I have interviewed dozens of people in my career and not in the HR department but hiring for my own department(s) or at one law firm where I did the initial interview of any candidate who was not an attorney.
I have been lied to repeatedly, I have learned to recognize and I have learned how to deal with it in the interview process. Believe me, if you do this (interview) often enough you learn when someone is trying to bullshit you.
The problem is that sometimes a lie is a deal-breaker and sometimes it really doesn’t matter. If your resume says you have a college or graduate degree, you better have that degree or you will be fired shortly after you start the job or the offer will be rescinded.
If you talk about having some kind of business experience, like leading a project or a development team, then I expect some kind of embellishment about your role and can live with the fact that you were on the team and not the leader.
I try not to ask any of the nonsensical HR type questions like “where will you be in 5 years? – I am really not interested in that, I am interviewing because I need someone with a specific set of skills to do a specific job and I am not trying to be your career builder. I am interviewing you because your resume indicates that you can do what I need done. If I need an accounts receivable person, then I want that experience and I am not really worried about if you are promotable. Interviewing is a pain in the ass and I am only doing it to fill a need or solve a problem or deal with increased volume or responsibility in my department.
The other thing I would add about lying. It is my opinion that more people talk themselves out of jobs at interviews than talk themselves into jobs. If you are sitting in my office, then I have a need to hire someone. Hopefully it will be you and I can stop interviewing people who don’t fit for whatever reason and I can concentrate on the other facets of my job. If you sit there and tell me a visible or obvious lie, then what does that tell me: in the future can I trust you to tell me what I need to hear, not what you think I need to hear, Will you take responsibility for your own errors or will you lie aboout it?
So the candidate talks himself or herself out of a job by saying the wrong thing, or not having the right attitude or personality, or by just being plain obnoxious. To repeat, I can not remember ever commencing an interview thinking that I hope this person is a loser or a liar so I have a reason not to make a job offer and I can go on doing this with another 12 people until I find someone that I want to hire.
SRM