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Subject:Re: A wee story for you... From:Christine -dot- Anameier -at- seagate -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 18 Jun 2001 14:00:20 -0500
Jeff Hanvey referred to a recent discussion on lying about tool experience
("Sure, I know Tool X" and then studying like crazy over the weekend) and
wrote: "To me, lying to a potential employer is wrong. Any time you lie,
you take the chance of getting caught - and getting a reputation as a
liar."
There are lies and there are lies. Lying about where you worked is wrong,
not to mention amazingly foolish. Lying about your accomplishments, taking
credit for other people's work, is reprehensible. But the "Do I know Tool
X? Yes, I do" little white lie seems to me in a whole different category.
IMO, when employers ask "Do you know Tool X," what they mean is "Can you
hit the ground running and be productive on Tool X without requiring
training?" If you know you can learn the tool on your own, fast, I don't
see a serious ethical problem with answering "yes" to that question. Of
course, this depends on whether you really CAN learn Tool X over the
weekend well enough to be productive.
Disclaimer: I haven't actually used this tactic. So far I have followed the
naively optimistic approach of saying "Well, no, I don't have Framemaker
experience; but I can learn it quickly on my own, the same way I learned
every tool listed on my resume." Got shot down every time. So I can
understand the temptation to answer the REAL question instead of the
literal question.
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