Lies, AI, and Bad Advice: Why Authenticity Still Wins in Job Hunting

How professional are the professionals if they tell you to lie???

I have been on Instagram for the last 20 minutes watching several people share their ideas, secrets on interviewing, and how and why to lie to get a job in today’s world.

First, my favorite. Lie! Really? The question she put out there, “Are you actively interviewing?” she says, you tell them how busy you are interviewing and that you have 3 second interviews the next day. You will seem wanted.

So, they hire you on a lie. Good start. Why a professional would tell you this, I am not sure! (Also, not sure how professional they really are)

If you ask me, this is how the question and answer should go.

If you are actively interviewing, you tell them, “Yes, I am actively interviewing.”

They come back, if they are smart, and say, “if we hire you, and you get another offer from one of the companies you have been interviewing with, and for more money, would you take it?” Smart, very smart, come back question from that employer. Now, what you say is all about positioning and hopefully truthful. “I would only accept your offer if I knew I was going to add value and be valued. Money, yes important, but where I work, with whom I work, and the work you are offering me to do is what I want to do. Therefore, if I did accept your offer, you know I accepted it based on my principles and yours and I knew this was a good fit for me. I would also make sure I took myself off the market and let the other companies know I was happily employed.”

How about this one:

A Recruiter is telling people to use AI to make your resume more noticeable by using Careerflow. This app will allow you to insert the job description, your resume and poof, it will spit out a resume that will get you noticed because it was “tailored” to the job description!! Now, you are reading this going, heck yeah! But now you and the rest of the people that are applying for the same job do the same thing. Now the company has over 100 resumes that look the same. Really? You want to look just like everyone else? You don’t want to stand out? Because any time you use AI to enhance, help, cheat, brag, or write your resume for you, you just showed a new employer how lazy you are.

Does this market suck? Yup! Is it hard to find a job right now? You know it is. Are you frustrated? Scared? Me too!! 

But lying, cheating, and using AI are not the answer. I don’t have all the answers in this market, I just know if you are not your authentic self, once you get hired, you most likely might find yourself unemployed once again.

Have questions? What if’s? Hit me up.