Everything you mentioned is immoral. Two wrong doesn't make it right.

If you cheat, to compete you your lies I now have to lie. And it completely breaks the system.

Also, you don't deserve more leverage over other prospective candidate. This is cheating and fraud. It requires punishment.

I am not in the US, so this is a bit moot, but I don't want liers as coworkers or on my team. To me this is unprofessional and absolutely disqualifying. I wouldn't care for the law. I would die on that hill.

Then you best be sure your hiring process can catch liars

Dying on the hill of... breaking labor law.

"Are we the baddies?"

Everything I mentioned is immoral. If anything I or OP mentioned is punishable, then it all should.

> and it completely breaks the system

The system of hiring is set up in such a way that employers and employees are encouraged to act immorally to get the best result. It’s not any individual’s fault that the system is broken, it just grew that way.

And everyone has the same ability to lie on resumes. When job hunting you should use every advantage you can get.

That being said, making outright lies may get you the first screening, most interviewers can smell too much bullshit.

> If that has to be punishable, then job listings with false or misleading information should be too.

Currently, it's symmetrical. If either side lies, the other side can exit the contract with no notice, and may tell others their story.

> Also, saying you’re hiring when you’re actually not.

This would be nice and very actionable. Perhaps requiring a company to say how many resumes they've received, candidates they've talked to, and how long its been open on job listings could save everyone's time.

In some countries, that or nearly that is the case already.

Right, neither side should be able to lie is the whole point.

Currently lying on resumes is the only power would-be employees have, since employers can say or do _almost_ whatever they want during the hiring process

Yes! All of the things! Honesty should be required from all parties.

Exactly

You're saying that if you as an employer find out that someone you hired lied to induce you to hire them, you should be legally required to continue employing them, as some kind of karmic balancing thing?

That’s not even a little bit what I said.

I assume you’re referring to the offer letter? Companies extend offer letters only to retract them before the agreed starting date. (Maybe since the offer they found a better candidate)

That should be punishable.

Hiring someone who lied on their resume and is unable to perform their work duties should be fired.