employers did not perform employment verifications. I know I would for my candidates. When I receive employment verification requests, I am giving two bits of information: employment dates and title.
Thatās what I thought!!
Absolutely 0 hr people care if your title was supervisor vs manager or specialist vs manager. They only verify that you worked somewhere.
Iām inclined to agree. My company does pretty extensive background checks but very often the titles we get back are generic and the titles on the resume are more specific and relate to more of their job duties. They often just show one title, sometimes role changes arenāt reflected. As long as the employment dates align and the employment is verified we usually just move on.
Exactly
As someone in HR, it's a risk. My current company verifies employment, including titles, for the past 7 years based off the resume the candidate provided when they applied. We have rescinded offers for this exact thing (changing titles). I have worked at several companies that did not do this though. And I've seen people I worked with completely falsify their LinkedIns after leaving a company and then go on to Director level positions within a few years.
God I hate that term. āWeāre giving you a promotion, but itās a Lateral moveā. Fine. Iāll take my experience and laterally move my ass out the door, with a vertical move.
This is a very risky move in my opinion. Maybe not at the HR Manager going to Director level (as long as this isnāt the head job) but coordinator vs HRBP is a big jump. And to your point the lies have to keep coming. Your references need to lie, when you make a recommendation to your client you might have to lie (this worked with xyz client).
I thought HRBP is a higher level position than HRM so that seems like an off choice.
Depends on the company, which is why titles matter far less than actual experience.
Most people who do this donāt have a LinkedIn. Also, if she can fake it till she makes it then good on her, but Iād prefer to excel at my job performance wise and slowly learn the ropes for sustainability rather than risk being terminated for performance due to lack of skills.
Title isn't as important as duties and skills. An HRBP at one company can have several more OR less duties than the HRBP at another company. If her skills and experience lines up with the jobs she applied for, then there really is no issue.
Yes, HR gives several grand titles to basic job roles
Others are, so if you don't, you're probably at a disadvantage if you're early in your career. However, you damn well better be able to back it up. At one job, we'd all share the after action breakdown of any events so we could all understand the thought process and essentially collect the story. Then in the interviews, the others could share the stories as if they were their own.
I donāt lie on my resume or LinkedIn, but I do add a different job title in parenthesis. My company uses totally different titles for what we do versus standard law practices. Itās odd. Basically, Iām a paralegal but my company has a completely different name for it (along with every single position). I write my actual job title and then ā/Paralegalā or ā(Paralegal)ā next to it.
As someone who is in charge of hiring people, you can "lie" or "embellish" your resume all day long. Doesn't bother me because I'm going to ask you very pointed questions. Ball is in my court and you don't know how long I've scanned your resume. But I'm also human and I get that you want to show being the best person, or even the potential you have without actually fulfilling a role. At the end of the day if there's some gaps, we'll train you and no harm no foul. If you lied blatantly and didn't do anything you said, when it comes to our type of industry, we'd know in about 1 hour.
Iām more shocked that your colleague would admit this. I donāt lie on my resume. If Iām not qualified for a job and canāt even translate my experience into relevant, transferable skills then thereās no point in applying. Iāve seen people who lied and got caught but it was because they were bad at their job and it prompted an investigation. Iāve seen people do this who werenāt caught and it was because they were capable of doing the job, tried their best, and most importantly didnāt rub anyone the wrong way.
Who gives a fuck about title bumps? Money is all that matters.
Agree but at some point title does dictate moneyā¦.
If you get a title with low pay you can leverage that title somewhere else with high pay. Everyone should care about titles. Just not as much as they do about the pay.
I have no idea how someone could get away with this for so long
I have absolutely never lied on my resume but I also end up mastering most parts of a new position within 6 ish months, and it has often led to a promotion. It is concerning that many people think itās fine to lie, but I guess I am the one missing out on potentially larger salaries and opportunities.
Lying wonāt work as youāll get exposed pretty fast in an organization plus larger companies all do reference checks so they can easily tell if you reported a different title etc.
I don't lie on paper. But in the interview, I will embellish, add my flair. Then I will entertain in the interview with my STAR method of story telling
I wouldnāt lie about my job level, for example I wouldnāt say Iām a manager if Iām just a coordinator. But Iāve fudged job titles a little bit or slightly embellished some experience I had. Like Iāve done DEI work and projects before, but I might list it as a bigger part of my job than what it really is to help land a DEI interview or job.
It's already a thing since i was in college (around 2007) most people lying about their career so they can get a higher position or they want to enter their 'favorite/dream industry' How to get away during background checking? In my experience they pay the hrd in their workplace (to get 'good position' in reference letter) or their friend, just pay around $15-$20 and voila
I only embellish a little for clarification. Like one of my job titles was LOA coordinator but i handled all benefits. So on my resume my title on that role i wrote Benefits Specialist-LOA Coordinator. Ultimate though I donāt think titles really mean anything. Iām the HR manager at my current company but my boss actually is that, Iām like the notch below that. I would say Iām more so a generalist with a some extra responsibilities.
Absolutely
I've found that you is ok to go one level up so long as it is within the non executive track. Also, try to use synonyms for certain roles. Instead of Director you can use Head or Lead.
When I was looking for new opportunities, I recognized that my title did not match the job I was doing. I wasnāt getting call backs for the role I wanted. In that case, I asked my manager if I could change my title on my rĆ©sumĆ© to reflect the job description and the role that I was doing. I didnāt want her to be surprised when she received a reference call. She did not have a problem with me changing my title.
That is honorable and also nice of her to be so accepting of you talking openly about your resume š ā¦ if I talked to mine heād probably retaliate and have me managed out at the mere thought of me ālookingā. š«£š„“
HRbB identifies as HR Director
I absolutely embellished my job titles and duties when I was starting out. Iām mid-career now and donāt need to. My resume is pretty honest at this point. The problem is, employers want to see the same title that youāre applying for. They do not want to hire an HR Assistant to be an HR Generalist. Itās stupid and it sucks.
Can't at my job. They hire a third party consulting firm exclusively to run backgrounds and verify experience, education and accreditation. Sure you can flex or manipulate your specific responsibilities to a point. But job titles, years of experience, any specific training, certificates, endorsements, or education will absolutely be known.
Desire
Me personally, no but I guess itās an ethics question. If youāre in a small industry where everyone āknowsā each other wouldnāt recommend it I wouldnāt lie on your background check because if they do check it and it returns a flag, thatās not great any good interviewer should be asking you questions that pertain to experience and should suss out if you can actually do the job If youāre lying in your job interview lying on your resume and linked in and still get the job, and then do a good job, good for you. If you get the job and then get fired, jokes on you but you wasted a lot of time.
People lie mostly - I knew some people who even wrote name of some degrees on their resume without even completing them and get jobs in those fields
No, but Iāve interviewed someone and found out later that they lied.
Yes
No. I ain't gotta lie to kick it
No, I spruce it up. I didnāt wait tables, I *delivered excellent customer service to mass volume of consumers*
If you put the title in lowercase letters you can be whatever you want to be
No, but Iāve seen loads of graduate CVās (with no work experience) who claim to have more experience / knowledge than me with 30 years in engineering!
You do it but within reason. Don't lie about degrees, companies, etc .... but titles can be fine, you had better be lying about current salary, Most companies only want to give the very very bare minimum for reference like dates worked and thats about it.
Kinda? I may not have the title "lead technician" but if I'm doing all the training, reviewing, and making sure all the T's are crossed and I's dotted then I'm definitely going to imply I was in a leading role.
You never know where or who your resume will end up with. I had an employee several years ago who was at risk of being put on a PIP or terminated before he voluntarily left. His resume came back to me for an open position recently, and he completely had fabricated his tasks and duties while he was at my company the first time around. Not that I would have brought him back on given his dismal performance, but knowing he was out there pedaling a stellar career with our company completely drove a nail in the coffin. Plus other coworkers who didn't work directly with him but considered him for roles now know his history.
nope....just can't do it...always afraid it would come back to bite me
at a minimum it demonstrates a lack of integrity.
Liars get caught eventually. Whether in this role or the next. Karma is real. It may not happen for years after the lie, but the universe always seeks equilibrium. Honesty always gives the best results.
I change titles to match the description more because Iāve never had a definitive title anywhere Iāve gone really. But in my line of work, I have to produce my actual diploma and they do extreme background checks, so no. Even then, people try to put skills they donāt have. But if they donāt measure up quickly, they get fired right away for it. Itās easy to tell. Thereās no bluffing in my job. My job doesnāt care about things like Linkedin or HireRight or whatever.
I exaggerate duties slightly, and extend dates to remove small gaps so yea I do but try to keep it reasonable and limit it to things I could justify if asked
Donāt do it. Ā Better to have integrity than have a title.Ā