Everyone lies on their resumes. But this guy? He took it too far.

Earlier this year, while desperately searching for a waitressing gig to pay the rent, my job applications were rejected or ignored time and time again. And the kicker? It was because I was deemed “overqualified”.

Yeah, having two degrees will do that to you. (#humblebrag)

So I decided to lie. Well, lie through omission: I decided to drop the education section of my CV — and, hey presto!! I was rewarded for my deviousness receiving job offers left, right and centre.

Come on, we’ve all been there, right? Maybe you’ve added an obscure language to the “talents” section (Sinhala, anyone?). Maybe you’ve re-named your job title to include words like “consultant” or “executive.”  Maybe you’ve sneakily added an ‘H’ to the ‘D’ on your uni results?

Yeah, we’ve all been here.

But a guy in the news today? He takes it to another level.

A guy called Andrew Flanagan has been caught out in an elaborate ruse involving fake credentials and fictional referees that has left the retail giant who hired (and quickly fired) him red-faced.

Last week, Myer announced it had hired Mr Flanagan to become general manager of strategy and business, talking up his “strong retail experience” from roles at foreign giants Tesco, Walmart and Zara.

Mr Flanagan, who was introduced to Myer by recruitment firm Quest ­Personnel, claimed to have been the former ­managing director and vice-president of Asia Pacific for Spanish retailer Inditex, which owns international fashion chain Zara.

It’s understood that during the recruitment process, Quest Personnel checked Mr Flanagan’s credentials and interviewed two overseas referees claiming to be senior Inditex and Tesco executives.

(Points for elaborate plan-making, Mr Flanagan.)

But then, things got awkward. Really, really awkward.

Inditex contacted Myer on Monday to inform the company that Mr Flanagan had never worked them. And just hours into his first day on the job, he was frog-marched out of the office (and straight into the headlines of national newspapers.)

Yeah, we think he saw that plan going differently in his mind.

The moral of this story? I’m all for fakin’ it ’til you make it, having stretched the truth in a number of job applications but there are some lies way too big to get away with and Mr Flanagan found out that his lie was definitely one of them.

Have you lied on your resume? Did you get away with it or not?