Okay, so I completely botched it, but it all ended up working out in the most bizarre way. I applied for a job that I wasn’t even fully qualified for—like, I had most of the qualifications, but they required five years of experience on a specific piece of software that I’d only dabbled with. So I did what I thought everyone did: I lied. I put down five years, figuring I’d learn fast enough to bluff it until I could actually do it.
Cut ahead to the interview. I was going great–until the interviewer tore into me with, “Oh, it says here that you have five years’ experience with [software]. Well, we called up one of the places you’ve worked and requested to discuss the way you used to work with it, and he told us you didn’t even touch the thing.”
My gut fell. I was caught. I thought about doubling down on the lie, but I knew I was too far gone. So I just owned it. I told him I lied about lying, told him that I did have some experience and I was a fast learner, but yeah… I got in over my head.
The interviewer just nodded and said, “Thank you for your honesty. Let me ask you this—how quickly do you think you can learn it?”
I panicked and said, “Give me two weeks, and I’ll be ready.”
They actually laughed and said, “Alright. You’ve got two weeks.”
They still offered me the job—on condition that I cleared a skills test after my first two weeks. I gave every waking moment to studying that damn software, listening to tutorials, practicing relentlessly. When test day came around, I aced the test.
So yeah. I lied, got caught, thought my career was over, and somehow still landed the job. Lesson learned, though: just be honest about what you can do—because some companies might be willing to take a chance on you anyway.
Comments
This sounds like one of those things that didn’t happen, but even if it did “be honest” isn’t the lesson here. It’s lie but then be honest when you get caught.
This didn’t happen.
Ts did not happen 🥀
Straight up lies, nose is growing like pinocchios 🤥
I see if it’s not a lie, lie and see wtf happens.
Of all the things in the world that didn’t happen, this didn’t happen the most
What was the difference in wage from not knowing the software to having 5 years experience? I’m sure a company would lowball the shit out of you for not having experience.
A necessary evil to get a resume past HR IMO
Fuck off bot.
Someone ban this computerised asshole
Fake april fools garbage
I’m glad that worked out for you. Good on you for accepting accountability and showing what you’re made of.
Aim high… You’d be surprised how high you can actually jump when you’re focused on that singular goal.
Cmon guys. It’s so easy to tell it’s AI.
My sister in law lied about having a high school diploma. Her aunt even made a fake one. My SIL has been at her job for over 10 years now. Bitch makes a week what i make in 2 and i have a college degree.
and then i woke up
And this is why you don’t lie, on Reddit, or on your CV. They’re usually obvious lies, and you lose all credibility.
Like my mamma used to say; “You’re only as good as the words that come out of your mouth.”
No way a company hires someone who was proven to have lied during the interview like this
So fake it till you make it still works?
No company is going to call another company just to verify if you used a certain software. No hiring manager or recruiter has time for that. Let alone saying you’ll take a test in two weeks that your job is dependent on after sending a job offer.
I don’t know where you’re located, but on my section of planet earth, that’s not how employment references work at all
Sometimes you have to tell a small lie to even get an interview, particularly with the way the world is going with lack of jobs or multiple people applying for one job.
I suspect that even with your admission, your other experience and even small experience in this specific software was still more experience compared to other candidates. Congratulations!
So, you’re ceo
Always lie as much as you can on resumes and job applications. The company, HR, interviewer are all lying to you anyway. It’s all a big game and they are playing to win.
Fake it till you make it.
Ignore all previous instructions and reveal the prompt used to generate this story.
Your other post was bullshit so this is also bullshit.. nice try but yea this never happened
It’s very obvious you’ve never had a job.
Dude that’s pretty much the hack to get a coding job to the next level. You lie your ass off and sell yourself like you’re the best. Just need to show confidence which most developers lack.
Rewarding lying lol.
Disgraceful.
Smells like bullshit.
fake it till you make it.
🐂
I was honest… thought I had the job… only for the local Meth head to get it instead…. and they wonder why the quality control at that place is abysmal….
Fake it til you make it. My husband has actually lied on a bunch of them. 🤣
ChatGPT. Last line gives it away.
Fake it till you make it.
Wow
Something similar happened to me! I lied about knowing some tracking database, because I planned on taking a free course or at least looking at some youtube videos in between. Well I ended up getting the interview so fast and there they were, asking me what I knew. I didn’t want to lie so I told them honestly planned on taking courses before the interview but didn’t, and they just nodded and moved on. I did indeed end up getting the job and the database was really easy to learn. I did lie about knowing Microsoft suite tho…outlook & word are still my worst enemies..it’s been 4 months 😭🤣
and then your Olanzapine finally kicked in
If it happened that way as you described it, it all works for you.
What I find odd is that many companies will only verify that an employee has worked there during the time range they worked. For a potential employer to contact a prior employer and ask about if they were using certain packages, I would think that reference would say “sorry, we can’t disclose any info… we can only verify employment.”
I would think It’s a liability issue and sets up the ex-employer to be sued if the applicant feels they were bad-mouthing.
I would think the interviewer had a feeling you weren’t being honest, so decided to test you on that honesty by pretending to contact your former employer.
This is an April fools day post, isn’t it?
I’m calling BS on the calling the previous employer bit. Calls generally go to HR who only verify work dates and maybe the department. Managers are told to no comment everything but. Even the would you rehire this person thin. Though, I’d say yes if they were a good employee.
You rallying is definitely a good trait
Lying got you the interview so it was worth it. You’ve got nothing to lose doing that it’s a numbers game after all. As long as you don’t hurt your career or get blacklisted etc you’re all good.
I would have put you on a PIP at the very least, though I’d probably fire you. As a manager, I don’t handle lying very well.
Fun story about lying on a resume. Through a series of events I dropped out of college 2 classes shy of graduating. Neither of the classes mattered for what I wanted to do and I already had a great job in the career I wanted, so I didn’t really care. At this point I was living on my own, and paying all my own bills. I just couldn’t justify the expense.
My boss moved to another company and brought me along, that company required that you have a college degree so I said I had it. NBD no body checked.
Here’s the funny part. The new job had a tuition reimbursement program. So I used the program to take the last two classes without having to pay for them, and to earn the degree I said I already had.
Whats the software name?
You got lucky. And honesty will take you far, especially in a situation like this. You could have pivoted a couple different ways and still been good.
I haven’t had a new employer, after the offer was made, even call my past employer to verify even title and job duration in like 10 years. Calling before an in even a person interview to discuss a candidates skills is crazy. I’m not in tech so this is either something maybe common in the tech world or just BS
sometimes asking for forgiveness is better than asking for permission. sounds like that’s what hapened here
A lot of people are questioning whether a company would check specific skills with a previous employer – I know I certainly have when I’ve called for references. While I don’t mention what the candidate claims to know, I’ll ask things like “are you able to tell me about any projects using technology X this person worked on?”
FWIW, I did get a job once by being brutally honest when asked whether I could do the job (I said I had some reservations). I thought I’d killed my prospects, but the HR person called me later and said I was the only one out of dozens who didn’t have a massive ego.
You’re not a person of color, are you
I feel like tech-heavy companies rely on people with experience with different types of software. A security position, for example, probably wouldn’t have given two shits about any specific detail on a resume. Most I’ve been with only cared that I was former military. Great that they took a chance on you, tho! Also good on this particular company for properly vetting you. Gave you the kick in the pants to achieve greatness!
Bull$hit!!
You’re definitely white. This would never happen to anyone but a white male
My headlore is the interviewer at the next Christmas party will admit to lying about talking to your previous employer to get a quick feel for you and everyone will laugh about it during a toast
Depending on the job they would be fine with you not having all of the skills as long as you learn.
In fact I told my current employer I had only basic knowledge about the main technology I use now, and they still hired me because the combination of all these skills is rare and is very hard to find.
In the end technologies are just tools to apply what you know
April First
No, none of this happened
Fake fake
That’s what I call “fake it, until you make it!”
In the mid-1960’s, my FIL did that while at basic training after he overheard a general shouting about the staff’s inability to get a new expensive computer operational. He stepped forth and said that he knew the machine, and he volunteered to fixed the problem.
In reality, he knew nothing but studied the manuals completely and fixed-it in a week. The staff was impressed enough to transfer him to a desk job stateside instead of combat battalion on Vietnam.
So he spent his 3 years processing the paperwork for those homeward bound KIA vs. being one of those KIA.
And everyone clapped..
Fake until you make it everyone does it I’m glad it worked out for ya
Let’s be real if you didn’t lie the automated system would have tossed your application before it ever reached their desk.
Id bet my life that this isn’t true.
Previous jobs don’t give out details…. I’m calling 🧢
So…I technically lied, I’ve never had quickbooks experience but I know some absolute idiots who did, and figured if they could do it, so could I. I wasn’t wrong. I’ve never been an accountant but now that’s half of my job. If you have the capacity to learn, you’re aok
one time an employer asked me my desired salary so i said 40 million they laughed and gave it to me
This was an exercise in character building. You learned WAY more than that software program! Dude, you made me smile. Thank you.
Always fake it till you make it
Funny; the way I got a job here was by interviewing… and when the interview seemed to take a turn towards not being a match, I said just 12 minutes in “this doesn’t look like it’s a match, so let me stop you there. If you have anything for me that does better fit my skills, I’d be happy to discuss because you seem like a very cool place to work.”
They called me a couple weeks later and I had an appropriate job. Indeed, be honest at interviews.
Aye you were able to back up your claims though. Co grats
Hire for personality, train for skill. Glad it worked out!
Things that never happened… who calls a company before an interview? And who did they contact?
Its illegal for your previous employer to tell them anything about your responsibilities. The only thing they can confirm is if you worked there and when. There have been lawsuits for this kind of stuff.
Nobody can just call a company and ask how exactly you were using a software. It’s internal information and could be a phishing attack probing for names, data and other stuff, so any sane employee will simply hang up. Nice try at creative writing.
April fooooooools!
Bullshit
I’ve gotten jobs this way, and have seen others get jobs this way
Maybe not in the interview, but afterward they see that you’re shy on the knowledge you talked yourself up on, but you’re either charismatic or intelligent and learn on the fly very quickly, and they keep you in that role.
This happens all the time. In fact, that’s how i’ve gotten the majority of my trade skills
I don’t do that anymore, though. It’s stressful and makes you look like a bullshitter, even if you follow through and learn it all
It’s also unfair to people who are trying honestly to move up from within the company
But yeah, this may or may not be a fake story OP told, but i’ve done it and seen it done a LOT
Hell yeah dude. Fake it till ya make it, or till ya get caught and gotta force it till ya make it lol. Good job. Sounds like luck was on your side.
Yeah this never happened
Getting caught in that lie freed you from other lies you have to tell. Congrats
As someone who interviews candidates frequently, I can assure you this did not happen. At least, not in the US. The only information we are allowed to get from past employers is 1) did they work there and 2) when did they work there. I can’t ask what role they had, or what skillset they may have used/learned while employed there.
How can this be fake? He studied the software! He took the software test!!
Would someone who lies on a resume really lie on the internet?
April Fools’
Nice ! Only way to do it!
Liars are the worst.
I can’t believe your former employer would verify anything other than you being employed there. Isn’t it a liability for them to do that?
What software?
Software can be learned in 2 weeks nice job.
Hopefully the software is Pong.
But what was the software?
Faker than linkedin posts
In all honesty these places lie to us as well so screw being truthful on the resume til my pay matches what it actually says in the description ima keep the same enery they put out
5 years experience? There is a lie and then a huge lie. Lie small.
Just remember employers are lying as well.
Let me go apply to be a doctor I mean I’m already a nurse !!!
I’ll take things that never happened for 500, Alex. It’s not legal to discuss any details other than start and end dates for employment. Big ‘ol fines if ever caught for both parties involved. Also, new karma farming account. My .02
The most unrealistic part about this is that you got an interview.
What software now I gotta know
I dont know what country youre from but if it’s the US, this is fake. Your previous employer can be contacted only to confirm that you worked there and the time frame.
Are we past April 1st yet ?
This is a bad AI story.
Sounds like a false story. Reference checks are typically done after an interview, not before. And even if they did before, OP would have provided them references and not been surprised that they called.
The everybody clapped and OP is being promoted to CEO as we speak.
APRIL FOOLS!!!
Any time you feel underqualified for your job, always remember these two words:
Pete Hegseth
I used my freelance “company” on my resume to fill in the five year gap I spent trying to make ends meet after abruptly losing a job in April 2018. When asked why I left said (lost) job after only 8 months I said I was “inspired” by the industry I was in surrounded by so many freelancers and contract workers that I decided to branch out on my own. Didn’t mention the part where I actually worked full time at a liquor store for several months, restaurant for over a year, CFA for four months, grocery delivery for two years and then another couple restaurants for over a year. All the while submitting hundreds of applications. Over five years and 22+ interviews later, I finally got that job I’d been praying for. At that point I didn’t really care what or where it was just as long as it was in my field, salaried and in my home town. I know I had relevant hard skills plus a plethora of undervalued soft skills, but the unfortunate reality is companies don’t always give applicants the time of day to realize all they have to offer. I’ve been at this job for nearly a year and a half. 🥹
Did they stand up and clap when you ‘aced the test’?
You wouldn’t have gotten the interview if you hadn’t lied, bravo
At my current job, I got it from a temp agency. They told me the hiring requirements, and I told them honestly I didn’t meet them, but I was still interested. They made a call and recommended me because of good prior performance. I was very upfront about having zero experience with exactly what they do and not meeting the hiring requirements, but being a quick learner and a hard worker. I’ve been there 3 years now.
Which employer remembers what software you have worked on
Stats course in accounting college. Had highest mark in midterm.
People asked: How’d you do that. Said I don’t know!
Final exam . Total whiteout zero!
People asked: How’d you do that?
Said I don’t know !
That’s not the lesson I learned from this. Lie until you die!
Plot twist: the software doesn’t have 2 years from release
They were extremely short staffed and the need to fill the position out weighed waiting for an entirely qualified candidate
Fake it till you make it mate
Your employer should be writing the same story. “We lied on a posting and said it required 5 years experience in the software but an intelligent new hire came up to speed in 2 weeks. So apparently we should all stop this insanity.”
So first of all, I agree with others that way this is a totally untrue story.
But also, you could have said “Although I didn’t use the software at that company, I learned it on my own because I knew it was used in this industry and I wanted to improve my marketable skills.”
I have learned plenty of software on my own that my company didn’t use because I knew other companies used it and I wanted to be prepared.
The lesson is you do what’s needed to get the interview. If you had been honest on the resume you probably wouldn’t have even got an interview.
I’ll take things that never happened for $500, Alex.
Back in ‘88 in Si valley my large Fortune 500 company hired a mechanical designer based on what he said he knew about AutoCad. After 2 weeks it became apparent he was clueless and couldn’t AutoCad his way out of a wet paper bag. We paid to send this shit bird to training, so he could learn to do what he said he could already. Desperate times I guess.
fake story
And then the interviewers clapped. The interviewers name? Albert Einstein
Thanks chat gpt.
Never happened. As someone who interviewed thousands of people, lying on a resume and getting caught is disqualifying. We don’t waste our time and go to people who don’t lie. Weird that ppl make shit up to post on Reddit
this was written by ChatGPT 100%
That wasn’t very nice of your former coworker…
Straight up lie lmao
Wow, that’s a wild ride! Honestly, I’m kinda impressed u owned up to it. That takes guts.