May 21, 2025 • 7 mins
Gen Zer's are lying on Job Applications to get hired. Could this lead to investigations on job applications? Larry and Greg both explain what you can do on your resume and job applications.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, have you ever lied on a job application? Or
how about stretch the truth maybe just a little bit,
because apparently it's very popular among people in gen Z.
Let's talk about that with Greg gm grande career advice expert.
You can check them out and go to Greg dot com.
You get even ask him a question there. Hey, Greg,
(00:22):
how are you? Good morning?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good morning, Larry, thank you for having me. You know,
when I when I read this article about gen Z
nearly fifty percent admitting to lying on their resume, I
found it very disheartening when we all know that the
truth is closer to one hundred percent. Ken, Oh my gosh,
(00:47):
you can't even be honest about lying.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
It is amazing you said that, because when I saw
the story and I read the statistics, I said, well, listen,
I loved a bash gen Z, just like the boomer.
But I have to say this is probably not just generational.
It probably spans every generation. I think that everybody can
be accused of this, or everybody is guilty of this
(01:13):
at one point in their life.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Well so it has been a subject of much discussion
for the entire length of my career. The you know,
credibility of the information it's on or resume. It is
important though, to distinguish between two very different things. There's
there's lying and then there's embellishing, and so like the
(01:41):
it is difficult today to get away with lying about
objectively verifiable facts like did you actually work where you
say you worked during those dates? Did you actually attend
that school or get that degree that? Those are objectively
very arifiable facts that today with almost every company doing
(02:05):
a background check, it's it's difficult, if not impossible, to
get away with lying about those types of things. Now,
what you actually did in a job that you that
you did have like instead of leading that project, but
maybe you contributed to the project. You know, maybe you're
(02:25):
inflating how much productivity gains that you achieved by implementing
this strategic initiative. Those are, you know, subjective and harder
to verify. And that's where when people say they lie
on their resume, they're really talking about embellishing those kinds
of details.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
So if you catch an embellishment, is that okay.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Well it's hard to catch No, it's not okay, But
it's hard to catch an embellishment because it's it's subjective
unless when you're conducting a reference check and somebody said, yes,
I I created that initiative, I let it, and I
executed it. And then on the background check somebody says
(03:11):
that was created by me or somebody else and they
were like merely a bit player. Okay, fine, then that's
that's an outright lie. But how much somebody contributed to
an initiative and and how much productivity or revenue increase
can be attributed to that that that's a little bit subjective.
(03:32):
And I think we all we all grade on a
curve there and give a little bit of we give
a little bit of grace uh in uh in those areas.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
When does the bat I'm sorry, no, I was gonna
ask you when that background check starts. Does it start
when they're a finalist for a job? Does it start
when they're going to be offered the job? And before
they get offered. I can't imagine that from a lot
of resumes. They do background checks, not.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
In that the volume is too great. It's usually when
you're a finalist or right before and offer. Most companies,
unless like we're talking about really small businesses, and even
they should be conducting background checks on people they don't
know who you know they're just meeting for the first
(04:23):
time or getting a resume. It's prudent to conduct background checks.
But interesting, like, if you've been employed for a long time,
like before background checks were as thorough as they are
today and as prevalent as they are today. If you've
been in your job with your employer for more than
ten years and that was the last time you went
through a background check, there are a lot of people
(04:46):
currently working who would not be able to pass a
background check with the documentation that is on file with
their current employer. That's how prevalent, you know. So embellishing
on resumes is and frankly lying. And there are people
who been discovered, you know, many years later, even like
(05:09):
twenty years later, that they lied on their resume about
having a degree or you know, attending a college or
where they worked, that were fired two decades later after
the fact was discovered.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Oh so that's a big deal. Listen, since we're in
the topic of resumes, we should talk about how what
a good resume looks like we can get you a job.
My son called me, well, actually he sent me an
email with a resume and asking me to look at it,
and it was a lot of copy, and it was
two pages. It was really good. It was laid out nicely,
(05:44):
and at first I said, yeah, this is okay, and
then I called him right afterwards and I said, you
know what, you got to cut that down to one page.
It's just you're asking people to read a lot.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
That was good advice. Even someone with your credential and
career success at this point in your career probably wouldn't
have more than a one page resume. So your son
having a two page resume, no one is reading. No
one's reading all of that. They're spending seconds on a resume,
(06:16):
and we're asking the wrong question about what does a
good resume look like to get a job? We rely
too many people rely too much on the resume to
do the heavy lifting and a job search. And so
we sit back and we feel satisfied that we've conducted
a thorough job search by putting all of our effort
(06:37):
into creating the perfect resume and then sending it out
to hundreds of job listings, only to be disappointed when
you never hear back from any of them, or maybe
one or two. And that's because we rely too much
on the resume. The resume, think of it as a
as a leave behind, almost like networking always has been
(06:59):
and always will be, where most of your efforts should
come in. And then the resume is a way for
someone to introduce you to someone else. But to just
blindly send out your resume to job listenings is the
least effective way find the job. That's why you shouldn't
rely too heavily on the resume. A basic resume one
page that gives the basic information, where did you go
(07:21):
to school, where did you work? What title? A couple
of ballpoints on what you did that I can get
in ten seconds or less is a sign resume.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
That's great advice Greg Giangrande. You can get more of
that if go to Greg dot com. He is a
career advice expert and you can check them out. As
I said on go to Greg dot com.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Thanks a lot, Greg, Thank you, Larry, have a good week.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
I talk to you again next week.
Hey, have you ever lied on a job application? Or
how about stretch the truth maybe just a little bit,
because apparently it's very popular among people in gen Z.
Let's talk about that with Greg gm grande career advice expert.
You can check them out and go to Greg dot com.
You get even ask him a question there. Hey, Greg,
(00:22):
how are you? Good morning?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good morning, Larry, thank you for having me. You know,
when I when I read this article about gen Z
nearly fifty percent admitting to lying on their resume, I
found it very disheartening when we all know that the
truth is closer to one hundred percent. Ken, Oh my gosh,
(00:47):
you can't even be honest about lying.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
It is amazing you said that, because when I saw
the story and I read the statistics, I said, well, listen,
I loved a bash gen Z, just like the boomer.
But I have to say this is probably not just generational.
It probably spans every generation. I think that everybody can
be accused of this, or everybody is guilty of this
(01:13):
at one point in their life.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Well so it has been a subject of much discussion
for the entire length of my career. The you know,
credibility of the information it's on or resume. It is
important though, to distinguish between two very different things. There's
there's lying and then there's embellishing, and so like the
(01:41):
it is difficult today to get away with lying about
objectively verifiable facts like did you actually work where you
say you worked during those dates? Did you actually attend
that school or get that degree that? Those are objectively
very arifiable facts that today with almost every company doing
(02:05):
a background check, it's it's difficult, if not impossible, to
get away with lying about those types of things. Now,
what you actually did in a job that you that
you did have like instead of leading that project, but
maybe you contributed to the project. You know, maybe you're
(02:25):
inflating how much productivity gains that you achieved by implementing
this strategic initiative. Those are, you know, subjective and harder
to verify. And that's where when people say they lie
on their resume, they're really talking about embellishing those kinds
of details.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
So if you catch an embellishment, is that okay.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Well it's hard to catch No, it's not okay, But
it's hard to catch an embellishment because it's it's subjective
unless when you're conducting a reference check and somebody said, yes,
I I created that initiative, I let it, and I
executed it. And then on the background check somebody says
(03:11):
that was created by me or somebody else and they
were like merely a bit player. Okay, fine, then that's
that's an outright lie. But how much somebody contributed to
an initiative and and how much productivity or revenue increase
can be attributed to that that that's a little bit subjective.
(03:32):
And I think we all we all grade on a
curve there and give a little bit of we give
a little bit of grace uh in uh in those areas.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
When does the bat I'm sorry, no, I was gonna
ask you when that background check starts. Does it start
when they're a finalist for a job? Does it start
when they're going to be offered the job? And before
they get offered. I can't imagine that from a lot
of resumes. They do background checks, not.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
In that the volume is too great. It's usually when
you're a finalist or right before and offer. Most companies,
unless like we're talking about really small businesses, and even
they should be conducting background checks on people they don't
know who you know they're just meeting for the first
(04:23):
time or getting a resume. It's prudent to conduct background checks.
But interesting, like, if you've been employed for a long time,
like before background checks were as thorough as they are
today and as prevalent as they are today. If you've
been in your job with your employer for more than
ten years and that was the last time you went
through a background check, there are a lot of people
(04:46):
currently working who would not be able to pass a
background check with the documentation that is on file with
their current employer. That's how prevalent, you know. So embellishing
on resumes is and frankly lying. And there are people
who been discovered, you know, many years later, even like
(05:09):
twenty years later, that they lied on their resume about
having a degree or you know, attending a college or
where they worked, that were fired two decades later after
the fact was discovered.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Oh so that's a big deal. Listen, since we're in
the topic of resumes, we should talk about how what
a good resume looks like we can get you a job.
My son called me, well, actually he sent me an
email with a resume and asking me to look at it,
and it was a lot of copy, and it was
two pages. It was really good. It was laid out nicely,
(05:44):
and at first I said, yeah, this is okay, and
then I called him right afterwards and I said, you
know what, you got to cut that down to one page.
It's just you're asking people to read a lot.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
That was good advice. Even someone with your credential and
career success at this point in your career probably wouldn't
have more than a one page resume. So your son
having a two page resume, no one is reading. No
one's reading all of that. They're spending seconds on a resume,
(06:16):
and we're asking the wrong question about what does a
good resume look like to get a job? We rely
too many people rely too much on the resume to
do the heavy lifting and a job search. And so
we sit back and we feel satisfied that we've conducted
a thorough job search by putting all of our effort
(06:37):
into creating the perfect resume and then sending it out
to hundreds of job listings, only to be disappointed when
you never hear back from any of them, or maybe
one or two. And that's because we rely too much
on the resume. The resume, think of it as a
as a leave behind, almost like networking always has been
(06:59):
and always will be, where most of your efforts should
come in. And then the resume is a way for
someone to introduce you to someone else. But to just
blindly send out your resume to job listenings is the
least effective way find the job. That's why you shouldn't
rely too heavily on the resume. A basic resume one
page that gives the basic information, where did you go
(07:21):
to school, where did you work? What title? A couple
of ballpoints on what you did that I can get
in ten seconds or less is a sign resume.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
That's great advice Greg Giangrande. You can get more of
that if go to Greg dot com. He is a
career advice expert and you can check them out. As
I said on go to Greg dot com.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Thanks a lot, Greg, Thank you, Larry, have a good week.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
I talk to you again next week.
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