Oh god I saw one of the Bad Takes that is going viral. Guys, no, do not lie about your work history on your resume. This is terrible advice that will hurt you and only you if you take it.

Okay, so, I used to work in HR/payroll, and I decided I wanted to do the opposite of that, so I'm now in law school with the hopes of going into Labor and Employment Law, so:

I can tell you this is a bad idea, and why it's a bad idea

I can assure you the reason I'm telling you is not because I fucking love corporate or anything

That the Bad Advice even exists is so fucking weird to me, because usually people assume that pre-employment checks are much MORE all-encompassing than they are

Here is the Thing. The Big Important Take Away.

Lying on your resume is not going to Stick It To The Man. You are not going to gain the upper hand on an employer by doing this. This will not *disrupt* employers' power or whatever.

The people who are going to be hurt by this "advice" are job seekers who take the "advice," not knowing any better. This isn't going to hurt employers whatsoever.

Verifying past employment isn't in any way a "thorough" background check. It is the absolute basics. It is the bare bones. Unless the employer is one dude in his home office, *they are going to do this*

Especially because your employer can often get YOU to do this part! If you are offered a job, you will probably be expected to provide proof that you held the previous positions you claimed. W2s, pay stubs, employment verification letters, something.

Your employer WILL verify your past employment, even if they don't do an actual background check. Sure, maybe some don't, but it isn't worth trying to chance this, because the vast majority do.

Now, background checks, let's talk about 'em.

What's usually in a background check? Well:
- verification of your education and employment history
- a criminal record search
- a search for any civil litigation you're party to
- an internet search for what comes up about you

You know why background checks ask you for your last seven years, or last ten years, of address history? Because for criminal record or court cases searches, they have to check the databases for each individual state you lived in. There isn't, like, a central file on you

So, when employers are doing a full background check, any criminal record you have in any states you've lived will come up. Any lawsuits you've been plaintiff or defendant on will come up for any states you've lived in.

(if you have a DUI, yes, this will come up)

Maybe some of this varies state-by-state, I'm not sure exactly which records are available in each state. I live and worked in New York City, which is one of the stricter places as far as what they can search about you.

For instance, there's very few jobs here where they can do a credit check on you. But a lot of places can do this. Which fuckin' sucks.

In my experience, it seems like background check agencies doing internet searches on you are looking for if you've been in the news for anything. The vast majority of background checks I've seen have reported no red flags on the internet search.

But full background check or not, your employer will verify your employment history! Don't lie about that! It can't help you to do that, because they will find out!

Do you know what happens if lie on your resume, and then somehow you do get a job from that resume? Most likely, as soon as your employer finds out you lied, you are terminated for cause!
This likely means no severance, and possibly no unemployment.

So again, I'm not looking out for your employer when I tell you not to lie on your resume. I don't care about them. I care that it can come back to bite *you*

Also, "the worst thing that happens is you don't get the job" is NOT TRUE. Because once you lie, you go on the "never hire this person at this company for any job ever" list. I can tell you that in HRISs I've seen, this is as simple as ticking a box.

This is why this kind of "advice" grinds my gears. Because people who don't know any better and probably who are least equipped to deal with the fallout will take the advice, and it will hurt *them.* It will not in any way hurt the employer!

If lying on your resume hurt your employer, I wouldn't be doing this thread about it! Employers have plenty of power! I frankly don't care about harm to them! I care that this advice can hurt individual job seekers!