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Liar, liar!
Fudging the facts on your résumé is more likely to land you in hot water than in your dream job.
Does your mother read your résumé and say, "Sounds like a terrific guy — who is he?" That could mean you have done a great job of selling your skills on paper. Or it could mean you have embellished or misrepresented — maybe even downright lied about — who you are.
Chandra Fox, co-founder and vice president of e-resume.net in Athens, helps Shil Patel update his résumé. The company advises clients to be honest. "Saying you were something you weren't is going to make you very defensive in the interview, and, even if it gets you in the door, it can ruin you in the end," she said.
Résumé fraud is widespread, according to several recent surveys. A survey of 2,200 workers — including 1,000 hiring managers — conducted by CareerBuilder.com in June 2006 found that 57 percent of hiring managers had caught lies on candidates' applications. According to a Society for Human Resource Managers survey from April 2004, 60 percent of 373 human resources professionals said that they had found inaccuracies.
Other surveys report that 90 percent of hiring managers are checking applicants' references and backgrounds. Most say they wouldn't hire someone who had been untruthful on a résumé.
Besides being unethical, padding your résumé is a bad idea for many reasons. The obvious one is that you could get caught and fired. Just ask Marilee Jones, who had to resign as dean of admissions from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology because she falsified college degrees on her résumé. Or David Edmondson, former CEO of RadioShack Corp., who also resigned because of résumé inaccuracies.
Rosemarie Vermeersch, district manager for the Georgia region of Randstad USA, a placement and work solutions firm, said that her goal is to find the right employee/employer match based on the job, boss/division and company culture.
"According to our most recent World of Work Survey, morale is up in the workplace in 2007. It had gone down between 2002 and 2005," Vermeersch said. "Thousands of workers said that they were finding personal satisfaction in their positions, had interesting work and were in organizations where they felt connected, could learn and grow, and had opportunities for advancement.
"What's driving morale is that feeling of connectedness, and, when you find out that someone has misstated things on his résumé, that connectedness is automatically destroyed."
"What's driving morale is that feeling of connectedness, and, when you find out that someone has misstated things on his résumé, that connectedness is automatically destroyed."
ROSEMARIE VERMEERSCH
Randstad USA
Job candidates at Randstad USA go through a four-step screening process, including a phone interview to assess job interests and communication skills; a face-to-face interview about the jobs and experiences listed on the résumé; tests of hard skills and personality assessments to find out about soft skills; and a check of references.
A résumé is a brochure to sell a product: you.
"It should demonstrate your job-related skills, transferable skills [such as management and leadership experience], and self-management skills [such as being conscientious]. It should describe you, your experiences and accomplishments in an appealing, thought-provoking way to invite questions. A résumé should have a positive, upbeat tone but never be exaggerated," Vermeersch said.
"Make sure it's results-focused," said Chandra Fox, co-founder and vice president of business development of e-resume.net in Athens. Started 10 years ago to help students write résumés, the company now employs 40 résumé writers, who serve job applicants worldwide.
"No one wants to read your job description. That's the bare minimum of what it takes to do the job. Show how you did it better than the next person — how you made a difference," Fox said. "But we always tell our clients to be accurate and to never lie."
She questions each client about everything on the résumé.
"If someone is going to lie, they're going to have to lie to us repeatedly, because we're going to keep asking questions," she said.
For example, if someone says he or she implemented a system, Fox is going to want to know all about it — the steps, the challenges and the outcome.
"If someone isn't comfortable talking about something — if they can't discuss it in depth — then we suggest they may want to change the way they describe it on the résumé," Fox said. "Saying you were something you weren't [such as a project manager, team leader or office manager] is going to make you very defensive in the interview, and, even if it gets you in the door, it can ruin you in the end."
Not being able to openly discuss a work experience or having to hide something in an interview is a red flag to hiring managers. Claiming to have experience you don't means that you may not be able to do the job.
"Employers are looking for the skills you can bring to the table right now," Vermeersch said.
Top five résumé fibs Education "College degrees and certifications are a place where candidates stretch the truth," Oliver said. They may have attended a college but did not graduate, or they may not have finished their MBAs. Some won't put down advanced degrees because they don't want to look overqualified. "Also, someone may put down a certification but fail to mention that it's expired because they failed to do the continuing education," Fletcher said. It's better to put down a college with years of attendance or to stress special skills or industry- related training you have taken. Dates of employment People fudge dates of employment to cover gaps, especially if they were fired or left for personal reasons. "Mothers often take time off to raise children. They can change the way they represent their work experience. Instead of a chronological rEsumE, they can put their work highlights or career summary up front to grab an employer's attention," Fox said. You also can emphasize the skills learned, courses taken or community service performed during a job gap. Job titles/descriptions Don't give yourself a promotion or inflate your duties. Put down the title you held. If it's confusing or meaningless, put a descriptive title in parentheses. Highlight your accomplishments and results with bullets. If you served as acting director (without benefit of promotion), explain that in an interview. Numbers "People will exaggerate how large a budget they oversaw or how many people reported to them," Oliver said. They'll also inflate their salaries in an interview or fudge the years of management experience. Many of those facts can be verified with previous employers; the numbers need to match. Technical knowledge Don't claim specific software expertise, unless you have it, especially if the job requires it. The company may want to test you or may require samples. It's better to explain in a cover letter what you do well and your willingness to learn a new skill. - Laura Raines |
The proliferation of résumés on the Internet and a more-mobile work force have created unique challenges for job applicants and employers, said Gayle Oliver, CEO of Execumé Corp., an Atlanta résumé, recruiting and career services firm.
Individuals eager to get noticed in a global, competitive market may be more tempted to stretch the truth. At the same time, hiring managers are checking facts, because they fear the cost of a bad hire — up to 150 percent of an employee's salary if he or she has to be replaced.
"I see apprehension on both sides of the hiring equation," Oliver said. "People change jobs much more frequently. Companies merge, acquire other companies or go out of business. So, even though hiring managers are doing more due diligence about checking résumés, it's more difficult to get information.
"Was someone 'downsized' because of company needs or because he wasn't any good at his job? People may find it easier to escape from bad behavior and to think that they won't get caught when they inflate their résumés."
The inaccuracies often are caught through behavioral interviewing, in which managers ask applicants in depth about past work experiences, knowing that those are the best predictors of future behavior, Vermeersch said. Lies also are caught through verification of education, employment, credit and driving records.
Sometimes, data that would support a claim can be lost in a fluctuating workplace. Oliver encourages people to get references in writing; to scan in school records, old performance reports or other documentation that proves their job histories; and save the data.
Because there are so many examples of résumés on the Internet and because of computer screening for specific key words, Oliver also sees candidates "borrowing" the same buzz words over and over again.
"Words like 'interpersonal skills,' 'good team player,' 'project management,' 'deadline-oriented' or 'self-directed' are great attributes to have, if they are true," she said.
Through extensive interviewing, a résumé-writing service can help a job-seeker uncover and present attributes, contributions or skill sets that he or she may have forgotten or did not consider marketable.
"It's one thing to promote and be creative — and quite another to misrepresent. A résumé should be authentic and factual," Oliver said. "We tell our clients that they are going to have to speak to and justify everything on their résumés, and we do practice interviews so they can feel empowered.
"A résumé should be an accurate and true picture of you and your skills. Anything else could sell you into a job that is a bad fit."
Seeing a trend of résumé fraud and company background checks gave Jared Fletcher an idea for a new service. Launching ResTrust eight months ago, he is the pioneer in what he calls the résumé certification industry.
His company will validate an applicant's education, employment dates and titles, and professional credentials to create a certified résumé. Fletcher markets to individuals, who pay for the service (about $40), and to corporations. Employers may check validated data using the unique certification number on the Web site (www.restrust.net). More than 20 companies request or prefer résumés certified by ResTrust.
"Too often, companies don't check references or employment dates until the person has already been interviewed, made an offer or hired," Fletcher said. "This streamlines the hiring manager's job, gives them a better-quality résumé they can trust, and can prevent costly mistakes. It's a true pre-screening tool.
"When we ask seasoned hiring managers if they'd rather read a regular or a certified résumé, they all say they see the value of the service."
