Why Do Recruiters Lie?

First off, not all recruiters lie. That’s a bit of a misleading topic headline. I admit. But the fact is that so many people tend to think that recruiters all lie.

Do Recruiters Get A Bad Rep When It Comes to Telling Lies?

It’s true, there are many recruiters who do lie. And that’s part of the sales world. The same analysis to sales has to come into play when you’re speaking about recruiting. While everyone would agree that car salesman are dishonest (have you ever had a dealing with one that wasn’t?) not everyone would agree that a SAAS sales executive was a lying, dishonest person.

It all has to do with optics. It also has to do with the reason you go to see a recruiter (or see a car salesman, or real estate agent). You have a higher degree of investment with these exchanges.

When a SAAS account executive is selling to a company, no one at the company is really that invested (except in the case of true start ups, who haven’t gotten to B funding stage). They have outside issues (family, health) that is their primary concern.

On the other hand, when you’re dealing with a recruiter, oftentimes it’s a high pressure, high emotional investment, pain point in your life. You might be dealing with the loss of a job, or a job that is simply too overwhelming and not tenable.

In all of these cases, you invest much more into the recruiter and hope that they can, in effect, change your life. So, while the SAAS sales executive might lie, it’s less of a pain point because the investment is less.

Do Recruiters Lie About Jobs?

Yes, some recruiters do lie about jobs.  There is no way to say it any other way. Many recruiters feel that the only goal of their job is to make a placement. And if that involves lying about a job, then that’s what they will do.

Of course, these recruiters are short sighted, and it’s not something that will serve them in the long run. Especially if they are working on permanent placement style jobs. That’s a disaster.

But as a rule, yes, recruiters will be hesitant to tell a candidate any negative issues about a potential job or employer because they want to make that placement.

It cuts both ways, though. And this is where it benefits job seekers. Because recruiters don’t just lie about jobs, they lie about candidates.

Here’s the thing, a recruiter is never going to undersell you to a company. They are only going to hype you up. If you have gotten to the point where a recruiter has sent your resume to a client, then they are certainly trying to get you that job.

The recruiter is going to gloss over any inadequacies on your resume if the client asks, and they will certainly paint you in the most shining light. Why? Because they do not make any money unless you’re hired.

Understand that an external recruiting agency (which is what most people think of when they talk about recruiters) are working essentially on a commission structure.

Recruiters: Ignorance or Lies?

Of course, there needs to be a distinction between ignorance and lies. While it might seem like a nice idea that  recruiters have all of the information and choose to lie when it suits them, the facts are often different.

Basically, there are many times when recruiters simply do not have any information at all beyond what is posted on Indeed or another site. The company might have zero information to give the recruiting agency besides a basic job description.

If the recruiter is not in direct contact with anyone at the company beyond the internal talent acquisition lead, or if it’s a new client that the recruiter has never worked with, they simply might not know about:

• Work Culture
• Employee Retention
• Why The Role Is Open
• Day to Day Life

The other thing to consider is that in most large recruiting firms, individual recruiters might have very little experience working with clients. Direct client contact is often reserved for higher end managers, and low level or mid level recruiters will only receive job requisitions and basic job descriptions.

In many cases, the recruiter might not even know exactly what the specs are for a certain job. Depending on how detailed their CMS and ATS systems are, the recruiter might not even know the company name! I’ve heard recruiters tell me that they were working for agencies where they did not know the name of the client. Obviously, that makes it very hard, and this is why recruiting has such a high turnover.

Are Recruiters Allowed To Lie?

When it comes to discussing the role that they are recruiting for, sadly yes, recruiters (and all people) are essentially allowed to lie. But how much can they lie, you ask?

Well, it’s tricky. They can’t lie and say you will be paid a certain amount and have you sign a form and then change their mind. That’s illegal. However, if you are working as a temp through a recruiting agency, you will always want to have the salary in writing.

But when it comes to lying about a job, then it’s simply up to the recruiter.

Smart recruiters are honest about the job that they are recruiting for. Sure, they might hype it up and downplay the negatives, but they won’t ever tell you it’s something completely different than what it is.

The reason that smart recruiters don’t lie is that they want to make a placement stick.

While they are allowed to lie, they simply won’t last long and won’t make much money in their job as a recruiter if they lie to people. What will end up happening is that they will burn out from not making placements, or worse, they will end up souring relations with one too many clients.

Because, here’s the thing. When you’re sending resumes over to a client, if you send them people who really would not want to work at the company, and try and trick someone to do an interview  (let along take the job) it’s just a waste of everyone’s time. The client will not get good results, and the jobseeker will also not have the best results.

How Can You Tell If a Recruiter Is Lying

There are no sure fire tips to tell if a recruiter is lying aside from general human nature ones. If they are hesitant to talk about job specifics, and end up contradicting themselves, then they are either lying or have little knowledge about the role.

Of course, you can always do your own research on a role, which is something I suggest everyone does. You should use a recruiter as a tool, but you should not use that recruiter as your single source of information. That would be doing yourself a disservice.

Instead, what you should do is conduct your own research. Read reviews online. Places like Glassdoor, and even blogs and forums and social media (with the knowledge that most social media is highly curated and reviews are most often paid for.)

Of course, there’s no real way to tell if your recruiter is lying other than to find out for yourself. If the recruiter tells you that you are interviewing for a role as a data analyst, but you find that during the interview with the hiring manager you are really interviewing for a data entry role, then you have your answer.