Most Common, Unusual Resume Lies

If you’ve been hiring, odds are you’ve stumbled across an embellishment or two. After all, a new CareerBuilder survey notes that 58% of hiring managers have caught a lie on a resume — and a third of these employers have seen an increase in resume embellishments post-recession. 

According to employers, the most common lies they catch on resumes relate to: 
• Embellished skill set – 57%
• Embellished responsibilities – 55%
• Dates of employment – 42%
• Job title – 34%
• Academic degree – 33%
• Companies worked for – 26%
• Accolades/awards – 18%

Asked about the most unusual lie they’ve ever caught on a resume, employers recalled:
• Applicant included job experience that was actually his father’s. Both father and son had the same name (one was Sr., one was Jr.).
• Applicant claimed to be the assistant to the prime minister of a foreign country — that doesn’t have a prime minister.
• Applicant claimed to have been a high school basketball free throw champion. He admitted it was a lie in the interview.
• Applicant claimed to have been an Olympic medalist.
• Applicant claimed to have been a construction supervisor. The interviewer learned the bulk of his experience was in the completion of a doghouse some years earlier.
• Applicant claimed to have 25 years of experience at age 32.
• Applicant claimed to have worked for 20 years as the babysitter of known celebrities such as Tom Cruise, Madonna, etc.
• Applicant listed three jobs over the past several years. Upon contacting the employers, the interviewer learned that the applicant had worked at one for two days, another for one day, and not at all for the third.
• Applicant applied to a position with a company who had just terminated him. He listed the company under “previous employment” and indicated on his resume that he had quit.
• Applicant applied twice for the same position and provided different work history on each application. 

Oh, and while employers have caught lies on resumes submitted for jobs of all types, levels and industries, some report a higher rate of fibbing than others. The industry where lies were caught most often? Financial services, at 73%.

The nationwide survey, which was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder from May 13 to June 6, 2014, included a representative sample of 2,188 hiring managers and human resource professionals across industries and company sizes.