Lied on my CV

[tenpenceshort]

Pit Pony said:

To the OP: What you have done, time and time again is actually commit a criminal offence of Fraud. You have lied in order to gain something to which you wouldn't be entitled to. Not sure how serious this is, and I doubt you'd get more than a police caution, and whilst I think most people would understand why you did this, it's WRONG (as in living a lie, that will and has come back to bite you)

What you need to do is find an excuse for NOT taking your application further, and then when you apply in future start telling the Truth. Then you need to go to night school, and get some relevant qualifications. Perhaps start with the Local Council's adult careers advisor. - I had a 3 hour session with a nice lady from Connexions about 13 years ago and it put me in the right direction for a career change.

Can we please have some perspective here? The purpose of employers wanting GCSEs in Maths and English is to make sure the candidate is at least educated to some employable level. You only have to read the OP to realise he's well above average at least in written English.

If I were an employer, at least in an organisation where I had power to make decisions, I would not penalise the OP for feeling it necessary to tell porkies about the GCSEs, if I had met him and decided he was a reasonably educated and productive member of society.

It is important the OP comes clean, and it may end badly for him with this opportunity, but that is no reason to beat him with a pointy stick.

[CasuallyDressed]

NNH said:

I'm sorry that you've found yourself in this awful situation. As someone who was bullied, I can empathise. As someone who hires a lot of people, I want to yell at you.

Your first loyalty needs to be to your friend: don't make him look bad in front of his employers. If your industry is as small as mine, it could affect both of you for a long time.

Next, don't try faking certificates as that takes you into seriously fraudulent territory.

In your shoes, I'd either withdraw from the whole process or turn up without the certificates and ask to be allowed to do the equivalency tests "because you can't find them and it's expensive to order new ones".

Do not, under ANY circumstances, be tempted to turn up on the day and tell the truth to a junior HR flunky who has absolutely no ability to bend the rules. This will not go well...

Good luck, and I hope you've learned a lesson from this.

Thank you for your kind words. This seems to me to be the best course of action (or at least my preferred). I don't want to drop out of the application process because it's for a job I think I'll enjoy and the sooner I'm out of where I am, the better.

If I'm unsuccessful with this application then I'll look into doing the equivalency exams.

Thanks all for your advice. I was expecting a lot more hate to be thrown my way for being a blagger.

[longshot]

Ilovetwiglets said:

CharlesdeGaulle said:

toasty said:

I just put I have 8 O-levels which is true.

I never mention which grades I got, there were a few Ds and Es.

It's not though, is it? A-C was an O Level pass, D-E was a CSE (so not an O Level)

I agree that some of this is rarely asked, and even more-rarely important, but honesty is key.

OP - either 'fess up right now, or withdraw, qualify and re-apply. Good luck.

CSEs and O levels were completely different exams.

A CSE grade 1 is equivilant to an O Level pass. A grade 2 and upwards is what it is and no more.

An O level grade a to c is a pass. D and onwards are fails so you haven't got 8.
I wonder how many you do have. A "few" is more than 1 so you're down to 6 already.

Edited by longshot on Thursday 14th August 21:07

[TurricanII]

One of the most famous examples of obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception is that of Neil Taylor: he produced a bogus degree certificate to secure the £115,000 position as head of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust in 2003. After admitting the offence of obtaining a pecuniary advantage through deception, he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.

[Ilovetwiglets]

longshot said:

A CSE grade 1 is equivilant to an O Level pass. A grade 2 and upwards is what it is and no more.

An O level grade a to c is a pass. D and onwards are fails so you haven't got 8.
I wonder how many you do have. A "few" is more than 1 so you're down to 6 already.

Edited by longshot on Thursday 14th August 21:07

It's not though is it, you either sat a CSE or O level exam, you could claim the equivalent but you'd still have to put CSE on your CV.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Ilovetwiglets said:

It's not though is it, you either sat a CSE or O level exam, you could claim the equivalent but you'd still have to put CSE on your CV.

You're banging on about them being separate, but a CSE 1 was an O Level equivalent, anything lower was not.

If you took an O Level, and passed at D-E you got a CSE grade whatever-it-was. If you started on CSE, the best you could get (with a grade 1) was an O Level equivalent of C.

[PorkInsider]

Ilovetwiglets said:

It's not though is it, you either sat a CSE or O level exam, you could claim the equivalent but you'd still have to put CSE on your CV.

That's wrong.

In the mid/late 80's, shortly before GCSEs started, there was an exam type called the 16+.

You would sit one exam and, depending upon your performance, you would be awarded either an O-level or a CSE from that one exam.

It wasn't necessarily a case of sitting one exam or the other.

ETA: there's some guff about the 16+ here http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1984/ju...

toasty said:

I just put I have 8 O-levels which is true.

I never mention which grades I got, there were a few Ds and Es.

It's not true at all then, because grade D and below was a fail. That's also confirmed in the Hansard link above.

Edited by PorkInsider on Thursday 14th August 22:02

Edited by PorkInsider on Thursday 14th August 22:05

[Ilovetwiglets]

I took these exams in 1986 and remember none of the "if you get this result it counts as this" stuff, it was either a CSE or GCE O level, not some blurred lines between the two! Maybe your schools told you different.

[longshot]

Ilovetwiglets said:

longshot said:

A CSE grade 1 is equivilant to an O Level pass. A grade 2 and upwards is what it is and no more.

An O level grade a to c is a pass. D and onwards are fails so you haven't got 8.
I wonder how many you do have. A "few" is more than 1 so you're down to 6 already.

Edited by longshot on Thursday 14th August 21:07

It's not though is it, you either sat a CSE or O level exam, you could claim the equivalent but you'd still have to put CSE on your CV.

I agree, it's still a CSE but everyone, inluding employers were encouraged to view it as equivilant to an O level pass.

[NoNeed]

I have a similar background to the OP with regards to school, I missed the last year and a half.

I have never lied on a CV though but filled it with real life experience and achievements instead. I had had maybe ten jobs and at the age of 43 I still get calls from recruitment people despite not having a single formal qualification.





OP I don't know how you can get out of this as the opportunity to come clean and claim somebody else did that CV and filled it with flowery bullst and somehow you sent the wrong one has gone.


how you explain the truth may help but trying to continue the lie will be just another mistake.

Edited by NoNeed on Thursday 14th August 22:13

[0000]

OP, I'd bail now before anyone knows.

Then remove the porkies from your CV, optionally take some GCSEs and then apply elsewhere.

[hyperblue]

I assume you've had jobs since leaving school?

Sounds like the HR department creating work for themselves and creating hoops for people to jump through. In reality if you've got the experience and skills why are they bothering to check GCSE certificates?

[longshot]

hyperblue said:

I assume you've had jobs since leaving school?

Sounds like the HR department creating work for themselves and creating hoops for people to jump through. In reality if you've got the experience and skills why are they bothering to check GCSE certificates?

Well that depends on the profession. Some businesses like to assure themselves that you have an aptitude for learning and some business aren't allowed to employ someone unless they can demonstrate a certain level of education. (Certain areas of aerospace for instance)

The OP hasn't given us an idea of whether this is the case or not as he hasn't said whether it is Burger King or McDonalds.

[Pit Pony]

evo4a said:

Pit Pony said:

You have lied in order to gain something to which you wouldn't be entitled to. Not sure how serious this is, and I doubt you'd get more than a police caution

Yes, the police love nothing more than spending time on fictitious CV's. I once said I played for the village football team on my CV, after lengthy investigations it was discovered I only had trials, luckily I only got a suspended sentence.

I was laughing whilst I wrote it, but it is still fraud. Despite the fact that the police would do nothing. Which makes me wonder, how much of a lying con man would I have to be before they did take action ? If I say I'm a qualified Surgeon ? If I say I have Edition 17 and am fully insured ? If I do gas installations, but I actually failed my brick laying exams ? If I say I'm a fully qualified Financial Advisor, but I loose all your money on wide guesses and ps off to Brazil with the remains.

That said there was a lad on my polytechnic Course, who lied for 2 years about his O level Grades, to get into Sixth Form College, but having passed his OND, he then went on to do a HND, but then had a bit of a quandary and went to see the head of course about how to make it all better. In the days of application forms, he was applying for jobs, and wanted NOT to lie and the form wanted to know ALL qualifications.

[Jam Spavlin]

I would certainly not recommended using this website to procure fraudulent copies of the certification you require.........

https://www.looksreal.co.uk/products.html

[Pit Pony]

TurricanII said:

One of the most famous examples of obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception is that of Neil Taylor: he produced a bogus degree certificate to secure the £115,000 position as head of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust in 2003. After admitting the offence of obtaining a pecuniary advantage through deception, he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.

Thank you.

[m3coupe]

Pit Pony said:

To the OP: What you have done, time and time again is actually commit a criminal offence of Fraud. You have lied in order to gain something to which you wouldn't be entitled to. Not sure how serious this is, and I doubt you'd get more than a police caution, and whilst I think most people would understand why you did this, it's WRONG (as in living a lie, that will and has come back to bite you)

What you need to do is find an excuse for NOT taking your application further, and then when you apply in future start telling the Truth. Then you need to go to night school, and get some relevant qualifications. Perhaps start with the Local Council's adult careers advisor. - I had a 3 hour session with a nice lady from Connexions about 13 years ago and it put me in the right direction for a career change.

I kind of see where you are going with your first comment of fraud but it isn't a fraud and certainly something the police would never look at.

Nobody has lost anything, nobody has gained anything so no crime has been committed. It's also a civil matter so not a police issue.

To the OP, you have to come clean or give up. They've called your bluff, and you can't show. Chalk it up to experience, walk away and sort out your cv before applying for anything else.

[TheRealFingers99]

CasuallyDressed said:

A few years ago I took a few NVQs while I was in a retail job. Funnily enough the woman who I did the course with didn't even check my GCSEs, she just took my word on it and put me on the appropriate level NVQ.

As someone said, you'll either have to fess up or walk away. But NVQs should be a viable -- perhaps more viable -- alternative to GCSEs. I'm assuming you can put in a couple of nights a week at a Community College.

[TurricanII]

m3coupe said:

Nobody has lost anything, nobody has gained anything so no crime has been committed. It's also a civil matter so not a police issue.

A quick Google shows that the pecuniary advantage law was repealed and replaced by a wide ranging fraud act. Falsifying information either in a CV or during an interview when the offender knows the information to be untrue is a criminal offence under the Fraud Act 2006.

The original post shows that op has done this. It sounds like whether or not he gets the job is irrelevant.

It is also a crime to make a misrepresentation by using body language to confirm a lie. The punishment in either case is imprisonment for up to 10 years. A simple nod of the head which, for example, falsely gives the impression the offender has a particular qualification, could well result in a prison sentence if later to be found untrue. (From the Guardian).

Ex-Royal Navy sailor Mackay falsely claimed that she had A-levels to take a £23,000 a year admin job at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust in May 2008. After admitting to inventing two B-grade A-levels and faking professional references, Mackay was jailed for six months by Plymouth magistrates under the Fraud Act 2006. This shows that lower wage admin jobs are equally subject to the law

[98elise]

m3coupe said:

Nobody has lost anything, nobody has gained anything so no crime has been committed.

The employee has lied to gain money from the employer. The employer has not been getting the what they paid for.