What Lies If Any Are Acceptable On A Resume

Get The Job Without Lying:

If you are well-qualified and your skills are in demand, its likely you will be able to overcome some obstacles to the land the job you want. Referrals are a good way of boosting your chances of getting hired, even if you do not fit the exact criteria for the role, as a good recommendation goes a long way so do your best to impress anyone who has influence over the hiring decisions.

If the job you want requires a degree, instead of fabricating one and risking getting caught out, look into how you can actually attain one. There are lots of options available for working professionals to study from home, so why not take up a course in your free time?

Negative Assumptions About Employment Gaps

Imagine an employer has a stack of 50 resumes to review, and they need to shortlist five candidates as quickly as possible. Although theyll use objective criteria to select candidates , theyll also rely on gut feelings and automatic assumptions. So, if you have an unexplained gap on your resume, what kind of assumptions are employers making about you?

If youve been out of work for a long time, employers may worry that youre not suited to the 9-5 office lifestyle. At best, they might assume youre flaky, and at worst they may think youre downright lazy.

Thankfully, this is an assumption that can be challenged, because many other roles require us to commit to regular routines. For example, if youre a parent or a member of a sports team, youll know a thing or two about the importance of routine. You can allude to this on your resume or cover letter.

Also, if you dont specify what you were doing during a career break, this could also come across as lazy. It suggests you dont pay much attention to detail in your written work. Many employers wont bother calling you to an interview to try and fill in the gaps. As such, its critical to make your resume as clear and user-friendly as possible.

Every employer wants to select a candidate who has a strong work ethic. If you hop from one job to the next, or youve been unemployed for a long stretch, employers might assume you have no burning desire to work.

Recruiters Weigh In On The Most Common Deal

• Resume mistakes, at best, give a bad first impression at worst, they’ll cost you the job.
• Approximately 70% of employers say that certain resume deal-breakers would cause them to reject a candidate before they’ve even finished reading the application.
• When it comes to lying, not all fabrications are treated equally employers are more likely to react to lies about your education than your skills.

For ultra-keen job seekers, there’s nothing more patronizing than being advised to double-check your resume. Yet anyone in the recruiting industry will tell you it’s shocking the number of résumé they receive that are either rife with errors or openly flout the job posting’s instructions.

Part of that may be a mismatch in resume advice and recruiter expectations. We can assume you already know to use proper spelling and correct grammar, but who knew that using a Microsoft Word 2003 program could be the mistake that’s landing your resume in the trash?

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Can My Ex Employer Say I Was Fired

There are no federal laws restricting what information an employer can or cannot disclose about former employees. If you were fired or terminated from employment, the company can say so. For example, if someone was fired for stealing or falsifying a time sheet, they can explain why the employee was terminated.

The Recruiter Has Googled The Real You

We are living in a time when the number of employers using social media to screen candidates is at an all-time high.

With Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media, hiring managers can easily look up your social media profiles and see if your education and working history check out.

No matter if you decide to lie about your ex-employer, year of graduation, job title, or skills, your lie can sometimes be easily exposed by a simple Google search.

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Resume Lies Have Serious Consequences

Is there a chance that a lie might not compromise your candidacy? Yes, but that possibility is small. In only two percent of cases, survey participants uncovered a lie and still allowed the candidate to move forward in the process.

The rest of the vote was split. About half of the remaining recruiters were firm on disqualifying the candidate immediately. Most often, this had to do with the subject of the lie. For example, a professional might lie about having a professional certification that’s required for the job. Most licensing agencies have online research tools that allow an HR professional to simply type in a license number to check its status. A phone call to the agency is just as simple. A lie can be found out in seconds! Since licensing is often a statutory requirement, there is a high chance that the company will complete this check diligently and will have no tolerance for misrepresentation.

The remainder of the survey participants observed that there might be a bit of room for flexibility in certain circumstances. Perhaps the candidate states that she is fluent in French, even though this skill isn’t required to perform the job successfully. If she then fails to answer a question asked in French but is otherwise well-qualified, some HR professionals may allow the candidacy to move forward.

Spelling And Grammatical Errors

A recruiter survey by TopResume found spelling and/or grammatical errors to be the No. 1 resume mistake that could cost you the job. However, with a little effort, you can easily avoid this resume deal-breaker. Print your resume out in a different font, read it aloud, and ask someone with impeccable writing skills to edit your resume for grammar.

Related: 5 Ways to Proofread Your Resume

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Is Falsifying Your Resume Illegal

Lying on a resume is not illegal in itself, but some lies can cause legal problems for the applicant or employee. If the resume requires employees to make a sworn statement, the lying becomes illegal. Falsifying information to gain access to company records or sensitive government information can also be illegal.

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Why Do People Lie On Their Resume

Lying on a resume is surprisingly common. A 2020 survey of over 1,000 U.S. workers found that a staggering 93% of respondents know someone who lied on their resume. The most common resume lies were related to:

• Experience
• Skills
• Duties

While only 31% were caught, 65% of them were either not hired or fired from their role. Only 36% of respondents admitted that they had lied on their own resume. Of those who confessed, they were most likely to lie in these resume categories:

• Experience

When asked why they lied on their resume, respondents listed the following reasons:

• Long period of unemployment
• Wanted a higher salary for the position
• Didnt think they would get caught
• Not qualified for the position

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Making Claims Without Measurable Evidence

“If you’re going to boast about increasing sales or improving process efficiency, support these claims with real statistics and an explanation of how you accomplished these feats. When I read ‘improved department sales revenue’ on a resume, I’m not convinced.” Tyson Spring, co-founder and head of business development at Élever Professional

The Truth Of The Matter

Fact is, no job candidate is perfect, and if your resume portrays perfection, that in and of itself might put an employer on high alert. Plus, employers don’t expect perfection. What they do expect is your resume to represent the real you. “Most of us have had bumps in the road that don’t exactly look great on the resume,” says Isaacs.

Leave the lies behind and lead instead with your best self. Want to get your resume in front of more hiring managers? Create a profile on Monster for free and we’ll help connect you to awesome jobs.

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What To Include In Your Resume

Now that you know what not to include in your resume, take a second look at your resume to make sure it includes all the right elements to effectively tell your story and market your qualifications. Click on the following link to learn what 11 pieces of information every professional should include in a resume.

Not sure if your resume includes any of these mistakes? Let us help! Take advantage of TopResume’s free critique today!

Acting Like You Led A Project Or Team

Be very straightforward about what your role entailed on a project, says Varelas. Many times, job seekers will make it seem like they spearheaded a major assignment, when in actuality, they assisted on a small portion of it.

A better strategy is to be extremely forthcoming about the assistance you provided and how your workhelped to move the project forward, she says.

Another mistake to shy away from is saying that you managed people when you didnt, Varelas adds. Even if you oversaw junior employees on certain assignments, dont say you managed them unless they were your direct reports.

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Gpa On Resumes: Takeaways

Lets summarize:

• The purpose of listing your GPA purpose on a resume is only to complement your Education section and empower it.
• There are a variety of ways to present and format your GPA.
• The only acceptable lie regarding GPA is rounding it up to one decimal place.
• A low GPA wont ruin your life. You can still get your dream job, and we are always here to help.

What did you think of this article? Do you feel you know everything about having your GPA in your resume? Share your thoughts in the comments!

What Should You Do If You Lied On Your Resume

For starters, you can update your resume, tell the hiring manager that you noticed some errors and present them with an updated copy. You can also tell the truth. Though this might disqualify you from getting the job, it would avoid further consequences down the road if you were to get caught. You can also withdraw your application from the job youre applying for. Though you wont get the job, you wont have to let the recruiter know why and youll avoid any future consequences. Lastly, you could do nothing, however, it is uncertain what could happen if you go this routeespecially if the recruiter tries to verify some of the information you provided.

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The Employer Conducts A Background Check

Not all employers conduct formal background checks. But if you encounter one that does, it will sink you if youre being untruthful. If a prospective employer conducts a background check and discovers youve lied about your work history, criminal past, education, professional certifications, or other key facts, dont expect a job offer.

This article was originally published by The Cheat Sheet. Reprinted with permission.

What Constitutes Lying On Your Resume

Lying on your resume comes in three forms: lies of commission, lies of omission, and embellishment.

A lie of commission is a false statement. Saying you went to Harvard when you didnt, claiming you have a masters degree when you dont, or saying you can write code when you cant are all lies of commission.

Lies of omission arent lies as much as they are not telling the whole truth. . For example, saying that you went to State U is fine as long as you did. Not graduating from State U is also OK, unless hiring managers assume you received your degree from State U and you never clarify that you did not receive a degree.

Finally, an embellishment is when you overstate your qualifications or accomplishments on your resume. Talking about your leadership abilities is expected. But, saying that you have management experience when that experience is limited to being a camp counselor is crossing a line.

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Lying On Job Application About References

Thinking of listing a friend or uncle in your references? If a company is serious about a candidate, they will most likely call up the references provided on the resume. And if the person you have listed to vouch for you will probably be unable to answer questions about your duties in your previous employment.

Tips To Avoid Lying On A Resume

Stay honest. It sounds cliché, but honesty really is the best policy, says Isaacs. Instead of using evasion or a complete distortion of facts, try the following strategies:

Rethink your design. “A common way to format dates on your resume is to right justify or left justify them so they’re set apart from text,” says Isaacs. But “lone dates surrounded by a river of white space draws the eyeso it’s not a good choice for someone trying to downplay frequent job changes.”

Instead, place the dates next to job titles or employer names so they blend in with the other content, she suggests.

Get in front of a potential issue. You might be tempted to leave off a job in which your departure didn’t go well, but omissions are like lies and can be just as harmful. “Sometimes bad things happen. If you’re honest and upfront, you can overcome that,” says Samuels.

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Copying And Pasting Job Descriptions

“Do not copy and paste the job description that you were hired under into your resume. Recruiters do not want to read what they already wrote. They want to read how you accomplished those tasks and responsibilities in your current and past jobs. Recruiters are looking for skill sets, experience related to those skills in achieving a goal for current/past employers, what you personally did to help those goals get reached, if you managed or supervised others who performed your career-related tasks , if you trained anyone in your job , if you brought in revenue or reduced overhead costs, and if you handled or managed a budget .” Dawn D. Boyer, CEO of D. Boyer Consulting

You Fail At The Skills Assessment Test

Its easy to say you are proficient in something. On the other hand, proving it might be difficult.

Employers know how simple it is for job seekers to exaggerate their skills, so adding a test is not something uncommon.

When you are in an interview, hiring managers can ask you a variety of questions to check your language or skills level and to reassure themselves that you can provide the quality needed for the job.

Failing such a basic test is a sure sign that youve either overestimated or stretched out the truth about your abilities and that can cost you the potential job.

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When Resume Lies Are Uncovered

It’s easy enough for a candidate to lie when pinging off their resume via email. The interview process, however, can bring such lies to light, especially when the candidate finds themselves unable to speak in detail about the things they’ve lied about.

“In addition, background checks and reference checks often expose a resume’s lies,” said Augustine. “Lying about your education is pointless, because it’s simple for an employer to call the institution directly for verification or to use a service, such as the National Student Clearinghouse, to confirm details of your educational background.”

Getting caught in a lie won’t only cost you the job, but it may lead to further repercussions. Worst-case scenario, you’ll get blackballed from your desired industry.

“Some job markets are small. If the lie you told was egregious, you may find it has spread beyond the office walls of this prospective employer,” said Augustine. “Also, if you are working with a third-party recruiting agency, there’s a good chance they may cut ties with you. Lying about something that’s easy to catch also speaks to your judgment or lack thereof which can be a deal-breaker for most employers.”

Additional reporting by Marisa Sanfilippo, Dave Mielach, Jennifer Post and Chad Brooks.

Keeping All Of Your Lies Straight Is Harder Than It Sounds

Telling the truth is so much easier than lying. You dont have to worry about contradicting yourself or accidentally saying something that brings your whole house of cards crashing down. Keeping all your lies straight is tough during a job screening process.

How are you going to talk about a job that you never had in your interview? The worst part is, if you get the job, keeping your dirty little secret will only get harder. As lies pile up, its tougher to keep them straight. Save yourself the hassle and tell the truth.

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For Some Workers Lying Leads To Firing

Indeed, for candidates who don’t get caught in a lie during the hiring process, there’s always the potential for the truth to come out at a later time.

In November 2019, an NBC News investigation found that Mina Chang, the deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stability Operations, embellished her resume and made misleading claims about her professional background, including by creating a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it. She resigned a week later.

While Chang’s case is an extreme example, lying on a resume can have serious consequences.

Gail Tolstoi-Miller, CEO of staffing firm Consultnetworx in New Jersey, previously consulted for a pharmaceutical company that conducted an audit of its employees’ credentials. During the process, one worker’s lie resulted in his termination.

“What they found out was he put down in his background that he had a college degree, when in fact he did not,” Tolstoi-Miller says of the experienced professional who had spent several years with the company. “We’re talking about very highly specialized work, research and development. He got fired for lying, so it can catch up with you.”

For other areas of misrepresentation, such as workers saying they have skills they don’t, Tolstoi-Miller suggests job seekers use online resources such as Coursera and Udemy to brush up these skills rather than lie about them.