This past week, my Twitter feed was full of posts about people lying on their resumes and landing jobs they weren’t qualified for.
It immediately brought back a memory that, for a while, felt pretty bitter. During the COVID lockdown, I was desperately job hunting, applying to all the big companies in Russia. The pressure was immense, and honestly, I was just feeling hopeless.
So when I finally got an interview, I did what a lot of people probably do: I overstated my capabilities. I exaggerated. I even outrightly lied about some of my skills. I was desperate. I just needed a job, any job.
To my surprise, I actually got it. The offer came through towards the end of lockdown, and the good news was that all my initial work would be remote. It brought relief to me. I figured I’d use the remote period to somehow catch up, to learn what I didn’t know and to magically transform myself into the person I’d claimed to be. The first few weeks were a wild period of panic-induced self-education.
Every morning, I’d wake up with a knot in my stomach, quickly gulp down my cup of coffee and start searching for online tutorials, articles, and every company document I could get my hands on.
My role was supposed to involve complex financial modeling and market analysis– things I had a theoretical grasp of but lacked practical, hands-on experience with. Each email, every virtual meeting invitation, felt like a bomb that would soon detonate.
I quickly learned how to handle the remote environment. When asked a question I didn’t immediately know the answer to, I’d use the classic “Let me circle back on that” or “I’ll double-check the specifics and get back to you.” Hmm, this bought me so many precious minutes, sometimes hours, to furiously Google, consult old textbooks, or even discreetly ask friends in the industry for quick help.
My biggest fear wasn’t failing a task, but being exposed. Imagine having someone realize that the polished, confident personality I was projecting was a big, fat lie. The imposter syndrome was a constant and unwelcome best friend for me.
As weeks turned into months, the initial relief of working remotely began to fade, replaced by a growing sense of dread. Each announcement of the lockdown being extended felt like a temporary break. My colleagues, all genuinely brilliant and qualified, were incredibly helpful, often explaining things to me in detail. This only made me feel worse.
I was getting by, delivering decent work, but it felt like I was perpetually running on a treadmill. How would I manage when I couldn’t just mute myself and search for answers on Google? What if someone asked me to pull up a specific model on the spot, or demonstrate a skill I only vaguely understood?
The thought of sitting across from my team, unable to hide behind a screen, sent shivers down my spine. I knew, deep down, that this was unsustainable. Something had to be done.
I took matters into my hands and started courses relating to my role. I watched Youtube intensively for a few months on topics and areas of my supposed expertise. By the time I had to resume physically, I was confident and a little content with knowledge of my field.
Luckily for me, when we resumed for the first few months we only came to work 3 times a week and I had ample time to prepare before appearing before my team. I started looking forward to our meetings and the growth I achieved was shocking.
I look back at that time and remember how I lived in a constant state of dread until I decided to change things and just realised that once you put your mind to something, you can pull through. Especially for someone whose livelihood was at stake.
My own take is that, if you lie on your resume, will the lie keep you in the job?
Happy Sunday. From your number one and best money exchanger in Russia.
