Be a liar — or you won’t get hired.
Isobelle Panton, a Manchester-based content creator who offers career advice online, revealed the “lies that you absolutely should tell at an interview,” including the reason for leaving your previous job.
“Even if it is the most valid reason, if it is negative, I don’t want to hear it,” Panton said in a TikTok video scoring 2 million views.
“Keep it positive, keep it professional, keep it progressive.”
Instead, she advised saying something along the lines of: “I’m looking to leave my current company because I think I’ve exhausted all the development opportunities there.”
She recommended highlighting why you desire a role at the prospective company, such as its “dynamic” qualities and opportunities for promotions and career growth.
Secondly, she said to “always lie about how many offers or processes you’re in.”
“Even if this is your dream, dream job, don’t make out like this is the only interview that you’re having because it gives the air of desperation that you really need this job,” she said.
“Whereas if they think you have multiple eggs in multiple baskets, and they perceive you as top talent…[it] means that you are more likely to get the offer that you’re actually looking for.”
Next, Panton said to keep aspirational travel plans to yourself — in other words, don’t spill the beans about your “big plans to go and travel Thailand for a year.”
“The amount of people that admit wanting to go travel in the year later, it just tells me that they’re only getting this job so that they can pay for that,” she explained.
“Part of life is about what you want to do, but I don’t need to hear it.”
Finally, she advised against divulging goals of building “your own empire.”
“I’m the biggest advocate for side hustles — love a side hustle, don’t get me wrong — but if you join an interview and then you tell me that, like, basically this money is seed money for your own business entity, then I’ll perceive you to be working on it on work time and on the weekends and on the evenings,” she continued.
This tells her that the interviewee has other motivations for working for her company.
Panton’s advice opened the eyes of interview hopefuls about the realities of a corporate job. Specifically, some argued, that “interviews are just about who is the best liar.”
“This is actually kinda sad,” lamented one user.
“Why is [it] so acceptable to lie though?” questioned another.
“Corporate is just basically a bunch of people lying to each other. I hate everyone about it,” someone else commented.
“So basically pretend you don’t want the job for money, though that’s the main reason people work in the first place,” snarked another person.
“It’s a game, and you have to play it!” argued one viewer.
“Im not built to climb the corporate ladder im a bad liar,” quipped someone else.
“Everything here exemplifies the most annoying aspects of corporate culture and hiring practices,” griped another. “What do you mean you *want* me to lie to you?”
But Panton urged TikTokkers not to shoot the messenger.
“Hey I don’t make the rules,” she said.
