It is better to sleep on things beforehand than to lie awake about them
afterwards. -Baltasar Gracian, philosopher and writer (1601-1658)
As a career coach I routinely work with clients to make their resumes more presentable. In the process I am often surprised by the number of clients who want to misstate facts or who want to present an outright lie.
Having worked with over 3,500 clients I can say with some experience that those who are tempted to misstate facts are tempted by their desire to match what the job descriptions asks for that they cannot provide. Most common temptations are previous job titles, accomplishments, and oh, the mother of them all, college degrees!
What most do not realize is that checking facts is easy in this Googlized world! Also, people you do not even suspect as possibly fact providers can be working at your prospect employer and they can quickly spot a phony. What most do not realize is that telling truth in ways that serves a situation is far more valuable to you than lying about it in ways that can be a gottcha later! Despite this, nearly 40% of applicants lie on their resumes. And, this goes all the way up to the CEO resumes. Who can forget how Radio Shack had to fire its CEO a few years back because he had lied on his resume. Stories of high-level cheats abound in the corporate world!
It is much easier to state the facts and get in for an interview than to spend sleepless nights wondering about when you are going to get caught in your new job for having lied on your resume, as the quote at the head of this blog admonishes.
In one case, a client of mine brought me a job opening at a major defense contractor. The job required a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and at least 10 years’ experience. My client had a stellar record in all the areas that they had listed in the job description, except that he only had the Master’s degree (from Stanford!). So, he sheepishly told me that he was going to put that he had a Ph.D. from Stanford and send his response, despite my admonition that such things could be easily checked.
He came back the next day and agreed that it would be wrong to do this and that if he were caught (I guaranteed it!) that would be a black mark against him or worse! So, he asked how he could get through the computerized screening process without meeting the job requirements. I suggested to him that the computer was going to look for a “Ph.D. in the resume under “Education,” so why not state the degree he already had and write “no Ph.D.” He liked the idea and we submitted his response with the truthful resume and a cover letter that highlighted why he would be a great candidate!
Viola!
He got a call for a telephone interview and soon he was invited to a round of interviews. Not once was he asked about his not having a Ph.D. during the interviews. He ended up not getting the job, not because he was not qualified, but because he was not able to qualify for the rigors of the screening process for his security clearance, which this job required.
The moral of the story: Avoid any lies on your resume. It is easy to catch them. Instead, tell the truth in ways that positions you favorably and sleep well at night!