Never. On my veterinary school application I had listed a paper that was published in a respected neuro journal while I was an undergrad. My employer (head of the lab) listed me as primary author in order to help with my application. During my interview, a professor accused me of exaggeration. He said that working on the research behind a paper was different than being the author. I was able to reach into my briefcase and pull out a copy of the paper. He was a tad embarrassed, and I was accepted!
I have. I said I had knowledge of C for a summer internship. I didn’t, but I would have been able to learn it to the level required by the time I would have started.
A co-worker of mine had a recruitment agency lie for him when going for a job one time (not at our company). Basically they just whacked a bunch of things onto his “I have experience with…” list so that he would match the job they wanted to set him up with.
This was discovered in fairly short order at the interview.
“So, how much experience have you had with System X?”
“Umm…none at all.”
“Oh. OK. What about Programming Language Y”
“That would be…zero.”
“Right. Well. So you know anything about Application Z?”
“Never heard of it. Why?”
The liars did pretty badly out of that situation. Co-worker and interviewer put their heads together, figured out the score, and decided to spend some time screwing with the recruiters’ heads (“why YES I’ve interviewed your candidate, he’s wonderful, just let me get back to you in a few days…a few days more…a few days more” - meanwhile co-worker was busy getting a job he actually WAS qualified to do).
The incredible thing, to my mind, is that the recruiters presumably had some thought that this technique might actually WORK for them - like there’s a huge pool of people out there who, in a similar situation, would just start lying in the interview and saying they knew all about stuff they’d never done any of.
Maybe there’s some industries that would work in - computing is NOT one of them.
Lie? No. Imbellish? Like a champion.
One of the entries for my current job (mall security) reads “Database developer and administrator for multifaceted user-interfaced system which processes thousands of entries per quarter”.
Translation: I wrote us a Microsoft Access program that logs when we do stuff, and I occationally have to tinker with it.
So far, no one has asked.
Nope, no lying.
One thing I’ve learned is that the world of librarians is very small - there’s almost always someone who knows someone you work with. Also, since I work at a university, most places are now requiring verification of academic credentials, whether through the receipt of official transcripts (as with my current job) or through a background check (like with my new job that I’ll be starting this summer).
There is a huge difference between emphasizing certain parts of your background for a specific job and outright lying. To get the interview, you have to catch the attention of whoever is reviewing resumes, but lying about stuff would just end up like biting yourself on the ass.
I had to comment on this. I live in a fair-sized mid-Mich town. The Supt. of our local board of education (in charge of every school-age child in the county) lied repeatedly on his resume, including phd’s – when confronted, he claimed his wife wrote/proofed the paper, so it wasn’t his fault. To make things better (?), his assistant, who he couldn’t do without, not only followed suit, but had an outstanding child-molestation charge (in a southern state).
We learned earlier this month that he’s accepted a position in Illinois. IL, heads up!