Lied in a job interview

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Matej

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Hello my brothers and sisters in Christ,

First of all, I want to tell you that I’m not a native English speaker; therefore I apologize for my writing mistakes.

Recently, I had a job interview and it went really well. However, In my CV I made a wrong statement about onr of my former workplaces. I only worked there for approximately 3 months, but I lied in the CV and stated that I worked there for almost 1 year. When the interviewer asked me about this position out of panic I confirmed what’s written in the CV.

I know that I should tell this the priest in my next confession, but somehow I would still feel bad if I get the job.

What’s even worse is that I worked in this former workplace almost 10 years ago and it was in a completely different field than the new job I applied for. I think that it wouldn’t even matter if I did not mention this job at all in my CV.

I wrote this CV a couple of months ago. Back than I did not worry to much about lying. However, now that I am really trying to live according to god’s will I feel really guilty about it. When I applied to the new job I did not check my CV for mistakes, otherwise I would hava changed it.

I don’t know if I should tell the interviewer that I made a wrong statement if they hire me or should I just go to confession and then forget about it and move on?

Thank you very much in advance!
 
I’ve had so many jobs in my life I couldn’t really tell you exactly when I did start and finish each job except for the recent ones.
 
If they hire you, they have either

Not bothered to verify your work history

Do not care that you lied.

Yes, ask Jesus to forgive you. Talk to your priest about the severity of this lie. Don’t lie on any more CVs.
 
I don’t think that in this case you are obligated to tell the potential employer that you lied, since the length of employment at a job 10 years ago probably wouldn’t disqualify you from this new job anyway. Maybe ask the priest though.

I did something similar many, many years ago, in that I said something dishonest in an interview about a skill that very much related to the job (so more serious than your situation I think). I was offered the job, but my conscience was bothering me too much to accept it, so I told the lady that I was dishonest about something and on those grounds I cannot accept the offer.

I think your case is somewhat different, but I would speak to the priest, you’ll have peace of mind.
 
I may be alone here but I would come clean. You’ll feel better. Further if they found out some companies will hold that against you at a later time. To me it’s just easier to come clean now.
 
My 2 cents: Politely tell them you respectfully withdraw from consideration for the job.

A mistake on a CV might be understandable - maybe. But they specifically asked you about it and you repeated the lie. If they hire you and find out, they can (and probably will) immediately terminate you, even if they find out years from now.

Plus spare a thought for the person who didn’t lie and who you get the job over.

Sometimes “just go to confession” isn’t enough.

Withdraw from consideration. That beats telling them “I lied.”
 
It’s a job you did 10 years ago that isn’t relevant to the position for which you have just applied. Chances are, it wouldn’t make any difference to them if you’d done that job for three months, a year, or not at all.

You apply for a job as a plumber. 10 years ago you worked at a bakery for three months. It doesn’t make any difference to the application and I wouldn’t worry about it.

You apply for a job as a university professor. 10 years ago you taught at Harvard for three months, but you claimed it was for a whole year. That would be dishonest.

As for what you can do, I would say it’s probably best just to leave things as they are. You could contact them and say that you realized that there was a typo in the CV and they would either be impressed that you are so honest or possibly a bit irritated to be bothered with something so trivial.
VonDerTann said:
If they hire you and find out, they can (and probably will) immediately terminate you, even if they find out years from now.
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I think it very much depends what the job is. If you are an attorney and you claimed that you were a law clerk to the Chief Justice of the United States for a year when in fact you were sacked after three months, that would be a whopping lie that would have significant consequences. If you are pastry chef and you accidentally claimed that you worked at Walmart for a year, when in fact you worked at Walmart for three months followed by nine months at Target, I think immediate termination would seem rather extreme.
VonDerTann said:
Plus spare a thought for the person who didn’t lie and who you get the job over.
Click to expand...
Again, we don’t know what the job is. Sure, if you got a job as a neurosurgeon and what gave you the edge over the next best candidate was a lie that you had been a neurosurgeon at the Mayo Clinic for a year, that would be unfair. On the other hand, if you got a job as a neurosurgeon and in passing you mentioned that you’d been a barista at Starbucks for a year, while the other guy mentioned in passing having been a barista at Dunkin’ Donuts for six months, that is not going to have made any difference to who got the job.
 
The issue wasn’t the typo itself, but I think they asked him about it and he then said it was accurate. So it was reinforced. I think that’s what makes it tougher.
 
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Dojustly, OP’s past experience was relevant enough that the prospective employer affirmatively asked OP to confirm it and he admits he lied in response. Clearly the employer is interested enough in the experience that they asked about it. OP has done something that I posit most employers would view as a fireable offense - the CV is secondary to the affirmative lie.

And OP should spare a thought to whoever he beats out if he gets it. We can’t quantify how much stock the employer puts on the lie, but it’s still a lie to an employer and person who lies in a job interview should rightly fear immediate dismissal if they are hired and the lie comes to light.
 
I mean, I disagree. The OP says the thing he lied about probably wouldn’t particularly matter in terms of getting the job – so it may not be a matter of scoring a job at someone’s else’s expense, and it doesn’t sound to me like a mandatory withdraw-entirely situation.

Personally what I might do (unless the OP feels super comfortable about his chances of finding other work, and on balance it’s just easier to withdraw from this opportunity entirely) might be, if I received a job offer, to conditionally accept while simultaneously confessing the lie (and explaining that I wrote the lie on my CV back before I grew as a person, and then in the interview I panicked) – and tellIng them that I understand if they choose to withdraw the job offer on this basis. While at the same time if they can forgive me this panicked moment, I would indeed like to move forward in providing (whatever service he’d go on to provide in this role).

That way, he can hypothetically come clean, and still maybe keep the job. And if he’s willing to accept losing the job anyway, why not risk a good thing happening instead?

Or maybe confessing the lie would do more harm long-term than just withdrawing, haha. If the story gets out to other employers. Who can know? 🤷‍♀️ Hopefully the OP’s priest might have some fruitful thoughts for him? I hope he finds good work while keeping faithful to his conscience, no matter what else happens.
 
Thanks for the answers!

I do not think that she was specifically interested in this former job of mine. We talked about the other jobs as well.

Today I talked with my confessor about this matter. He told me I should not lie in my CV any more, but that I don’t have to address this issue again except if the topic comes up again.
 
Matej, the interviewer was “specifically interested” enough to have expressly asked you about it. Claiming anything else is just excuse-making.
 
VonDerTann said:
A mistake on a CV might be understandable - maybe. But they specifically asked you about it and you repeated the lie. If they hire you and find out, they can (and probably will) immediately terminate you, even if they find out years from now.
Click to expand...
I am an HR Professional. Lying in a CV is - regrettably - a common practice. It is a breach of trust, and in any organisation where trust matters (and that would be every organisation I’ve ever known in over 60 years of work) this particular lie would enough to dismiss. The lie was quite deliberate, and made for gain. Shame on the OP. No sympathy at all.
 
Matej said:
Today I talked with my confessor about this matter. He told me I should not lie in my CV any more, but that I don’t have to address this issue again except if the topic comes up again.
Click to expand...
Shame on your ‘confessor’. Someone more worthy will have been denied a job you don’t deserve. Assuming you are offered it. A person of honour would decline the offer. Are you that person?
 
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I think it’s a fairly minor thing, especially since you said you were trying hard and genuinely forgot to correct your CV before sending it to them. In the panic of the moment, you confirmed it. This shows you didn’t really premeditate this. So, morally, yes it was wrong, but also in your circumstances the intent wasn’t 100% there to lie, since you did so impulsively.

Your confessor says you don’t have to mention it, which I think is probably true, but I also think your conscience is going to bug you if you don’t say anything. So, simply tell the interviewer the true amount of time you worked there and let them decide. Letting it out will give you peace. Emphasize though the truth, which sounds like you forgot it was a false CV at the time of preparing for the interview, and now you’ve thought about it and realized you were wrong to confirm it when the information was wrong. You went to confession about it, so you are already forgiven. Don’t forget to believe in God’s forgiveness enough to forgive yourself.
 
Welcome to CAF, @Matej! Please become an everyday visitor!

Just don’t lie about anything, whether in regards to a CV or something else. Lies always come back to bite you. Even if people around you never, ever detect your lie, God knows. It’s been said that someday, after all who are heaven-bound have died, our sins will be put on display for all to see. Are you ready for that day?

It’s not within your power to change your actions in the past, before you gained the understanding that you now have, but it IS within your power to change your future. Today—RIGHT NOW—is the first day of the rest of your life! Be the best that you can be—for Jesus, for yourself and for those whom you influence!

You’ll trip, sometimes, and you’ll take a hard fall, sometimes—pick yourself up, go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, and keep pitching—the game’s not over until you croak.

Welcome to our world!
 
Minks, OP said he lied in the CV and lied again in the interview. As our HR professional stated better than I could have, there’s nothing “minor” about that.

I hope OP doesn’t take a job away from someone who was honest on their CV and honest in the interview…
 
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