The Arizona Republic
From August 11, 2002 Print Edition
Don’t lie on your resume
Tight job market may tempt you to fib, but…
By D.J. Burrough
Special for The Republic
August 11, 2002
You can call it enhancing, polishing or embellishing, but what most human
resources people and managers call it is lying.
The temptation to overstate your qualifications on a resume is always there, but it’s even more prevalent during times when companies are getting hundreds of applicants for each position.
In an effort to stand out from the crowd, some job seekers will stretch the truth so much that it screams like it was on a medieval rack.
Lying on a resume can not only have you looking over your shouldr for your entire career, if you’re caught, it can scuttle years of genuine hard work and achievement.
A job seeker can present a resume that gets him or her an interview without having to outright lie, say career experts. Job seekers need to boil down their prior contributions, their skills and talents and craft the resume in a way that gets the attention of the reader.
“The first rule of thumb is never to lie on a resume,” said Kathi Vanyo, the managing consultant in the Phoenix office of DBM, a career counseling firm.
Some human-resources people estimate that as many as one in five job seekers fibs somewhere on his or her resume.
And the chances of getting caught are greater these days, as companies take a closer look at the candidates they hire, scrutinizing backgrounds and checking references.
“People are asking
for a greater scope than they were before,” said David Gyongyos, president
of Decision Support Resources, a Phoenix firm that performs background checks
for companies.
Of the candidates he’s found to be lying on a resume, most of the fibbing
came in the area of education, Gyongyos said.
ation used to be the least-checked item on a resume, but now companies are delving into that with a closer look.
Most often job seekers will lie on a resume to cover up something they feel is a deficit, such as a lack of experience.
But, say career experts, your resume can be crafted in such a way that it remains truthful but highlights your talents and downplays your weaker areas.
The first step is to focus on your previous positions and really boil down your contribution, Vanyo said.
Write down each task you performed and its ultimate impact on the business, she said. Did it save the company money? Did it improve productivity or quality?
“What you are really doing is focusing on an end result,” she said. “A lot of people know what they did, but they don’t always focus on the end result. What every employer wants to know is how you cut costs or increased revenues. It’s really about time and money.”
Consider a process or
problem that you faced, what action you took to address it and the result
to the company, she said. It’s that sparkling result that should make
it into a line on your resume.
The more specific you can be, the stronger the resume.
If you have a spotty tenure with former employers, lasing just a few months at some, then don’t include some of the non-pertinent ones on your resume. Note where you worked in terms of years, not month to month.
If you have a longer gap between jobs, you need to have a good explanation, one you give in a well-written cover letter.
Consider how you present the information on your resume, say career experts.
Start with an outline of your strengths and achievements, an place less-glowing areas toward the end.