In today's challenging market, finding a job can be a long, frustrating process, and some job seekers have resorted to fibbing in order to present themselves as better candidates for a role.
A recent report from FlexJobs found that 1 in 3 workers admit to lying on their resumes, from faking their enthusiasm to covering up employment gaps.
HR expert Hebba Youssef says that she's seen an uptick in advice, especially on social media, for job candidates to "just lie" on their resume and in interviews.
To her, their desperation makes sense: "The world is way too expensive for us to not have jobs," she says.
Youssef is sympathetic to those job seekers -- "a lot of us are lying in interviews simply because we need to put our best foot forward, and I don't think that's a negative thing," she says -- but she can usually tell when candidates are stretching the truth.
According to Youssef, if a candidate can't elaborate on the experiences they put on their resume, it may be a warning sign that they aren't being honest.
Mid-to-senior level candidates should be able to discuss how their leadership has made a difference at the company, she says.
"You have to be able to describe the impact of your work," she says. "If you can't give me an example and explain its impact, that's a little bit of a red flag to me."
Candidates for entry-level jobs may not have as much experience, but they should be able to explain what attracts them to this particular role, Youssef says -- and she can tell when they haven't done their research.
"I need to know why this job, even if it's something as simple as like, 'I really liked your company values,'" she says.
According to Youssef, displaying genuine curiosity about the company is a factor that makes candidates stand out.
"I'm always looking for people to ask questions in the interview, and when they don't, I'm almost disappointed," she says. "I'm like, this is your chance to like show me what you're actually thinking about, and why you want to pursue this."
She's always impressed when candidates are able to create a "through line" that links their past experiences with their interest in the role.
Even if you don't have relevant experience, you can talk about skills you learned from volunteering, school or past jobs, she says.
"I didn't have the means to do an unpaid internship in college, so I had to connect a lot of my early jobs to experiences I had while I worked in retail," Youssef says.
In later job interviews, Youssef emphasized how much she learned about customer service and teamwork through her retail gigs.
"Doing research on the company and connecting it back to either your core values, something you studied or a life experience you had, can go a really long way," she says.