Top Seven Lies of The Job Seekers

Job hunting is a desperate job, and it can get as exhausting as you can imagine. And then they say, nobody is really perfect, everybody has their own set of flaws. Some people accept their flaws and make peace with it. Some people never really come to terms with their flaws and engage in every possible effort to cover them up and hide them, in the process getting entangled in a jumble of lies. And job givers are smart too, they can sniff out the lies even from across the table.

Here are the top lies that a lot of desperate job seekers use these days –

I was self-employed (or a freelance consultant)
Seldom when job seekers find a glaring gap in their resume, this is one of the allegedly smartest means they resort to. Claiming they were self-employed or were working freelance, means they will not be able to produce any major proofs or anything that they can’t manage on their own! And it even looks a bit classy!

When a process trainer says he was a lead learning specialist
Fancy job titles are catchy and desirable, everyone wants to have one. However, this desirability drives a lot of job seekers to inflate their job titles like balloons. Buyers become chief procurement officers and drivers become chief logistics managers…

Faking references
There is no count of how many times people actually do this. Job seekers tend to conjure some genuine-like names that could bear some resemblance to the reality and write their own recommendations as well as list these fictitious people as their recommendations.

The clean slate lies
There is a considerably large population with criminal records – some major, some minor, some with their records expunged, some just coming out after being incarcerated. And not everybody openly accepts that they committed a crime, so they hide it. It is the fear of rejection though not every company looks at it in the same way.

Creating degrees not just earning them
Some people feel a lot more confident if they have a lot of degrees and credentials to boast of. Now, not everyone has earned everything they say they have. Some job seekers do tend to conjure up some degrees that will (in their opinion) boost their chances of landing that job.

Say no to drugs
They say about 42% of the American population would have taken an illegal drug in their lifetime. That speaks for how few are the chances of actually getting a drug-free employee. So, you actually might want to re-consider the next time a job seeker claims he has never taken drugs.

Boasting of service to mankind
Not common but more than often, job seekers boast of some community service they would have rendered, some cause they believe in and have volunteered for. It gives an impression of being a decent, socially responsible and perfect citizen. How much of it is really social and responsible, remains to be seen.

Job seekers are desperate for a job, to be able to earn their living, but beginning this new journey with new employers with lies doesn’t get anyone anywhere. Inflating job titles or faking degrees or dates of employment may get you through the initial screening, however, eventually the remaining process would depend on the skills and abilities of the job seekers itself. And people often forget that in today’s smart world where technology has developed so much that running a simple background check could bring all the truths to the fore in no time, lies could mean criminal offences and bring along a heavy payback time. Rather be truthful and earn the job than fake it to make it!

This entry was posted in Employment Agencies, HR Tips, Positive Psychology, Tips for Employer.