A new Express Employment Professionals-Harris Poll reveals a startling truth about today’s hiring landscape: job seekers may be stretching the truth on their resumes far more than they admit — and employers say they can spot the exaggerations a mile away.
According to U.S. hiring managers, 80% say candidates’ resumes don’t match their real-world skills at least sometimes, with 34% reporting it happens all the time or often.
Meanwhile, just 22% of job seekers confess to listing skills they don’t actually have; a gap raising major red flags for employers.
And now, with AI at every applicant’s fingertips, companies are sounding the alarm. Eighty-six percent of hiring managers believe AI makes it too easy to embellish resumes, and 42% strongly agree it’s becoming a serious hiring risk.
Wild Resume Claims? Hiring Managers Have Seen It All
Employers shared some of their most jaw-dropping experiences when a candidate’s “expertise” evaporated the moment they stepped into the job:
- A self-proclaimed forklift operator who crashed and took out an entire shelf on day one.
- A “chef” who couldn’t cut onions.
- A VP candidate who listed ten years of experience — without being old enough to have ten years of experience.
- A new hire who claimed proficiency with a POS system but froze at the screen like it was written in an ancient language, leading to same-day dismissal.
- A kitchen lead who walked out by noon because they didn’t know how to do any of the tasks they claimed they could do.
- A candidate who boasted “exceptional” negotiation skills but fell apart in a de-escalation role‑play, immediately offering a full refund without attempting to solve the problem.
- Another who touted strong communication skills, only for client meetings to quickly prove otherwise.
Job seekers themselves admitted to resume creativity, too — including pretending to be a licensed plumber, a data security expert, an advanced Excel wizard and even listing Google Analytics expertise without knowing what it was.
Discover more research and real-world workforce trends from the America Employed series at ExpressPros.com/Newsroom.
Survey Methodology
The Job Insights survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals from November 3 to 19, 2025, among 1,002 U.S. hiring decision-makers.
The Job Seeker Report was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals from November 7 to 20, 2025, among 1,003 adults ages 18 and older.
For full survey methodologies, please contact Sheena.Hollander@ExpressPros.com, director of corporate communications and PR.
About Express Employment Professionals:
At Express Employment Professionals, we’re in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve across the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, employing 492,000 people globally in 2023 and more than 11 million since its inception. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com.
The Central Oregon Express office is located at 296 SW Columbia, Suite B, Bend, Oregon 97702 and serves Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson counties.
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