Dilemma I lied at an interview and now I am worried.

TheShadow_2

Some background on myself

I worked for my dad until about 6 months ago when I swapped over to another company. The company I swapped over to started me off on a wage of £16K and a £4K car allowance. There intention was to have me replace and old guy who works with them at the moment. The problem with that is I am no where near ready to replace a fully fledged professional as I am only a trainee.

So they cut my salary to a measly £12K.

I recently went to an interview for a large company for a job I really want, when I was asked “What package are you currently on” I lied and said without thinking my old salary for £16K and £4K car allowance.

I have been to the second interview and they like me they want to make me an offer next week.

My P45 wont match up with my salary and if anyone checks it will be obvious that I have lied.

What would you do in this situation ?

Come clean and risk looking like a liar or roll with it?

skylight

Your P45 shows what you earnt in the last year.

So, you have been offered "recently" the above package you mentioned and its included in the P45 you handed in. So what???

Every person adds money onto their earnings at interview. We want more money with a new job, not less or the same.


Now, if you had lied about being a trainee then you would have problems, but please do not worry about salary. This new company will offer what they think you are worth.

nickmack

TheShadow wrote:

So they cut my salary to a measly £12K.

I recently went to an interview for a large company for a job I really want, when I was asked “What package are you currently on” I lied and said without thinking my old salary for £16K and £4K car allowance.

I have been to the second interview and they like me they want to make me an offer next week.

My P45 wont match up with my salary and if anyone checks it will be obvious that I have lied.

What would you do in this situation ?

Come clean and risk looking like a liar or roll with it?

Is the salary this new company has offered you, significantly more than £16k?
Usually your current salary provides an indicator of what will be offered if you move to a similar role (i.e. if you're on £12k, you're not likely to be offered £20k if you're moving sideways)

It's not certain they will discover your porky, HR departments aren't always great at communicating with hiring staff. But personally I wouldn't risk that.

It would look bad and leave you open to possible dismissal if they discover this after you've accepted the position.

If the amount offered is significantly above £16k, they may well withdraw the offer when you come clean, otherwise, you may be able to let them know it was a genuine mistake in the heat of the moment.

SparkyMark

I wouldn't worry about it - your P45 is used for tax purposes only, they won't care about how much you've earnt.

BONJOEY

Id Leave It Stop Worrying X You Did Start On The Higher Wage So Dnt Panic

Spendless

I've yet to meet the person who didn't exaggerate or 'bend the truth' on what they earn when going for another job (myself and my husband included ).

In your case you were started on the £16k and then dropped to £12K so your P45 would show an amount somewhere between the 2 figures.

I wouldn't worry about it. I also think you can fill in a P46 instead which doesn't show your previous earnings,can anyone tell me if this is correct

SparkyMark

I think that's right (about the P46), if you've 'lost' your P45

saintjanet

My worry would not be what you now earn but the reason you earn it,i.e.the previous firm dropped your salary.

This could be a probem if it came to light.If i wanted to employ someone i would ask for a ref. from their last company and if something like this was mentioned,i may then feel ,that this person ,could be of a lower calibre than i had expected.That is unless they had told me this during interview in which case i may have offered a lower salary.

Spendless

Does a P45 show earnings for the whole tax year up to date, or just from your last employer? If it's whole tax year you'll also have the earnings you made whilst working for your Dad on it too, which would also give a lower figure.

socks_uk

Just to add...

Your P45 would show your total earnings.

If you first worked 4 months at 16k a year then 2 months at 12k a year the total would be the same as if you first worked 2 months at 12k and then had a pay rise to 16k a year for the remaining 4 months (I think!)

Jill

Torby

I would think it could be to your advantage, the firm offered you £16k plus car cos you were worth it....you were going to replace an old member of staff...he's not ready to go yet....so until he does (presumably) they've decided to cut your salary as opposed to paying out 2 lots of money....you believe you are more valuable than that....but economics in your current firm say different....thats not what you joined them for....you know your worth and you were not aware that the firms job progression policy was one of filling "dead mans shoes"....they know that, you know that but they moved the goalposts....so now you're seeking a post, with another firm who will pay you what you believe you are worth and probably is the "market rate"....great reason for moving on I think....and shows you are ambitious....