- July 30, 2008
- 63 Comments
A Kennedy wants to work for you? You don’t say… CareerBuilder.com study reveals top ten outrageous resume lies.
I know I’m not the only one who thinks this, so I’m just going to say it: I love seeing people get caught in their own web of lies. Okay, I don’t love love it, but for whatever reason, it’s fascinating to me. It’s like watching a soap opera, only better, because it’s real and involves less Botox. Plus, more often than not, they’ve got it coming to them.
That said, today CareerBuilder.com released a survey about the various lies job seekers include in their resumes – from the mundane to the completely far-fetched. According to the survey of 3,100 hiring managers and 8,700 workers nationwide, nearly half of hiring managers reported they caught a candidate lying on their resume. Of those, 57 percent , understandably, automatically dismissed the applicant; however, that means that (for those of you not familiar with subtraction…) 43 percent still gave the candidates a chance. Does that seem like an extremely high number to anyone else?
Predictably, the survey found that the most common lies candidates told involved embellishing responsibilities and skill sets. Including inaccurate dates of employment or claiming to have certain academic degrees were the next most common lies, followed by companies candidates supposedly worked for and job titles they supposedly had.
It also reported that one in five hiring managers are receiving more resumes this year than last year. Forty-three percent of people surveyed said they spend one minute or less looking at a resume when first reviewing applications, and 14 percent spend less than 30 seconds.
The best part of the survey, though, is the list of the most memorable lies hiring managers came across on resumes:
- Claimed to be a member of the Kennedy family
- Invented a school that did not exist
- Submitted a resume with someone else’s photo inserted into the document
- Claimed to be a member of Mensa
- Claimed to have worked for the hiring manager before, but never had
- Claimed to be the CEO of a company when the candidate was an hourly employee
- Listed military experience dating back to before he was born
- Included samples of work, which the interviewer actually did
- Claimed to be Hispanic when he was 100 percent Caucasian
- Claimed to have been a professional baseball player
I think my favorite lies include number one (which still doesn’t indicate any level of expertise or skill in a given area), number three (because why would you submit a photo in the first place?), and number eight (because that totally sounds like something that would happen to me). I also like number two, because I fear that would be something I could actually fall for as a hiring manager (I mean, if you’re a member of the Kennedy family, let’s face it, I’m not going to pay attention to much else).
Seriously, though, these types of stories always strike me as so bizarre because I wonder how a person could be so insane brash as to lie about something that can so easily be disproved. Of course, I hesitate to say, “Do they think they’re not going to get caught?” because clearly, some of these lies must work at some point if people continue to tell them, right? Has it ever happened to you where you found a candidate had lied on a resume only AFTER hiring them? Please, entertain me with share your own experiences.
- Have a response? Join the discussion.
- Categories: Survey Results
Loading ...
I have had two candidates that asked for an advance on salary (one for $900 the other, $3,000) even before they came in for the first interview!! Unfortunately, this is no lie.
I had a professional level candidate swear up and down that she had a Bachelors degree even though her background check indicated otherwise. She even went as far as falsifying a transcript to make it appear as though she had graduated.
I faxed a copy of this document to the Registrar’s office at her university and they also confirmed that she did not complete her Bachelors degree. They were none to happy with the fact that she falsified an original transcript.
The candidate came up with a variety of lies to try to explain herself: her sister had a car on campus and had received multiple parking tickets that somehow ended up in the candidates name; she completed a class but wasn’t give given credit for doing so since she owed the school money.
Needless to say her offered was rescinded.
My best lie during an interview was that the person left their last position because they were in a comma and the doctors told her that she need to stay home until she was out of the comma. The girl was still in a comma during the interview and was not sure when her start date would be.
Here’s a good story. Some years ago, I was recruiting at a college and and did on-campus face-to-face interviews. I called in a number of applicants for further interviews at our facility. One of the candidates I called had accepted another job offer but decided to send in his friend who had not secured a position. Not only that, but the friend decided to misrepresent himself as the original applicant. When the imposter arrived for the interview, I didn’t recognize him, but thought maybe I had called the wrong person. About half way through the interview, I told the candidate that I was confused because he just did not seem like the person I had originally interviewed. At that point, the candidate admitted to the ploy and said he figured he had nothing to lose by showing up for the interview. “Maybe I would like him”, he said. I told him that I rarely had warm feelings for people who lie to me in the interview and who impersonate others. Duh!!!
Needless to say, I sent him on his way.
Applicant was conditionally offered a position and was given an immediate drug test. Popped positive for Cocain. He said it was because he was around poeple who were doing cocain last night. lololol!
That candidate Tony referred to is truly outrageous. How can a guy get stuck inside punctuation?
;-)
I have two:
I had a candidate (for a HR position) that was working temp to hire (I was a recruiter at this early point in my career). We could not, for the life of us, verify her education. I called her and said “We are having trouble verifying your employment, if there is something you need to tell me, you should tell me now.” She swore there must be some misunderstanding and so I tried her maiden name. Finally a month later (she “graduated in 1976, so they had to manually go through archives), it was confirmed, she never graduated. I called her; she said “Well, I am only two classes short of a degree. I don’t understand the big deal, you know I am doing a good job.” She couldn’t understand why we had to fire her. I had asked her about her degree on four separate occasions before it was finally confirmed she was lying!
Another candidate came back with a derogatory background check. “Someone stole my identity” she claimed. So, I asked her to bring in the paperwork to prove this. In the meantime, her drug test came back positive. I called her and she told me someone had also stolen her urine sample!
Ron, I love your assessment of Tony’s punctuated story. Not once, not twice, but 3 times a grammarian.
Most of my liars on apps are actually “ommitters”. Hoping I will not check, they leave the question about prior criminal offenses blank and pretend they didn’t see it when I ask. However, the applicants who have no criminal past always see it and mark NO, with no problem. Maybe selective carelessness is part of the criminal gene… I should do some stem cell research and check that out… when I get done looking at applications for people who apply when we do not have posted jobs and write that they would be equally as qualified to be either the General Manager or a Laundry Attendant. I love Rennaissance People!!
“9) Claimed to be Hispanic when he was 100 percent Caucasian ”
Actually, this claim is unverifiable, because Hispanic is an ethnicity, not a race. Ther are black hispanics, asian hispanics, white hispanics, etc. Also, Spanish surname is not a true test, either, because a) there is no objective list of Spanish surnames, b) people can change their name for reasons of marriage or otherwise, c) a Spanish surname does not mean that you are of any particlar race or ethnicity.
I’ll omit the discussion of race, which is also an arbitrary and independently unverifiable construct.
We have had a number of candidates come in for interviews. The first question is always “do you agree with preemployment and random drug testing?” I think I have heard it all from “that infringes on my rights” to “if I can have 30 days” to “that is fine, no problem” then later they test positive and the excuses start all over again. I have had a hard time wrapping my head on the fact that these people actually thought they could get away with it. We even had one test positive and a period of time later resubmit their resume as if they did not know who we were and that they had already applied. Thank goodness for file systems.
That candidate Tony referred to is truly outrageous. How can a guy get stuck inside punctuation?
Maybe he had been doing cocain?
I had a guy who tested positive for cocaine and said it was really his cough syrup showing up as a false positive. The guy’s dad was a doctor and he said his doctor told him that could happen. We didn’t buy it and rescinded the offer. He said he was going to his attorney. I told him to do what he had to do. We never heard from him again. We did however notice his arrest listed in the newspaper several months later for being in possession of narcotics.
How about when the company lies. I have been on many interviews when the interviewer lies to make the position sound more rewarding and the company in great financial condition.
The worst is causing us to give up our current position with the belief that we are moving on to a better position!
On Michelle’s comment regarding companies that lie, keep in mind you should always do your homework on a company before an interview. If it’s a publicly traded company, check their stock reports online. If it’s a private company, you can still ask for financial reports and trade references.
I am the VP of HR for our company. Several years ago I learned a very important lesson: be wary of people who claim a previously outrageous salary from a “now defunct company” but are willing to work for less because they “like your company”.
We hired my Executive HR Assistant who ended up spending the first two weeks of her job with us surfing for a new job online. We do have internet management software that blocks job sites, but as she was HR she needed access to these sites for our own recruiting efforts. It does monitor the sites visited though, and thats what tipped us off.
Additionally, she had five different versions of her resume stored on her company computer. All of them had her working for us for over one year (one had 5 years!), when she had only started 10 days previously. However, the reference name and number she included for our company was not us. Her work emails were full of resume submissions and responses from other potential suckers.
The funny thing was though, all of her business references and previous employment history checked out before we hired her; except the most recent one that “went out of business”.
When checking references, look the company info up online and call directly. Don’t use the info the candidate supplied unless you have to, then take it with a grain of salt.
Yes I have had many companies lie about my salary, the city that I will work in, and that washing cars in suit is fun!
I agree with Robert Ruff’s comments. A candidate could be 100% Caucasian and 100% Hispanic (if anyone’s truly 100% anything, of course). Take a Caucasian Spaniard, for example.
You can tell this article was written by women. I would guess, probably white and prejudice as can be seen with the Hispanic comment. I have German, Irish, and Indiana in my blood yet I never get ask about it, it’s none of your business and I do my job very well. I am the CIO of a company and if any of you worked for my HR, you would be fired immediately. Give people a break; they just want to feed their family. You should be ashamed. Seriously, checking on if someone graduated High School, what a waste of time. There are no skills learned there, can they do the job or not. You guys think you are so great because you hold a little bit of power; remember middle management, aka YOU, are the first to be fired in a failing economy.
I “had” a friend who was fired from a position after the company found out she lied about her degree. She was furious with the company and told me they were out to get her and found a reason to fire her. I asked her, “Do you have
a degree?” She replied, “Well no, but I didn’t expect them to check. Why did they check? They had it out for me and wanted to fire me.”
I told her as an employer I would have fired her too, because if you lied about your degree what else were you capable of doing. We aren’t friends any longer. LOL
Part of the problem, I believe, is some silly job requirements. There are companies requiring college degrees out of habit or as one HR person told me – “Since I had to do it, they do to!”
If you have a solid, verifiable job history in a compatible position, that should be sufficient. Actually it is more valuable.
I think companies do themselves a disservice by discarding these individuals. Some of the smartest and most creative people I have met do not have college degrees and some of the most stubborn, useless clock-watchers do.
It’s hard to blame people for trying to get around this.
I once had an applicant for a seasonal warehouse position that told me he was only able to work our 3rd shift, when I asked why, He very seriously explained it was because he was a vampire, and that he was allergic to sunlight… Maybe that explains the sunglasses he refused to take off during the interview…
I was ready to hire the perfect candidate when I decided to run a background check. We don’t normally run one for every position but this position had access to cash so I’d required it. The letters of recommondations from previous employers were actually letterhead he stole from the companies. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he submitted a list of company contacts and personal phone numbers. Everyone on his list turned out to be one of his friends who covered for him on the initial phone conversation telling us what a great employee he was. Digging deeper we found at a previous job in another city he was told to resign his position or he would be turned over to the police for theft. It’s funny that none of that came up in the interview. His explanation was that if he told me the truth, he probably wouldn’t have got the job. At least he had that part right. After that experience, I run background checks on anyone and everyone that works in the office and/or drives a company vehicle.
I was interviewing a woman for a position in our finance department. About 30 minutes into the interview she told me she was actually not interested in our position, but she “had to take these kinds of interviews” so her unemployment didn’t get messed up! Then she went on to explain that she intended to open up her own business, providing the same product as her previous company, and told me “confidentially” that she had stolen their customer database and she was going to target all their customers. Most unbelievably of all, this candidate had been referred to us by the husband of our finance manager, a man who worked at the very company that was soon to be the target of this woman’s misdeeds. Needless to say, he was quite surprised to learn of her plans! (P.S. this interview did NOT occur on April Fool’s Day.)
Jonathan, Please explain what ethnicity is “Indiana”.
I am not an HR person but have usually played a senior enough role to be asked to sit in on interviews.
We once had a candidate claim that she ran PR for her aunt – Diana Ross. (Which she spelled “Diane” on the resume.)
We had a person claim a very high-level position at a major corporation. It was actually true, but we couldn’t figure out why he wanted to come work for us in what was a huge step down for him. A few days later his name was in the paper – he had had *ahem* inappropiate activities with a board member of the company he was working for, in the parking garage. Which had been caught on tape….
And, as a side note: It’s so sad to be stuck in a comma. Once I was stuck between an apostrophe and a semi-colon.
Jonathan, as an HR professional and minority, I must say that hiring criteria is put in place to protect all candidates so that a fair and consistent practice is used to evaluate candidates. I’m sure when requesting RFP from potential vendors, you have minimum requirements that you are looking for in order to consider their proposal viable. Evaluating candidates is no different. Requiring certain levels of education for certain positions, or specific work experience, can provide some sense of security that the candidate has prior knowledge or expertise to be able to perform the job successfully. It would be a waste of time to hire a person without verifying the have the minimum qualifications to perform the job only to find out that they are in over their head. Honestly, there are valid reasons for conducting employment and education verfications on potential employees.
Several years ago I had a lady working for me and her job was to manage the Temp pool, from which we occasionally hired people for full time positions. When we did background checks on candidates from the Temp pool we noticed a much higher percentage of substance abuse or criminal issues than we found in the normal population. When I told her we would not hire a particular person, Stephanie would often talk to them and then come back to me to explain that it really shouldn’t be an issue but that there was a misunderstanding, or they had gotten into trouble inadvertently, or something else along those lines.
I finally asked Stephanie to ask her husband Joe, who was an Assistant District Attorney, what he thought of the excuses. She came back the next day and very sheepishly told me that Joe had told her “Stephanie, I hear those bull—- excuses all day long.” She was much more effective with the candidates after that.
I have been a retained recruiter for nine years. A candidate insisted he had a bachelors’ degree. Official background company checked, I checked, the HR and VP at the client checked – and the lies kept coming (my wife needs to go in the attic and get the boxes down with copies of my transcript; it was a long time ago, blah blah). Obviously he was “exited” from the process. The client and I joke to this day; he was either in the witness protection program, or received his degree in prison.
Hey Jonathan, you have Indiana in your blood? That’s why we check if candidates have graduated from college, let alone high school.
In response to Jim; I agree. I am an HR Coordinator and do not have a Bachelors degree. What I do have is an Associates, my PHR and over 10 years of experience in various HR Generalist-type positions. While I have all of the skills and experience for many HR Management positions, my lack of a Bachelors degree makes me ineligible. It’s crazy that a company would rather give a management postion to some kid straight out of college than to a seasoned professional.
You folks are doing an outstanding job of promoting the stereotype of the “anti-personnel Personnel Department.” There are definitely some inflated egos and power hungry napoleonic theory x managers to be found in these posts. Why do you people take so much pleasure in the misfortunes of others? And what, save the grace of God, makes you any better than the people that you are tearing to shreds? You are supposed to be Human Resources Managers. That means you are supposed to be good at managing people. How can you possibly be good at managing people if you so clearly do not even like people? Perhaps instead of asking why these liars expected to get away with it, you should be asking how you did!
Jim, I thank you for your reply but I should have said previously my ex-friend whom lied about her degree, held a position in an accounting firm that required a degree. She could have taken a job “doing books” with a smaller company that didn’t require a degree. Companies who hire people with degrees are looking for people who have completed requirements in their specific field. I understand some companies ask for a higher education when a degree may not be needed.
I recommend people taking a lessor job in their field
while completing their education at night. This would be better then making up a degree and being found out later, which almost always ends in being fired. As an employer who looks at applications, we run a background check.
Not only the education, credit and past employment history. If they have lied, they do not get hired. PERIOD!
Mary, These are way out there. The most bizarre lie I was ever told was actually told by at least three candidates. I received four application with the exact same resume. This was for a Software QA position while working in Mountain View, CA. The only difference were their names at the top. Will the real candidate please stand. I got a good laugh.
Colleen
“If it’s a private company, you can still ask for financial reports and trade references”
As a recruiter, do you really think you would hire someone asking to see financial reports and trade references?
Jonathan – as the CIO of a company you should have some financial stability. Seek help man! You have A LOT of anger issues!
Stacey,
I am an HR Director with 13 years of experience and an SPHR. I recently completed my bachelors degree to make me more marketable in a difficult economy. What I didn’t realize was just how much that education would change my professionalism. I am 100 times more knowledgable in my field and able to respond to issues better then ever before I had that piece of paper. It does have value over and above general experience.
Too bad she was in a comma, I would have thought it was a coma.
I actually was really interested in the lie about being “a comma”. I may even use that, in a sideways sort of way. “I left my last position because I was a comma and felt I should be treated as more than mere punctuation. I am seeking a position where I can be recognized for the paragraph I am”.
My luck, the interviewer would be intrigued by my haughty self confident air and I’d end up with a very weird boss. (Quite honestly, that might be a good fit!)
Thanks for the afternoon entertainment!
Recently I had a candidate who claimed to work for 2 years at a law firm. When I phone screened him, I realized the law firm belonged to the father of a previous boyfriend of mine that I dated for 2 years. I told him that I knew the partner well and invited him to come in for an interview. Upon reviewing his application, he pointed out that he’d made a mistake and he hadn’t worked there for 2 years, it was 2 months! Needless to say, we didn’t hire him. Also, after a little more research, it turns out my ex’s father didn’t remember the guy (in an office of just a few people).
Glad you like ripping on Tony, Tracy.
I am not sure ommitters is a word, maybe
omitters??
Jonathon,
In this time and age, people who hold the keys to making or breaking someone’s career, now seem to be sanctimonious. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone tells lies. Who can throw the first stone?
The issue is, can you actually justify not promoting someone because they want to identify themselves with a particular race of people? Judging by the comments written above, I guess so…
Education makes a difference. That’s for sure. However, I’ve hired people with less college education but more drive and determination then the more educated person in the office, and guess what? The driven, less educated person still consistently brings more to the table.
I’ve represented 3 very successful business men that all have high school diplomas; each are listed in Forbes magazine – so, what does that tell you… Regarding the part of your statement that you were part Indiana – I forgive you for that because I knew that you meant Indian.
Keep your head up and out of the four boxes of life that others are stuck in. Stay true to who you are.
Truly,
C
Jonathon, your derogatory note that the article you did not like was written by a woman is sexist and just as wrong as a prejudice comment made concerning race. Let’s watch out for pot calling kettle.
Also, I do agree that race should have no part in any hiring decision, and nor should sex. Honesty, though, speaks to character. If a person can do the job, then they should represent themselves honestly. I applaud any person working to “feed the family”. The ability to do so does not realy on dishonesty, however.
I have had quite a few funny interview stories, but none quite as telling as the candidate we offered a job to who had lied about his previously salary and title. The systems anylist had in fact only been a copy boy at his previous job, and instead of the 40k+ an hour he had clamied he was closer to 11 dollars an hour. It may seem benign enough to you, Jonathon, but this character flaw of dishonesty ran deep. He falsified some documents to try and show proof of the information on his resume. By the time we had sorted through the information, and proved it to be a lie, he had posed as a representative of our company at enterprise and stolen one of their vehicles.
If someone shows you they are dishonest, shame on you for thinking they will ever be anything but.
Wow, These comments reiterate why I became an HR Professional. To break the stereotype that HR is only out to get the employees. Don’t any of you have care about your profession or the people you manage? Not all comments posted here are an embarrasment to our proffession, but for goodness sake take pride in what you do & be happy or move on! And if you don’t have something, don’t lie about fix it.
Make it a great day!
What is really scary is when the applicant tells the truth and that freaks you out.
I hire software developers and I had a candidate show up drunk for a 9:00 AM interview. I got about 5 minutes into the interview when I asked him if he had been drinking. He told me, “Just enough to settle my nerves…” so I asked him if he had a drinking problem and he told me that for sure he didn’t have a drinking problem,…however he was really addicted to crystal meth!
So at that point I asked him if he were me would he hire himself? He said yes he would, and that given the company has a substance abuse program to help our employees that he would make a great employee after he cleans up.
All of that came out of his mouth with a straight face. My notes and his resume went into my file I call the “Hall of Shame.”
Kiley – Just because we share stories of how people have lied to us in interviews doesn’t mean we don’t care about people. I got into HR because I liked being involved, and making a difference for the company and the employees. HR allows both. The candidates who are honest and qualified and do their jobs deserve the best service I can offer, but a person who tries to lie, cheat, fake and scam his/her way into a job probably will not be the person I want to serve. It’s great when professionals who deal with similar situations can exchange stories. We, being confidential about everything, don’t get to share our stories very often. Some HR professionals have a hard time making employees believe they can serve and protect both the company and the employees, and that may be why you felt such a conviction to prove that HR cares. Now that you work in HR do you see that it is a fine line? We are all just having fun here and not trying to be better than anyone else. I’m sure butchers get together and talk about vendors that send fatty or less than fresh meat, and nail shop owners talk about people with toe fungus. So I say lighten up, have some fun and when you get a funny lie story to share – come on with it!!
Mike in MN.
We drug test all of our employees after we make a job offer. We sent one fellow to his drug test in the morning and the drug testing clinic said he smelled like he had been drinking before he got there, so they asked him if he had been drinking and he said, “Well, yeah! I don’t start work until tomorrow so I had a “40″ on the way here to celebrate my new job.”
Jonathon – Whoa buddy, how can you begin your rant with such a derogatory statement about women and whites and then expect to be taken seriously? You act like we’re sneakily checking into people’s background looking to ‘get them’. As HR professionals, it’s our job to protect the company and hire only the most qualified candidates for the job. These are the people you’re letting into your inner sanctum, giving access to your systems, your products, your customers, and ultimately putting out there to represent you. If someone falsifies their information and lies to get the job, that is a serious mark against their character and puts you and everyone in the company at risk. If you don’t have the degree, tell us how your experience makes up for it. Have some integrity, man! I agree, not everyone with a college degree is the brightest crayon in the box, and not every high school grad is stupid or incapable of the work. But I don’t care if the person has multiple PHD’s or a seventh grade education – DISHONESTY IS A NO GO!
Denny, I think Jonathon meant (a) Indian
Best dressed story: I was hiring for an electricians position, our company does service work for an underground mine. A middle aged gentleman shows up for his interview wearing gray sweat pants, sandals, and a dirty, light windbreaker with his large pot belly hanging out. – Beautiful!!!
PJ,
Diana Ross’s real name is Diane. She was dubbed Diana by Berry Gordy.
Fred, did you see that movie where Wil Smith wore a windbreaker with no shirt to an interview?
Hey Lu… If he claimed to have been making 40k an hour, shouldn’t that have tipped someone off right away and precluded any need for a background check to begin with? Haha. I’m sure it was a typo. But wow. That’s like $83 mil a year!
Hey, I make about 4Ok an hour. I mean, I’m here longer than that, but I don’t actually “work” all the time I’m here… I have posted like 6 or 7 things in this list after all. :)
I’ve had truck driver candidateS that have no license…let alone the required CDL and lie about it! … hello!?
Thank you! I was looking for a response to Johnathan. Yours was Perfecto!
Chele,
Hats off to you for earning your degree! I do plan on transferring my credits to a 4-year school and earning my Bachelors. However, in regards to your comment of how much professionalism you gained while working towards your degree; not everyone takes that knowledge with them. I have worked for people with Masters degrees that had about as much professionalism as a stereotypical sailor and people with a high school diploma that exuded professionalism and class. I think what it truly comes down to is a person’s personality, drive and commitment to their company and employees that determines their level of professionalism.
Sorry PJ, you have missed your chance to hire a “celeb by proxy”. Diana Ross may actually be her aunt. The “original” diva’s real name is Diane. lol
C-I C-I O???
“….I have German, Irish, and Indiana in my blood…..”
(to the tune of Old MacDonald)
Jonathan he had a job as a C-I, C-I, O. And on that job he had some stress, C-I, C-I, O.
Really……some Indiana blood? Does that make you Inidanianan? Or is it Indianananananan? Surely that is the “Other” box seen on the Dep of Labor stat sheets right?
You are the reason for HS diploma checks!
What I want to know is if it’s Native Indianian or Eastern Indianian. And then you have to further class whether they are Terre-Hauteans or Munci-ites, because while they are all Hoosiers, they are not all as good at lying. (that’s what this is supposed to be about right?)
Just a note to the ever vigilant HR people:
I have spent 20 years as a medical professional, forced to change careers due to a work injury AND my last two employers actually did close up shop. I was able to reach physicians I worked with during those past 20 years which were willing to vouch for the commitment and excellence I demonstrated during my medical career and my work history.
For the past two years after finishing my training in HR at a accredited college, I have realized that regardless of my new retraining, I will never pass all the hoops that is expected of an HR applicant based upon my injury and the fact that my previous work history is difficult to document.
To apply for an HR position it must be written in stone that anyone that requires a bit more effort to document or check out, they are automatically suspect. I suppose that one must have an immaculate resume with perfect verifiable past work experience. My closest hospital has changed names 6 times during the past 8 years. Is is my fault they move the records somewhere impossible to check?
Stepping up and finding actual physicians willing to take phone calls–PERSONAL calls to verify my work history is a huge thing. How many times has your physician called you personally? But rather than HR see that as an expression of how I was valued within the medical community, an HR department questions whether my contacts are valuable because I offered the private numbers myself.
I never seem to get past one specific question on an interview: “Why would someone with your advanced medical experience be applying for an HR position?” When I am honest and say I had to change careers due to an injury the response is always “Thank you for coming, we will be in touch.” I can forget about working at any medical facility because of this because they “unofficially share” information.
I am a hard worker, motivated and educated. Because of a work injury, and a work history which is difficult to document, I never get past the first interview.
At what point do I simply say I have been a stay-at-home Mom and then went to college and now I am ready for a job. Of course at this point that is as much the truth as the truth. I have been unable to get a job for the past three years, so I am a stay-at-home Mom, but it really isn’t the full truth is it? Say you give me a job based on that part of the truth because it LOOKS better on a resume but later find out I worked for 20 years prior and didn’t disclose it? Would I be fired?
I just want a job. I don’t want to exist. I don’t want to be on welfare!!! I want to be a valuable part of society. Gimme a break. I loved my career and miss it. This was not my fault.
HR demands honesty yet they dabble with dishonesty daily themselves when people like me call and ask, “Please tell me where my resume went wrong–Please help me with input regarding interviewing skills—What can I do to make myself marketable?” BUT nope. You hide behind the rules you use to your favor. You don’t tell the truth. You won’t answer the question. You won’t return the call.
Ironically I was retrained into a field that is unforgiving, unbend able, and inflexible. Human Resources…is a bizarre irony in action. There is nothing human there.
Actually, I know people who are allergic to sunlight. It is called solar urticaria and can affect people a variety of ways including:
hives, rash, and itching. Unlike sunburn, solar urticaria can take affect only minutes after being exposed to the sun. The sunglasses may have been to protect the candidates eyes from the florescent lighting in your office. Often people with SU have photosensitivity to light as well.
This has been great entertainment! I loved Paula’s comment to the “comma” story! Seriously, though, as an HR professional, I found it all quite interesting and helpful! Thank you!
MCR
Excellent blog with lots of useful information. Are there any forums that you recommend I join? :-)