Lying on your CV to have a better chance of landing a competitive job is not a new tactic – in fact, a December 2022 survey by StandOutCV found that over 55% of Americans have lied on their resume at least once and a January 2023 survey by ResumeBuilder found that the most common lie concerned the history of education.
But a TikToker is going viral after highlighting a new way applicants can stretch the truth when looking for jobs.
In a video that has been viewed more than 1.4 million times, Alex Pearlman tells the story of the bankruptcy of the former electronics chain Circuit City, at the time of the 2008 recession. During this time, many of his friends were either out of work or had huge gaps in their resumes. So instead of looking for entry-level positions, his friends had a better idea.
@pearlmania500 Honestly, the drop in Circuit City was a net positive for all of my friends income. #circuitcity #grift #recession #ElonMusk #Twitter #pearlmania500 #It’s getting worse #RESUME #2009 ♬ original sound – Alex Pearlman
“So what did they do? They all got together and they started covering each other’s resumes that each of them had worked in different positions at Circuit City,” he explained. . “Had they ever worked there? No. Had they been a busboy for the last five years? Yes. But now, on paper, they were the floor manager of Circuit City, and he didn’t There was nothing you could check that information against,” he said.
Pearlman then speculated that other companies that either disbanded — or disbanded their HR department — could be used much like his friends used Circuit City.
Enter Twitter.
“It’s time for all of us to be ex-Twitter employees,” Pearlman told viewers. “You don’t like your job? You don’t do this job. You worked for Twitter for four years, you were an advertising sales manager. They will never respond to any verification requests, because even Twitter doesn’t do that. I don’t know who works there.”
Pearlman used the example of scorned Twitter employee Haraldur “Halli” Þorleifsson, who accused Musk of firing him because of his disability. Pearlman explained that Þorleifsson had to publicly tweet Musk to confirm or deny he was fired because there was no way to contact a human resources department.
Some comments loved Pearlman’s idea.
“I mean, with the massive gutting of ALL levels on Twitter, no one would think twice why there is a huge influx of former job seekers on Twitter,” one user pointed out.
“As someone who actually worked at Circuit City until the end, my resume definitely has a higher position than what I really held,” another admitted.
But others were suspicious.
‘Don’t do this if you’re applying for a big company because they may do a background check and look at your taxes,’ another warned.
“Just make sure your age range matches. Be careful of closed companies with public parent companies,” agreed another.
Neither Musk nor Twitter has commented on Pearlman’s video.