Can I lie on my resume saying that I am still employed even though I was laid off months ago? (employment, credit)

[ryan.nelson7899]

So my current situation is that I was laid off from my first job after working for the company for almost three years as a junior software developer, I was living off unemployment checks for the past few months which just ended. I am now going to try to seek employment. It has been about more than six months since I last worked, I was wondering how I could cover about those months that I did not work during the time that I was just living off my unemployment check.

To be honest, my career situation was pretty bizarre to begin with. The person that hired me, my first ever manager. He hired me and announced that he was going to work somewhere else after me being at the company for less than two weeks. And another person that had been there for about a year had also left for another company a few weeks after. Basically, my team was in serious turmoil since the first day that I was at my job, I understand now that my manager had hired me in a rush so that he could exit the company asap. I didn't have much development skills, nor was I given any development opportunities since the whole team was pretty much stuck in maintaining the existing app, most of the time I was assigned for data fixes and minor but complicated code fixes. So I never really had much “true” development experiences.

So fast forward to this year, the company had gone through a round of lay off, and I was let go, with the reason that I was not able to properly fulfill the developer role when I had been stuck with mostly an application support role.

Ever since being laid off, I've been learning development skills on my own and currently developing my own web/android app to enhance my skills.

I was wondering if it would be risky that I claim on my resume saying that I am still employed to my first job which I had months ago. I know this is probably really long, but thanks for reading.

[PAhippo]

Lying on a resume is never a good idea.

The potential employer will find out and not trust you.


I'd basically say what you said in your post but not point fingers or lay blame. Just that at the time you left the previous job you didn't have the appropriate skills but have been making an effort to change that. You might mention how-books, online whatever.

When you go to the interview, you could elaborate a bit but don't insult the previous company, and never ever lie.

[Hemlock140]

For most companies, including ours, any false statement on a resume/application is grounds for immediate dismissal, even if found out years later. With the background checks done now that often include social media it would be difficult to keep this from being discovered. If the company you worked for is still in business, just the verification of your employment there will uncover the actual dates. Even the companies that will not give out much information will include dates that you worked there.

[beera]

Don't fudge the dates, say you were let go because of lots of restructuring within the company and that's it. I don't know why you didn't start looking for work since the first day you were laid off though...

[hush.bereel]

Not a good idea. An appropriate white lie would be to say you've been freelancing and doing consulting work in the interim. That's my advice, anyway. It's worked for me in the past, but I actually did consulting work and tutored people in my times of unemployment.

[LakeLifePA]

Don't lie. It's not uncommon for software developers to take time between jobs to update their skills. It's not necessarily a bad thing.

[MidValleyDad]

The one piece of information that can be reliably received from a former employer is the dates of employment. So you will be caught in the lie.

And you haven't been looking for a job the entirfe time you've been on unemployment? Better not let the unemployment folks find out. I'm pretty sure that you had to ceritfy that you were actively looking for work to get the check. (In this state you have to list two places that you applied to)

[joe from dayton]

It would be very easy to catch you in so blatant a lie. If you had started applying for jobs when you were laid off, you might have signicicantly less of an unemployment gap to worry about.

[mkpunk]

On your resume just list the years and not the months. The application should list the month but the resume don't have to.

[veuvegirl]

Think about it, how many employers have called to verify employment dates? Call for references? Checked your credit record? Way too many variables that you would get caught. Don't lie.