Man fakes employment after layoff, gets job offer with ‘higher salary, better title, remote’ work — Here's what happened

A strange incident came to light recently about how a man got hold of a job offer with ‘higher salary, better title' and remote work simply by pretending to be employed after he got laid off. A social media user elaborated on his experience and explained the exhilarating sequence of events.

In a post on Reddit, the user stated, “Back in August, I got laid off unexpectedly. No warning, no severance, just a “hey, we’re restructuring” and a Zoom call that lasted 3 minutes. I panicked.”

All the while the man was unemployed, he lied about the status of his job and didn't disclose the news about being relieved from his previous role to anyone, neither friends nor ex-coworkers. “I just… pretended I was still working,” he said.

He continued to fake his job by following the everyday routine. “Every day I’d “log in,” aka open my laptop and sit there like I was busy. Told people I had meetings. Walked around with AirPods in like I was on calls,” he wrote while describing how he applied for several jobs in the background. The lie was too far stretched as he faked about “exciting projects at work” even on LinkedIn to give the illusion that he was still employed.

This continued until one fine day a recruiter came across one of those fake posts and reached out. Asserting how his efforts paid off, he said, “A recruiter….asked if I was open to opportunities. I said yes. Got an interview. Lied through my teeth about the “current job.” Crushed the interviews. Got an offer higher salary, better title, remote, actual work-life balance.”

The viral post received over 24 thousand reactions. Social media users were in frenzy to know this bewildering tale as one user wrote, “As soon you know the rules of how to play their game, you can only win. No need to tell, you went by the rules.”

Another user asked, “What about back ground verification? Didn't they validate the tenure of working years, months?” A third user stated, “You played the game and you played it right.” A fourth user quipped, “Probably still unemployed and lying in this post.” Another comment read, “This is a true example of faking it until you make it.”