SAS fired an honest candidate in favour of somebody who blatantly lied on their CV.

Lying on a CV gives the employer the right to sue to recover wages - there have been cases - so Sir Alan, pray tell why you think Liar Lee is a better Apprentice than Lucinda?

Is it because you worship profit no matter the circumstances?

Laws were created because of that attitude, or did the Levites not get that through to you? Good Jewish boys should know that commercial law is there for a very good reason. ask Margaret.

my CV is a joke,
and the only mistake Lee made was, his college /UNI records where still accessible, mostly you cannot access them after 6 years, I know when I tried to get mine from 20 years ago , re: a Btec diploma , they told me they don't keep record for that long..
at least whilst creating his CV he had a creative thought,

my CV says I have starred on theatre productions ... theatres that now don't exist so they could never prove it .. and its true but who would be able to check..

I want to give Lee the benefit of creative exaggeration and not a mere liar.

and yes there are the hobbies section on a CV. They are always true lol , mine is true , I'm a games tester run forums on internet like cryptic crosswords, singing and drama all true , but some of them I don't do THAT often...

You've got to be so careful. I was auditioning actors and one claimed on his CV that he had worked on a production that I had directed, but blatantly hadn't . So I called him in for an audition just to see if I could remember him. Nope. It was great fun watching him squirm as I asked him why exactly he had used my name on a CV.

Have to admit part of my CV are complete fiction- like Lee I have over compensation my educational background, (possibly didn't pass as many A levels as I claim - okay, may possibly have left 6th form about 5 months into doing them and never took the exams ) thankfully the school I attended is no longer there for anyone to check with

As has already been said a lot of people exaggerate on their CVs (most most people or all people???), so I am prepared to cut Lee some slack on that. However, I think the integrity argument should be levelled at the way he continued to lie in the interview, even when it was clear that he was exposed. Best to put his hands up and concede that he had lied otherwise he feared he might not make it through the sift. He even then compounded his lying nature by wondering what else might have been found out about his CV content.

Good point raised here. Isn't honesty the main draw when taking someone on, Lee's motives are (just about) understandable, but it seems sinister that he is kept on instead of Lucinda who hasn't a dishnest bone in her body.

I think the episode shows that we must not lie on our CVs.
I haven't written anything in their that can't be proven.
The only section I would flutter on is the hobbies and interests section. Anything to do with actual grades I wouldn't dare.
Truth is you can always be caught - its harder to lie than it is to be honest.

Considering the date on the letter from the uni was September 2007, when was this series filmed. If it was this year then they have clearly known he lied prior to his selection to be on the show. Yet more boring manipulation for "dramatic" effect.

I don't know about that. Yes, they knew he lied, but obviously took into account his track record and personality and thought he could contribute. Which he did. And the fact is, he wasn't fired for the lie.

I couldn't agree more.

If everyone assumes that CVs are all packed full of lies anyway, what exactly is the point of them?

CVs are supposed to be true!

the only 'creative' part is the hobbies and interests which are usually chosen as the ones you have that you think the reader will want to know about.

I can't say (as the comedian on YBF ordered) that I put "television and masturbation" as hobbies though.

I've helped other people with their CVs and always keep to the truth, even on theirs.

I've never lied on my CV, find it astonishing that so many people think it's acceptable

clearly integrity doesn't count for much these days

The series was filmed around that time. I'm pretty sure the wedding task was October.

You CAN be summarily dismissed for lying on a CV but you don't have to be.

Lee claimed to have dropped out after 2 years and he actually dropped out after 4 months. He wasn't claiming to have qualifications he didn't have and if for those 2 years he was unemployed or doing temp work he probably thought it wasn't too serious a lie till he was caught out.

I thought exactly the same as Claire Balding when I saw the spelling mistakes - undiagnosed dyslexic. Both my sons are dyslexic and there's a certain type of 'creative' spelling mistake that dyslexics make where they're trying to reproduce the word from what they remember and one of the mistakes was like that.

Given his embarassment about his education I think I'd be inclined to give him another chance while keeping an eye on him to see if lying was a general tendency.

I'd have fired Alex for dobbing in Lucinda and only telling half the story, telling tales to get people into trouble is pathetic and if he worked for me I'd wonder what he was going to come out with in a meeting in order to get my job at some point!

There's a big difference between "spinning" things on your CV, and outright lying. If, for example, Lee had been at TVU from Oct 1998 to Jan 1999, he could have put "1998-1999 at University", which would have been true, if misleading.

However, when it comes to integrity, many Companies are as bad as, if not worse than, candidates. They put untrue/misleading statements in job adverts, such as "must be able to work on own initiative" (meaning they will give you no support); "a flexible approach to working hours" (meaning they expect lots of unpaid overtime evenings and weekends); and "we have a culture of promoting within", which is sometimes only true as long as you are a relative of the Chairman.

Then they get you in for the interview, and oversell you on what a great place this is to work, and how much money you'll make, only to find when you get started that the last 3 people in that job all left within a month because the boss is such a arsehole, and the only way you'll earn a decent bonus is to reach an unachievable target.

Great post and sadly very true.

Yes, but is running a spell check on MS word so very difficult? I was always led to believe that employers simply binned cvs with the kind of basic errors his had.

I agree with you that I'd have fired Alex for ratting on a collegue (and probably Helene too, for her insulting language) first.

I can't believe we have these X-Factor type of sob stories being used by the candidates, its pitiful.

Helene = Parents alcoholics. I was a chav thug because of it but was saved by a woman with wonky teeth. Woman in mans world and with the worst office in the building. Rumours that she had a pink tank top welded to her torso as everyone was mistaking her as a man are unconfirmed.

Lee = My dad's a milkman and gave me a shit life. (WTF?? I'd disown the little shit, I'm sure his parents did the best they could... maybe his dad should have lied on his CV too to get a better paid job). I'm sure his dad can spell milkman though.

Alex = Dad lost his business. Poor little "good looking" guy who doesn't get taken seriously because of his age and his big pouty lips. He's a little scumbag who uses his looks to get ahead, but underneath that he's an insecure black hole.



Claire and Lucinda compared to these 3 are complete Angels. I think they're both great.

I think a person's upbringing is very important. However, this year's crop are using their's in a totally cynical way. Compare and contrast with the fist winner Tim ( can't remember his last name) who used his humble beginnings as an inspiration.

This series is basically Big Brother in sharp suits.

ROFLMAO

I thought the best one was Alex - privately educated but had to live in a farmhouse through extreme poverty - poor little mite.

I just said all this to fancypinkelephant (clearly a very honest, open person, which is wonderful to see) and feel the urge to stick my tuppenceworth in here as well.

Integrity is entirely commendable and I would like to think that it is something companies value very highly when recruiting, but let's face facts: CV embellishment is very common, particularly in the overcrowded graduate market.

Most people, however, have the sense not to lie about things that can be easily checked out - it is rather moronic to lie about qualifications as they can be established as hard fact. Fictionally adding to the extent of one's responsibilities in a former job role is easy, if you have enough experience of the the thing you're lying about not to get found out. I am certainly not saying it is right, but it is a fact of life and is quite normal these days. That's how it is.

Back in 2003, My best friend wanted very much to get onto a graduate police training scheme. When he filled out the form, he had to answer several "Describe a time when..." questions. He had no experience of the sort of situation the question referred to. His sister told him to be honest and just explain that he hadn't experienced it and to explain what he would do in that situation. I told him that this would be fatal and that he was digging his grave. Guess who was right? He didn't get the job (for which he was qualified) for this reason, and he was devastated.

Again, it isn't right, but the reality of the matter is that if you are up against a candidate who is equally qualified, if they can stretch the truth convincingly and subtly enough when you don't, then in most cases they will beat you hands down. Integrity isn't as highly valued as it should be, unfortunately, and seems to be less and less common these days.

No doubt he was so poor that all he got for Christmas was imaginary coal in his stocking, etc.

Mate... you do realise that checks are generally directed to the examining boards, not the schools?

Thankfully no one's ever checked Must admit I only embellished later on in life, when going for a job I desperately wanted, my early CV was very light on the educational front and was the cause of me not getting some jobs - so I decided the risk was worth it.

It's a much bigger lie then Lee's I fully admit, but at the time seemed an acceptable risk for me to take. I do understand completely why Lee did what he did, although as someone who also has big spelling problems why he didn't spell check and get someone else to check his CV I've no idea

That doesn't seem right.

The (lying) employee would have worked for the wages, so what right would the employer have, to recover the money?