Did something stupid please help.
I have four internship experiences on my resume, and significantly embellished 2 bullet points under one of my recent internships.
I know that one of the MDs I interviewed with reached out to someone on a team I interned for because he knew him, and said I got great reviews.
While he doesn't personally know anyone on the team that I embellished my experience for, he does know who the team is after I stupidly disclosed them without him asking in the interview. Do you think he will reach out to them? Do you think I'm screwed?
I've withdrawn my application at a few other firms that I was supposed to have a superday with because I feel so guilty and stupid, and I'm scared he has already reached out and my relationship with my previous employer will be tarnished, and I have ruined my reputation.
The baseline assumption that we all make about interns is that they largely served no purpose for 3 months other than helping print things and listen to meetings. If whoever interviewed you believed you did what you said you did on your resume, I can't imagine it was that egregiously embellished. Nobody would believe you did anything that spectacularly impressive as an intern in the first place.
Context will matter here, so I guess the answer to your question is: "it depends".
It was basic intern stuff, just not stuff I exactly did.
Rest assured nobody remembers what you did and did not do during your internship.
Even if they do ask the question, everyone knows the game, and they’ll likely cover for you.
I don’t think there is really an issue here.
Relax and don’t mindfuck yourself
He reached out to me today and asked me to "catch up" with him tomorrow. WhAt DoEs ThAt MeAn? Is he going to discipline me ???
How do you "significantly embellish" basic intern stuff? Like "printed and bound thousands of CIMs in less than 5 minutes"?
Literally no body cares or reads what you put in your internship experience.
Unless you claim to have done something very tangible, impressive, and verifiable (i.e., creatively sourced X deal by leveraging relationship with founding family as an intern) and it is a complete fabrication (i.e., deal actually came through a sale process via one of the senior partners) it doesn't matter at all. Most likely no one is even giving your internship text more than a 1-3 second scan. I'm no exaggerating. But if you put that you built a model when in fact you just formatted charts for a deck, you're being completely stupid by withdrawing your candidacy over that.
When / if you get hired, many firms will do a standardized generic background check; this consists of checking to see if you've filed bankruptcy, have a (serious) criminal record, and the VERY HIGH LEVEL claims you've made on your resume check out. Did you actually work at firms you claim to have worked at and at the corresponding dates you claim to have worked there. Did you attend and graduate the college you claim and at the right dates. That's about it. No one is calling people and asking if you worked on X, Y, Z deal, and if you handled A, B, C task. Literally no one has the time or interest, either your former employer or your new one.
Your resume is supposed to put your best foot forward. It's a marketing document. Its not preposterous to have put some embellishment or aggressive marketing on there, but just don't be a dick about it and make stuff up out of whole cloth.
Relax, nobody remembers/cares about what you did during your internship. Just never put blatantly false claims on your resume
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