BBC Radio – Is It OK To Fake It Until You Make It?

Corinne Mills joins Stephen Jardine on BBC radio Scotland. Listen again or read the transcript below:

Stephen Jardine:

How key is it to fake stuff till you make it in the workplace? To claim you have skills, that perhaps that you don’t necessarily have, but you can quickly learn!

Corinne Mills:

Well, it’s a balance! On the one hand, you need self belief, if somebody asks you, can you do a job? You have to be able to say confidently, yes, of course, I can do it! But if you really can’t do it and you’re faking it, or, let’s say you’re lying, then there’s consequences to that. Worst case scenario is you could be done for fraud. If you’re lying on your CV, or you’re lying at an interview about your capabilities, then they pay money for you to do that job, you can be in trouble at any point if that lies exposed.

Stephine Jardine:

How easy is it to spot somebody who is stretching the reality?

Corinne Mills:
I think in the main it’s pretty easy!

Now there are always 2% of the population who are brilliant liars. They’re going to be hard to spot, but you can tell in a CV, if it lacks detail, or at an interview, if you’re asking people, “Tell me about a time when you use this skill or solved a problem?” and they’re really struggling, because they’re trying to think of a made up incident, that didn’t really happen in real life. It’s pretty easy to detect. The problem is, you destroy your credibility.

Stephine Jardine:

Who does it most? Do you think men or women?

Corinne Mills:
Men have got a natural skill in self belief, not not every man, but on the whole, whereas women can sometimes be a little bit too cautious and tentative.

Stephine Jardine:

I think we could do a phone in on just that- maybe another day!

Thanks for your time this morning Corinne.

Ends.

Article by:

Maria Stuart

Article by:

Maria Stuart

Maria Stuart is the Marketing Director for Personal Career Management, she has a BA (Hons) in Business and is experienced in both the Automotive and the Education & Childcare sectors.

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