I Lied Through My Interviews—And Got Hired Into a Job I Can’t Handle

Many professionals face high-pressure situations where they feel unprepared or overmatched at work. Skill gaps, office scrutiny, and career risks can be stressful, and finding strategies to fix mistakes and prove competence is crucial for long-term success.

Letter for Bright Side:

Hello, Bright Side,

Throwaway because yeah... obvious reasons. So I’ll just say it upfront: I lied my way into my current job. After 55 ghosts and 45+ straight rejections, I was tired, broke, and honestly kinda desperate. I padded my resume with skills I sort of understood but didn’t actually have real experience in.

Somehow, it worked. I got hired. Since day one, I’ve been in full panic mode. Every free second, nights, weekends, and lunch breaks of my internship, I’ve been grinding tutorials, forums, YouTube, docs, you name it.

I wasn’t slacking. I was genuinely trying to become the person I claimed to be. And for a while? It was working. No complaints. Decent feedback. I started to think maybe I’d pull this off.

Except there’s this one girl on my team. From day one, she’s given me that look. Like she’s just waiting for me to screw up. Well, today I did.

I made a mistake on a project. Nothing catastrophic, but not nothing either. Before I could even fix it, she waited for our boss to come in and then casually started pointing it out. In front of everyone. Like, very deliberately.

Fast forward a few hours, and I find out she reported me to HR. HR stayed quiet all day, so I stupidly hoped it would blow over. Nope.

End-of-day meeting rolls around, and HR announces they’re “reviewing my qualifications” and will be testing my skills with live tasks in the office. No Googling. No tutorials. No going home to figure it out quietly like I’ve been doing.

I feel sick. I’m embarrassed. I’m angry at myself. And yeah, I’m mad at her too, even though I know she technically didn’t do anything wrong.

I know I shouldn’t have lied. I get that. But I wasn’t trying to scam anyone; I was trying to survive and catch up. Now I might lose the job anyway and torch my reputation.

Am I in the wrong for stretching the truth and trying to learn on the job, or was my coworker wrong to go directly to HR instead of discussing it with me first? What would be the best way to handle this situation moving forward?

Thanks,
B.

Thanks so much for sharing your story with us! Hopefully, a few of them give you some clarity or at least a little peace of mind.

• Stop catastrophizing (you’re not fired yet) — We know your brain is already at security escorting you out mode, but listen, nothing has happened yet. HR testing you doesn’t automatically mean doom. For now, stop spiraling and focus on the next 48 hours. Panic wastes energy you need.
• Even if this blows up, it’s not a moral failure — You didn’t lie to scam someone’s grandma. You lied because the job market is brutal, and you were trying to survive. Was it risky? Yeah. Evil? No.
  If it ends, it means the gamble didn’t pay off, not that you’re a bad person.
• Update your resume quietly — This isn’t defeat, it’s insurance. Start logging what you actually learned here. Even a few months of real experience + concrete skills is still leverage. You’re more employable now than you were before this job, no matter how it ends.

While these situations can feel overwhelming, they’re also opportunities to grow, learn, and build resilience. With the right mindset and strategies, challenges at work can become stepping stones to greater confidence and skill.
Read next: “I Absolutely Refuse to Let a Newbie Make More Money Than Me After 12 Years at My Job”