A recruiter on TikTok posted a viral video telling job candidates not to lie on their resumes. Viewers don’t think it’s a problem.
Caty (@thatcareercoachcaty) has reached over 164,000 views and 4,000 likes on her video as of the publication of this story. Caty frequently uses her account as a “Recruiting Expert & Career Change Coach Helping You Get Hired.” She has a resource link with multiple job-related courses in her bio.
Caty captioned her video, “Here’s What Happens When You Lie On Your Resume.”
To begin her video, Caty says, “This is a reminder to anyone who is currently applying to job right now.”
“Please do not falsify your resume, and please do not lie in a job interview,” she continues.
Next, Caty tells a story about how a client of hers was hiring for a specific position in their office. She says the client had found their top candidate and decided to extend an offer.
As the client extends the offer, Caty says, “The candidate discloses that they are six credit hours short from graduating.”
“The client is taken aback,” Caty adds. “They’ve had three interviews at this point.”
Caty says the client reached out to her for help, so she decided to double-check the candidate’s job application and resume.
She says both of these “indicate that they graduated in a specific year.”
“On the job application, they indicate that they had a bachelor’s degree,” she adds.
Then, Caty mentions that “the kicker” is that a degree is “not really required for the job.”
In order to give the candidate the benefit of the doubt, Caty says she asked them to explain the situation.
“Because there could be a million reasons why this happened,” she explains.
“But what the candidate told my client and what the candidate told me were a little different,” she adds. “Some inconsistencies.”
Ultimately, Caty says her client decided to pull the offer. “Because legally, this candidate falsified their application, indicating that they had a bachelor’s degree when, in fact, they did not.”
Before ending her video, she says, “Maybe lying on your resume is gonna get you the interview.”
“Maybe it’s gonna get you an offer,” she adds, “but I guarantee it will come out in the background check process.”
She asks viewers to leave their thoughts in the comments section below.
@thatcareercoachcaty What do you all think of this? #recruiter #joboffer #jobsearch #corporate #careertok #resume #interview ♬ original sound – Caty | Recruiter | Career
Disagreeing with Caty, a lot of viewers say they don’t see a problem with lying on your resume.
One comment says, “employers lie as well..once you get the job sometimes it’s not even what you applied for…”
“Ok why do jobs lie on the job description,” another agrees.
A few viewers mentioned that the lie the candidate made was not a big enough deal to terminate the hiring process.
“3 interviews in? They liked what they saw obviously. Regardless of the degree,” one says.
“6 credits is two classes. You found the top candidate which means they have the experience…the client was wrong. and the candidate dodged a bullet,” another says.
Some admit that lying on their resume has actually worked out for them. “I lied about being an expert on excel…but I made it lol. 9 years strong now,” one commented.
Another says, “My employer lied to me about bonus, raise, and vacation time. I will now be lying on EVERY interview.”
The Cornell Law School states in its resume inflation report that “under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 candidates who are found guilty of resume fraud will be fined or imprisoned if they knowingly and willfully make any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Caty to request a comment via TikTok direct message.
