I've (28) had many people tell me recently and pointedly, over the years I've heard it in passsing or as a 'haha' but never took it seriously in my own head, to lie to get the job I want. Lie on resume, experience, years worked, embellish on things I've actually done, or embellish the job position, etc. I've been told this by managers, friends, family, people who have mastered their craft/industry telling me, "I dont know why youre having a hard time when you have the knowledge and skills" and after explaining today's job market, being trans in conservative NoCal, and the biggest thing experience, they always tell me, "Why don't you lie?" This is never elaborated on. I ask myself for a second, well yeah, if I understand the job, have the skills, and am confident, I'm sure I could.....wait what would I lie about?......I couldn't pull that off!... then move on with my day and forget about it for the umpteenth time.

Keep in mind I'm talking about non graduate work here: Serving tables, Records/Database Assistant, Reception 🥲🙃, etc.. How do you tell little white lies on your resume? Make up jobs you never worked? Have a fake reference? Add in responsibilities you never had? Put that you worked at a place for a longer period of time than you did -- Then where does it go from there? How do you prepare to talk about it in an interview? Just like, practice and perform it like a monologue? How do you prepare? I've ran and obviously been in interviews before, and had friends in management positions, and I know most places don't read your resume, call references, or fact check you. This is why I'm asking --- how far can you go with it, where do you stop, what are the T's and I's to double check, what do you say, blah blah blah

And how could one play up roles of a position, that weren't essential to that job, but would show off a skillset essential to the work you're interested in doing? i.e. I was a Pet Stylist at PetSmart, where a big part of my job was reception, scheduling, phone calls, organizing, keeping records/files -- how could I talk this up in the PetSmart section of my resume to be more appealing for Reception/Office/Records positions?

I know I worded a lot of this in a silly fashion.. I'm just a college almost graduated drop out trying to not cry :')