Cover letter mistake Forum

[Anonymous User]

During my callback everyone kept asking whether my husband was from one city (where the firm is), and I kept saying “no, he’s from [different city within same state].” I realized after they were asking because I must have made the mistake of saying he was from there in my cover letter, and I’m worried it looks dishonest. I would understand getting dinged, but would firms report this type of thing?

[smokeylarue]

No one's going to report this. Was dumb of you for lying on your cover letter and not being consistent with the lie in your interview. Just lie better next time.

[Anonymous User]

Lol, ok. I lied on accident for once, so I guess Ill be a more diligent, purposeful lier from now on.

[smokeylarue]

LOL at accidental lie. Is he from Akron but you said Cleveland (understandable). Or is he from Houston but you said Dallas (blatant lie). I'm honestly not judging, just curious about the particulars.

[Anonymous User]

I did this before! Lol. No one reports. I have friends who wear a wedding band to interviews and make up some spouse from X city all the time. I bet some trip up

[nixy]

LOL at accidental lie. Is he from Akron but you said Cleveland (understandable). Or is he from Houston but you said Dallas (blatant lie). I'm honestly not judging, just curious about the particulars.

I could definitely see writing a cover letter to firm in [city X in state Y], and when they should have written [city Z in state Y] they repeated city X by mistake.

[QContinuum]

No one's going to report this. Was dumb of you for lying on your cover letter and not being consistent with the lie in your interview. Just lie better next time.

It'd be dumb to lie, period, especially about where her husband's from. If OP's applying to firms in Houston, for example, firms won't care if her husband's from San Antonio instead of Houston. Mentioning her husband's TX ties might be helpful, but I can't imagine a firm being so petty as to care about home city.

[2013]

No one's going to report this. Was dumb of you for lying on your cover letter and not being consistent with the lie in your interview. Just lie better next time.

It'd be dumb to lie, period, especially about where her husband's from. If OP's applying to firms in Houston, for example, firms won't care if her husband's from San Antonio instead of Houston. Mentioning her husband's TX ties might be helpful, but I can't imagine a firm being so petty as to care about home city.

You clearly haven’t tried going to a secondary market before.

[pleasedonttouchmyRAP]

No one's going to report this. Was dumb of you for lying on your cover letter and not being consistent with the lie in your interview. Just lie better next time.

It'd be dumb to lie, period, especially about where her husband's from. If OP's applying to firms in Houston, for example, firms won't care if her husband's from San Antonio instead of Houston. Mentioning her husband's TX ties might be helpful, but I can't imagine a firm being so petty as to care about home city.

Houston/Dallas might be the only market pair that actually cares about this, though. It's really petty, but some folks take the H/D rivalry that seriously. Non-issue if the snafu was between say, Houston and Galveston; and San Antonio (as a fairly tertiary market) would give you some leeway. But I can see a Dallas interviewer being annoyed if a Houstonian lied about Dallas ties.

[QContinuum]

No one's going to report this. Was dumb of you for lying on your cover letter and not being consistent with the lie in your interview. Just lie better next time.

It'd be dumb to lie, period, especially about where her husband's from. If OP's applying to firms in Houston, for example, firms won't care if her husband's from San Antonio instead of Houston. Mentioning her husband's TX ties might be helpful, but I can't imagine a firm being so petty as to care about home city.

You clearly haven’t tried going to a secondary market before.

OK, let's assume the firms do care. It'd still be dumb to lie. If OP gets hired on the basis of her husband's (fictitional) ties, the lie's gonna come out sooner or later. And when it does, her reputation will be sunk.