lying about sickness on a job application.... help

Emmzi

be aware some employers specifialy ask "How many days sick absence in the last 12 months" in references, which requires a factual answer. I certainly do. Hoping isn't a good plan, so I aagree with the others - fess up now, but if you have a line from your doctor or offer to go for Occ Health screening? All to the good.

terra_ferma

pinkshoes wrote: »

You could just say you made a typo on your CV and it was 1 month off sick, not 1 week?

I agree with pink

dickydonkin

I've been really stupid and lied about sickness

You are certainly not wrong with that assertion!

I got desperate after months of applying and not getting any interviews

Welcome to the real world - there are millions in similar circumstances so don't believe that your previous absence is the sole reason for the lack of interviews - unless there is some degree of manual handling that future employers may believe could cause a relapse and result in costly absenteeism.

I had a month off from dec to jan with a bad back (from my job as a care assistant).

Sounds worse that what it is. You could still declare the true absence period and also emphasise that it was only 'one event'.
Some employees may have only say - 6 days off in 12 months, but they could be 4 Mondays and 2 Fridays (6 events of absence) which is arguably much worse.

For the good that slight extention of the truth will have done me it really isn't worth the anxiety it is causing me now!

If you are discovered that you were lying and the job you apply for requires a degree of honesty (well all jobs do when you think about it) I would expect your application would be thrown in the bin.

You could just say you made a typo on your CV and it was 1 month off sick, not 1 week?

Maybe not the best strategy if any future job spec requires a lot of typing duties and a person spec that stipulates 'attention to detail'.

santacruz_2

pinkshoes wrote: »

You could just say you made a typo on your CV and it was 1 month off sick, not 1 week?

genius! :beer:

BERFFRO

Do employers really check up on references? I put my old boss down on mine as i had no-one else to put down! I didn't leave on the best of terms to be honest!

passatrider

I would be inclined not to say anything at this stage. However, if it's brought up at a later stage then just say that it was a typing error as stated!

sqyiggle

aaarrghhh, stupid me!

Everyones input has been very helpful and i am really grateful for your time and ideas. I know they have had a high volume and standard of applications and the second round of interviews was needed to whittle the last few down to the successful 1, surely the idiot who can't type/proof read/tell the truth will be out of the running on those grounds alone if i email them in advance?

Perhaps i should keep quiet til after interview, if i don't get the job then lesson learned. If I am lucky and get an offer i'l point out my 'mistake' to someone in HR and if they mention anything about sickness in the interview I can say that I was planning on bringing it up at the end but i had noticed the mistake on my app while preparing for the interview and that it should in fact say 1 month.

This is why mother says never tell fibs

leeds_lad_3

You could always say it was an out of date CV, written around a week after you were off work.

terra_ferma

sqyiggle wrote: »

aaarrghhh, stupid me!

Everyones input has been very helpful and i am really grateful for your time and ideas. I know they have had a high volume and standard of applications and the second round of interviews was needed to whittle the last few down to the successful 1, surely the idiot who can't type/proof read/tell the truth will be out of the running on those grounds alone if i email them in advance?

Perhaps i should keep quiet til after interview, if i don't get the job then lesson learned. If I am lucky and get an offer i'l point out my 'mistake' to someone in HR and if they mention anything about sickness in the interview I can say that I was planning on bringing it up at the end but i had noticed the mistake on my app while preparing for the interview and that it should in fact say 1 month.

This is why mother says never tell fibs

Unless it's a very small company there is a chance that the people interviewing will not look at the sickness record, and may not realise about the mistake at all, as HR would look at sickness.
When I worked with very good HR teams I've not worried too much about the sickness bit because the person would undergo a full medical questionnaire anyway.

You won't know if telling the truth is going to impact on you negatively, until you do it, unfortunately.
Don't feel to bad about it, anyone could be guilty of bad judgement in similar circumstances.

leedsfan_3

Sorry as someone that has worked in HR i can tell you with certainty that a prospective employer can ask whichever specific questions they like but as the referee, there is no obligation on their part to answer. Most companies don't want to do that because then it could get messy, mistakes might have been made and what's more it's time consuming.

I would not tell them you have made a mistake because it will immediately call into question you prior to them even considering you. They will not ask you about absences in an interview unless you had said you had a long lengthy absence in which case they might then ask.