Recruiters reveal worst lies job applicants have told – from fake ‘engineer’ who got job building high-speed equipment and triggered boss’s divorce, to man who used dead person’s social security number

Some applicants don’t let a little thing like the truth get in their way of landing the role of a lifetime.

Four recruiters have revealed the worst lies a job candidate can tell during a job interview.

Al Polson, the founder of The Colonial Group, told a story about a prospective engineer who wasn’t what he said he was.

According to Polson, the vice president of the company where the engineer worked received a call from the man’s wife, who said her husband “doesn’t have an engineering degree.”

Another recruiter revealed on February 15 Wall Street Journal feature that he once had a candidate who used the social security number of a deceased man.

The stories revealed by these recruiters and company employees have proven that it is easy for a candidate or employee to fool them during a job interview.

A man lied about his education and work experience – for two years!

Polson admitted that a man he had placed as an engineer at a manufacturing company had no experience in that profession.

The North Carolina manufacturing company asked Polson to “do some digging” and find out the truth about their employee.

“I found out he never went to that school, or any school for that matter,” Polson said.

The former employee was caught by Polson’s recruitment company after they assigned him a ‘highly technical job’ that he kept putting off.

“He helped design high-speed equipment – ​​and in the business world you can copy a lot of things, but I’m not sure how you do that!” he said.

Polson credited the man’s wife with helping the company figure out their employee was lying and said the couple “eventually got divorced.”

A candidate who did “very well” used a dead man’s Social Security number

Anthony Fanzo, president of The Bachrach Group, revealed that their recruitment firm had a candidate for an engineering position who did “really well” in his interviews.

However, after running his background check, the company discovered he was using a Social Security number of a man who had died five years earlier.

Members of The Bachrach Group contacted the applicant to ask if it was a mistake and he reportedly told the company that ‘he would call back shortly.’

Fanzo admitted that the applicant later disconnected his phone and his company was subsequently unable to contact him.

A vice president of sales lost two jobs in one day

Tony Beshara, president of Babich & Associates, placed a candidate in a vice president (VP) of a sales position at a company a decade ago.

Beshara’s recruiting firm received a call six months later from the executive vice president of the vice president’s workplace, telling him there was “a real problem.”

The executive vice president told Beshara that the VP already had a private office in an executive suite in Texas and even had his own receptionist.

The VP, who was referred to as John Doe at his other workplace, probably worked for both the ABC Company and the XYZ Company.

The executive vice president caught the employee with two positions, and the lying vice president was subsequently fired by the company’s CEOs.

One candidate had four resumes

Director of Talent Excellence Sunny Larkin-Newman of Hospitality Ventures Management Group revealed to the Wall Street Journal that she had a candidate who was applying for several jobs.

That candidate had used four different resumes when applying for different positions at a hospitality company.

“One resume might say they worked as a general manager at one hotel for a certain period of time, while another says they worked for a different hotel during that time,” she said.

“At some point I started looking up some company names I didn’t know and discovered they didn’t exist.”

Newman revealed that she and other employees spoke to the person about his many resumes that he used.

“We told that person point-blank, ‘Hey, I have several resumes ready for you, I’m not sure where you work now, and it’s very difficult for me to trust your skills when I have.'” this is in our file,” she said.

Despite this conversation, Newman said this person’s “applications have not stopped” and they continue to make changes to their resume.