'I even have a fake degree hanging up in my study': 15+ times people lied on their resumes and got the job

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Dec 23, 2023 2:00 PM EST

Did I miss the memo or is everyone embellishing their resumes these days? I understand the concept of editing your resume to make it more tailored to a specific job you're hoping to get. For instance, if you're applying for a job in social media and you want to be sure your CV is highlighting your actual experience in that field, you might edit your resume so that you can go into greater detail on that subject. That being said, fabricating degrees and prior experience is something that is far too anxiety-inducing for this anxious writer. However, there are far too many folks out there on LinkedIn and elsewhere who have no problem doing this. 

Now, one might wonder what this says about people's ethics, but one might also wonder what this says about folks on the other side of this who fail to do their due diligence or who really only care about surface-level credentials. Because according to the people who shared their confessions via this r/AskReddit thread, most of the time, these applicants not only got the job, but they also thrived in their respective roles. Keep scrolling below for the full stories. When you're done, here are some stories of people who quit their jobs on the spot.

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  • 01
    1 P 0 6 % 1 I N 5 U 3 # D Y L H ◊ 3 € K T R 2@ : H J 3 ! "Best lie l ever told" M F D C ene -or-linkedin.com ail@gmail.com 000 000 hef Mort Pe Company name Position " SER Position 425 Company name Position ait consectetur adip Morbi tur e Morbi nisi ligut 288 Og e on Pe 385
    via João Ferrão
  • 02
    r/AskReddit. Posted by u/herbgreencalledit People who have lied on their resume and got the job, what did you lie about and how did it eventually turn out?
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 03
    [deleted] I put a trivial lie on my resume. I took guitar lessons for 2-3 years, starting when I was like 6 years old. When interviewing for my current job in 1997, I had on my resume that I played guitar. I hadn't actually played guitar in over 15 years. One guy that interviewed me was very much into guitar and started asking me questions about it. I worked very hard to change the subject, which thankfully he went with. 3.0k Share ...
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 04
    spicytacocat My grandfather lied about being a nuclear specialist in the Air Force to get a job at a civilian reactor. He was actually a radar tech. He worked there for 14 years and it never melted down so I guess it worked out just fine. 2.9k Share
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 05
    [deleted] A couple years ago, I was filling out a resume for a lab tech job on some job board. It had a pop up that required you to answer some questions before sending the application, basic stuff like "Are you at least 18," etc. It was pretty obviously a questionnaire to root unqualified candidates out before the resume was looked at by a human.
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 06
    The last question was, "Do you have prior experience in chemistry?" I didn't, but checked the box anyway. I figured it was the only way to get a human being to look at my resume, and if they called me out on it in the interview, I'd own up to lying. Worst case scenario, I'm back where I started.
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 07
    I get to the interview, and it's a panel interview in front of three PhD chemists. They ask me about my specific chemistry experience, specifically Ochem, which is what they cared about. Given that the sciences tend to have some friendly competition, I figured I'd play to my audience. I said, "Well, I don't have any, but I have a degree in physics and in my opinion that's even better so really you guys are getting a deal."
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 08
    They loved my answer and said that even though I wasn't strictly qualified, they thought I'd be a great "culture fit." I've been working there as a chemist for a little over two years. Still don't know about organic chemistry. 2.2k Share
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 09
    Puppyismycat This is an opposite story... When I was hiring a lead coder for my company, I was so sick and tired of getting resumes from people that were literally filled with that I turned into a game for my own personal amusement. I got a resume that the gentleman listed he spoke 11 languages... One of them, was Swahili. I knew three words of Swahili (I had learned how to say "release the prisoners" in Swahili from an episode of Gilligans island [ onyesha wapangaji])! I called him in, and set
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 10
    [deleted] Told her I was fluent in german. It wasn't even relevant to the job nor the whole interview, but she told me that being fluent in english wasn't impressive anymore nowadays (her english was pretty bad, ironically). So I told her that, took her by surprise for a bit before asking me to describe my day in german. So i recited Rammstein lyrics (from Reise Reise, my favorite song of theirs) confidently. I got the job. I was so glad that a) she didn't check the correct translation, and b) s
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 11
    heekma I graduated with a degree in Journalism, but while taking video editing classes I became interested in After Effects and animation in general, so I learned After Effects on the side. One of the first jobs I applied for was a 3D animator position. I figured if I could learn After Effects I could learn a 3D application. Sweet baby Jesus was I wrong. They asked me if I knew 3d Studio Max, to which I replied, "Oh sure. I'm not an expert, but I took a few classes in college."
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 12
    I had never seen or even heard of that application before. If you're not familiar with applications like 3d Studio or Maya (which I also later learned) they are so vast, deep and complex that it easily takes five to ten years to use them with competence, and even more than that to even begin to master the software (which is next to impossible), and that's not counting the render engines, scripting and supplemental applications needed along the way. For nearly a year, after everyone went home fro
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 13
    It's been 20 years now and I've done animation/video work for Ford, Harley Davidson, Toyota, Bell Helicopter, Dell, Samsung, along with many others. Last year I had a commercial for Dell that I produced playing on the big screen in Times Square for March Madness. If you've watched any commercials in the last 15 years there's a very good chance you've seen some of my work. So I guess it turned out pretty good. Best lie I ever told. 1.0k ↓ Share
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 14
    hangry_boii Not me but a family-friend growing up. He had just been hired as CEO of a multi-million dollar company when it was discovered that he lied about being on the tennis team in college. His college didn't have a tennis team until 6 years after he graduated. He was immediately fired. Crazy how little that would have mattered in terms of his qualifications for the job, it was just the fact that he lied. ↑944 ↓ Share
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 15
    Jedifice. So, I have successfully lied about the duration and work of previous posts. I've never lied about actually working at those places, but I have definitely gotten fired from one place without updating my LinkedIn or resume, so that when I got hired at the next place, they thought I had basically closed the door on the last position and moved right in to the new one. Note: this has significantly diminishing returns the longer you go with it. I can speak to personal experience there 897 Sh
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 16
    [deleted] Lied about working well in a fast paced environment while applying for Domino's. It did not end well. 534 Share
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 17
    Totally Made UpStory. I lied about graduating with a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School on my resume, applying for an entry level coordinator position at a Fortune 500 company. I never even graduated with my bachelors. Pretty much had nothing to lose, wasn't having much luck getting interviews at jobs, and figured why not.
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 18
    They offered me the position a week later, which I was not prepared for. I guess during their background check, they contacted some of my previous employers, but never followed through on checking my education credentials, assuming I wouldn't lie about something as prestigious as getting a masters degree at an Ivy League school. I totally out. freaked
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 19
    Did extensive research on M.B.A programs at Harvard, the school, the area, professors at the school, before I showed up for my first day of work at the company. Thankfully no one I worked directly with actually attended Harvard, and I was able to keep the lie going, which didn't really come up that often in conversation at work. That was 12 years ago.
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 20
    Now I'm a VP of Client Services at the company, and if anyone ever found out my professional life would be ruined. My wife is the only person who knows it's a complete lie, but for the sake of erring on the side of caution my children in middle school are under the impression I went there for school. I even have a fake degree hanging up in my study at home behind my desk. 500↓ Share
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 21
    ShopJob I never completed college. But every position I was applying for at the time needed a BA and like 5 years experience. So I lied. Sure, I "graduated" from Penn State. Now most companies doesn't really follow thru with the background check, so they asked to see my diploma. I've been a graphic artist for over 15 years, so I did my research, gathered my source material, made myself a diploma, framed it, hung it on my wall and sent them a photo. And the job was mine! They never found out. I s
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 22
    Saywihee I'm not trying to humblebrag or brag or anything but I am fairly fast But if I put 110 wpm on my resume I get "Nah! there's no way you can type that fast!" For some reason if I say I type 95 wpm people are like "WOW that's cool you can type so fast!" 438 Share
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 23
    OnlyLooney. Is it a lie, if you exaggerate simple attributes to make everything technical? Cashier - Manage the transaction between goods of the company, and client funds. 420 Share
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 24
    Lord-AG I'm studying translation and interpretation as a minor. I applied for a student job that involved translating and although I didn't have any actual experience in translation at that time I lied that I had translated plenty of text from various topics. I also added that I could translate mechanical texts. They asked for proof so my mechanical engineer brother wrote me a fake justification from his company. I got the job but they didn't tell me at the beginning that i was only a temporal j
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 25
    brickz. I worked with a guy who clearly lied about having excel experience. It was discovered in the first 10min of training when he started asking how to make very basic updates to cells. He lasted 5 weeks which was 5 weeks too long. 361 Share
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 26
    [deleted] My Excel skills...........honestly, any time I need to use Excel, I just google whatever function I need. ↑ 347 ↓ Share
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 27
    start_the_mayocide. Things I lied about on my resume: Experience Education Living situation Hobbies Name 324 Share :
    via u/herbgreencalledit
  • 28
    Freeiheit. Not me, but I knew a guy in law school who claimed he was fluent in Swahili. He'd taken a year or two of it in undergrad but was by no means fluent. He applies for a position and as luck would have it the guy who conducted the interview was fluent in Swahili. And conducted the entire interview in Swahili. Needless to say he didn't get the job. 305 Share
    via u/herbgreencalledit

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