Fake it til you make it?

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I applied online for a job a few days ago. It was a job for which I was very very qualified and wanted very much.

When I applied, a recruiter contacted me back, and he had a chart for me to fill in, to say how much experience I had with each of a list of desired skills and when is the last time I used each one.

For each skill, I had a lot more knowledge than the job required. For most of the skills, the job listing required 2-5 years of experience, and when I filled in the chart, I could honestly list that I had between 13 and 18 years worth of experience. The job listing involved things that I've been doing since I was a child.

Except for one skill, which is a computer program. I have never used this program, but this particular program is one of a whole bunch of about six competing programs that do the same basic thing. I have used literally every one of the other programs, and have about 15 years worth of experience using programs of this type. All of the programs act in basically the same way, and I have a very in-depth understanding of how this type of program works. In fact, even though I've never used it, I probably have drastically more experience using programs of this type than almost anyone in this type of job. So I made a note on the application that I had no experience with this program but had used all of the popular similar programs. The recruiter sent me a note back saying "We'll keep in touch." I've learned that that means that they won't call me.

I told this to some people yesterday, and they told me that because I have so much experience with all of the similar programs that they think that it would have been appropriate for me to say that I had experience with the program in question, even though I've never used it before. They said to "fake it til you make it" and that in this case it wouldn't have even been stretching the truth because I did already have so much understanding of how this type of program works.

I would likely have been capable of very quickly learning how this program worked, especially because of my understanding of all similar programs and why they were developed the way they were. But telling people that I understand that one program seems like lying and it seems like it could be dangerous if I was hired and they found out I hadn't used the program before. To me, this seems like lying.

I believe that the requirement for this job was like if I was an excellent mechanic who had worked on every type of cars except for Fords and now wanted a job that involved working on Fords, but the job application said "How much experience do you have working on Fords?" and in this hypothetical situation I would have said "I have no experience with Fords, but I have experience working with all of the other types of car," and they would then say that they weren't going to call me back because I had no experience with Fords.

The people I spoke with yesterday said that it would be expected to say that I had the experience, and that it wouldn't be considered a lie, but to me it is clearly a lie, even though I think that with my previous experience I could have learned the program almost immediately.

Do you think that the people I talked to are right, and that it would have been okay to tell them that I had that experience? Would you have lied?

I think you did the right thing. Unfortunately recruitment agents sometimes have difficulty understanding how you can transfer skills from one area to another.

Lie........and feel fine doing it!

Everyone exagerates and fibs at some point in the employment process. If you think you can get away with it, you should without hesitation. If you insist on being 100% honest you're putting yourself at a giant disadvantage.

My husband was in this sort of situation at one time, did not lie, and someone else got the job. Now, the other guy may have won the job for a myriad of other reasons, but it did give my husband and I some pause for thought --

We decided that if this ever happened again, he was probably say he has experience with the program -- and then, spend the interim time between the interview and ostensibly receiving the actual job by LEARNING the program. That way, everybody gets what they want -- the employer gets somebody who knows the program, and my husband gets the job. If you can honestly learn a program within a month, then this works out for all parties.

You handled the situation exactly as you should have. If you had lied and said you did have experience with the program, it could come back to haunt you, you should never ever lie or stretch the truth when it comes to jobs. That said, you can bend the truth in your favor, which is exactly what you did in this case by mentioning the similar programs you did have experience with.

I wouldn't lie because even though you might get the job, you may not be able to use the program in question properly. False expectations lead to disappointment.

Never lie about specific skills like programs, it's easy to prove you don't have them. I thought this was going to be about some more subjective skills relating to personality (where some people try 'faking until making'), in which case it's a bit less iffy but still needs caution. If you have skills in similar programs be sure to mention them and the fact you'll be able to learn the new program quickly (even better, start self-learning it as soon as possible if you can) as it shows a willingness to learn, which is a good thing. Also note that you don't necessarily have to meet every single criteria a job requirement asks for to get the job, I've heard you can sometimes get it with as little as 60% of the requirements (though it depends on the job).

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Yeah, this is a tough one. I know too well how many recruiters (particularly in my industry - IT) do nothing more than screen resumes for keywords. I've seen cases where they asked for 3 years experience with such a simple program that you could learn everything about it in 3 hours. I've seen cases where they asked for 10 years experience with a program that's only existed for 7 years. I don't think I would have outright lied, though.

What I'd try to do is find that program ASAP and play around with it in my own time, even if it was only for half a day, so I could truthfully say I have some experience with it. If they questioned it I could then say that, yes, I learnt it very quickly, but that was because I had so much experience with similar programs.

If that wasn't possible I would have tried to pre-empt any objections by talking to the recruiter about it before submiting the chart. Most of the time the recruiter has no idea of what the job requirements really are, so without any further information if the employer says "must have experience in program X" and you say "no experience in program X" the conclusion is pretty clear - not qualified. You need to be proactive with them and explain how things really work. Sure, some of them won't listen, so all you can do is try.

You also have to seriously consider the possibility that they ruled you out for some completely unrelated reason. Eg. it's possible they considered you overqualified or the recruiter's own brother applied for the job or whatever.

Yeah, could have been other reasons.

matt, if you really want the job, and you can figure out who the employer was, contact them directly. Walk in their front door wearing a suit and carrying your resume. Be polite and enthusiastic, and explain why you're interested in that particular company and that particular job, and why you're a great fit for it. Be passionate. If you can show that you've checked out that software and you can talk a little bit about how it differs from the other ones you used, so much the better.

It all may not work, but it might.

Good salespeople know better than to take no for an answer, especially from some middleman. If you want the sale, fight for it.

(Great salespeople don't just walk into that office once. They return every day until they get the meeting they want or until they get a trespass warning.)

Recruiters are more bothered about getting their money. they present any candidate and then get their commission.

I remember once they send me for a Personal Secretary position in a very big company. I told them i dont know shorthand well.
But they said its ok.

When i went their the interviewers found my qualification and experience low.
They simply insulted and asked me to leave.

I think you should trust your instincts and not follow the coercion done by the recruiting agent.

People like us do not write paychecks. Companies consist of a very complex matrix of idiots put in place by their ability to fit into a system designed to keep intellect in check. The best "jobs" for intellectual people are usually in some sort of field where you can design or organize things or systems. The problem for us is navigating our moral ethical logical impatient egotistical black and white thinking selves into those positions. This is difficult to say the least. You're going to have to learn to "fake it until you make it" and dumb yourself down and make some "friends". If you rely on your intellect to get you a job, you will have a long and frustrating journey... unless you start your own business or settle for a very low wage. Good luck! (whatever that means!)