ULPT: You can add fake job to your employment history when looking for a new job
Posted by Rocketman12383@reddit | UnethicalLifeProTips | View on Reddit | 45 comments
If you are a recent grad, don’t have experience in a certain field, or have gaps in your resume, you can add a fake job to your resume/LinkedIn profile. When it comes to employment verification, I can confirm your employment and provide a reference through a company that I own (this is a web-development agency based in the U.S., so software engineering, design, or adjacent positions can be verified). For anonymity reasons, I won’t disclose the company name beforehand - send me a private message to get the name and a link to the LinkedIn page. I do this to populate my company’s LinkedIn page with more employees, so it’s free for you.
tonymorow@reddit
This works until it doesn't. Companies verify, people talk, and LinkedIn makes it way too easy to spot the gaps. High risk for a short-term gain.
Rocketman12383@reddit (OP)
Everybody here is adult and free to make their own decisions. If you evaluate your position and understand that it will not help you, you are free not to use it. For many other people now lying on resume is the only way to get in the industry unfortunately.
Natural-Warthog-1462@reddit
Yea this only works if they don’t check. I worked for a company that was bought out and when a background / employment check came back and they couldn’t verify, I had to submit (redacted) IRS records.
I would say this is only the move for the most desperate person, who also somehow has the skills they are looking for
McFreddieMercury@reddit
I could help populate your company, not sure how applicable someone working in the business administration field can use this, but would love to squeeze in there somehow
RelationExpensive361@reddit
Can it work for a person not residing in the us? Lets say i work from home for a u.s company?
Rocketman12383@reddit (OP)
That depends on where you are. I would absolutely prefer people from US to create an impression of US company, but if you are somewhere close - like Canada, I think that would work as well
RelationExpensive361@reddit
Im on the other side of the ocean buddy. Algeria. Thanks anyway
Pleasant-Regular6169@reddit
Most US corporations don't call references themselves but use background check companies who have access to actual information on who paid you.
Too lazy to look up the names but they've been mentioned in this subreddit before. It depends on the level of the background check.
pixel_slayer8bit@reddit
creative fields are weird though... portfolio matters way more than employment history. like ive seen junior designers with fake experience get exposed instantly when their work cant back it up. but yeah the mutual fake employment thing is kinda genius for inflating company size lol
Princess_Moon_Butt@reddit
Depends on the size and industry sometimes.
In general, if the company has multiple locations, it's a safe bet that they'll send out to a background check company, so you don't want to flat-out lie about where you worked.
But if it's a single building with less than 100 employees, there's a good chance that "HR" is just one or two folks making calls. And that's a good place to work for 3-5 years to establish some history before you start looking for some bigger places.
Also: a lot of times the background companies can't confirm exact dates that you started or stopped working, so you can get away with padding your employment duration by a bit on either side as long as it's within the same calendar year. So if you quit company A, then worked at company B for 3 months before quitting there too, just say you worked at company A that whole time; looks way better on a resume.
Princess_Moon_Butt@reddit
You can also add "self employed", as long as you have something to back that up with.
I'm an engineer; at one point I had to quit a toxic place and was out of work for about a year and a half. But I've got a 3D printer at home, so I printed a bunch of little novelty gift type things. License plate covers, cupholders, phone stands, things like that. Made a dozen different versions of each thing, with different quotes and symbols from TV shows, video games, pop songs, whatever.
I listed them all on an etsy-type store, and whenever asked, told employers that I spent that time going to comic-con type events as a vendor and tried to make a living that way (It wasn't entirely a lie; I did make a couple hundred sales, just not nearly enough to make a living on, nor enough to justify the headache of self-employment).
It was nice to have something to cover that gap in employment, but even more so I think it was a really fun conversation starter.
liedel@reddit
Sorry but "self-employed" means "unemployed" to every HR Manager in the world. Same for "consultant".
liedel@reddit
You probably don't want to do this for multiple reasons:
kaett@reddit
did you miss the title of the sub?
liedel@reddit
Not really a pro tip if it sucks.
kaett@reddit
hence the "unethical".
liedel@reddit
unethical is the adjective. The subject is "pro tip". The pro tip is necessary, and it must also be unethical on top of that. This doesn't fulfill the necessary first requirement.
biggerty123@reddit
Agreed 100%. Some people try to justify their existence by lying their way through it. Pathetic af.
Worthy-Of-Dignity@reddit
See Donald Trump
UnethicalLifeProTips-ModTeam@reddit
Your post or comment was removed for violating rule 12: No politics.
somethingwyqued@reddit
If you go for entry level service jobs, yes.
If you’re going for a corporate job, don’t do this. I just got a salaried position a couple of months ago at a Fortune 500 company; they did an EXTENSIVE background check. Used several companies similar to The Work Number, did not accept references, called previous employment HR, checked against my LinkedIn, I had to submit previous pay stubs, contacted my university to verify my degree. And this was after passing a criminal and drug test, after I got an offer letter. If anything hadn’t checked out, that offer would have been taken back.
i_suckatjavascript@reddit
Can’t confirm, I worked for lots of large name brand tech companies and none of them did any extensive background check other than a HireRight check. Your employer is just being over the top. Even rich companies don’t want to spend that much resources on that kind of extensive check for every people they hire.
somethingwyqued@reddit
It was the recruitment agency that they went through for the hire. The offer letter and background checks came from the company but through a third-party hired recruitment (probably so the company themselves don’t need to do the manpower/resources).
i_suckatjavascript@reddit
That recruitment agency is over the top. I worked at top tech companies through contracting as well. Some agencies I’ve worked with don’t even do background checks at all unless their client specifically asks for it.
liedel@reddit
I have placed hundreds of people at companies of all sizes (including multi billion dollar companies) and have never had anyone ask for pay stubs. Some states you can't even ask for previous compensation (CA). Also some companies will flat out refuse to verify previous employment for anyone for any reason. I call BS.
somethingwyqued@reddit
I just went through it in June, so IDK what to tell you, dude.
user3won_u@reddit
Usually you want your friend or something to be the reference not a stranger on the internet. For if they actually check it, it depends on the job and the company
MangaReaperX@reddit
yeah honestly having a friend vouch for you feels way more natural than some random internet stranger. plus they actually know your work style/personality so they can give specific examples if the interviewer digs deeper. seems risky to trust someone you dont know with something that important
sweetassassafras@reddit
Art Vandelay, from Vandelay Industries.
BertramScudder@reddit
*And you want to be my latex salesman *
elm224@reddit
Kinda need this
BildoBaggens@reddit
Selling services. Banned.
Rocketman12383@reddit (OP)
What exactly am I selling ? Lol
PimpOfJoytime@reddit
HR’s use The Work Number, not LinkedIn to verify employment.
Rocketman12383@reddit (OP)
That’s why you freeze it
here_for_the_tea1@reddit
Yea I know someone who did this, got offered the job, then it was rescinded when they couldn’t show proof of employment via w2/proof of payment for the dates they listed the job
xeus24@reddit
I’ve never had to submit proof of previous employment lol. Maybe that’s an industry-specific thing?
here_for_the_tea1@reddit
Possibly, it was for Kaiser, an insurance/medical group that is very popular and competitive in the area. They required certain amount of years experience and were hell bent on confirming the applicants really met it
pmpdaddyio@reddit
I’m not sure I’d ever give a future employer my W2 as it eliminates any salary negotiations.
pmpdaddyio@reddit
They way around that is claim the job was corp to corp and you invoiced for hours. You then show proof of invoices.
ni_filum@reddit
RemindMe! 1 year
Possible_Cut_4072@reddit
Not gonna lie, this sounds sketchy but also kind of tempting for people stuck with gaps on their resume.
Technical-Sector407@reddit
Job seekers have several options. Fake job from a fake company. Just make it up and say they were bought by PE. Or sold to X. Or went out of business. Option 2 is fake job at a real company that went south. Like Worked as a developer for Lehman or toys r us. Third option is for ballers. Fake job from an exiting company. If you have the blast to say you worked at meta or Cisco they have form letters that only say X worked here in role y during period z. Many lazy hr types won’t bother to ask big co. But some will.
metalflygon08@reddit
You can also put a company that's gone out of business down too.
Durprie@reddit
Thank you I will need this