Yes. People can put anything they want on their resume. I got a resume once where a person said they were working at company X from 1995 to 1999. I knew it w

Yes. People can put anything they want on their resume. I got a resume once where a person said they were working at company X from 1995 to 1999. I knew it was false because they sat next to me at company Y in 1997 for three weeks before disappearing, they didn't even call to say they were quitting. Who knows what would have happened on the company X reference check if we had bothered to get that far. By the way, half the startups I worked at went under or were acquihired by companies which did three more mergers, so who knows if my HR records exist. Most references I know of are chats with someone claiming to be an ex-manager or colleague. The phone screen questions I ask, and the initial in-person technical questions I ask have a very low bar. Over half the people I talk to can answer them. I ask them because I have seen multiple people with seemingly perfect resumes who are unable to answer simple questions. Speaking of references, I don't understand people who are fine giving three references, but are bothered by technical questions. For me it's the opposite. I'd rather not call three ex-bosses, make sure I have their current contact info, and ask for a favor that I can use them as a reference for a job I might not even get. Asking a technical question of me that I may or may not know is much less of a hassle.