Survey: Job Seekers are Stretching the Truth
By Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources, CareerBuilder.com
There’s marketing yourself on your résumé, and then there’s flat-out lying. Many job seekers are crossing the line.Although just 5 percent of workers actually admit to fibbing on their résumés, 57 percent of hiring managers say they have caught a lie on a candidate’s application, according to a CareerBuilder.com survey. Of the hiring managers who caught a lie, 93 percent didn’t hire the candidate.
When résumé inconsistencies do surface during background checks, they raise concerns about the candidates’ overall ethics. Forty-three percent of hiring managers say they would automatically dismiss a candidate who fibbed on their résumé. The rest say it depends on the candidate and situation.
Stretched dates to cover up employment gaps is the most commonly-caught résumé lie, with nearly one-in-five hiring managers saying they have noticed this on a candidate’s application. Other top résumé lies include:
Reasons for lying range from the innocuous (not being sure of the exact employment dates) to the more sinister (intentionally being deceitful to get the job). To ensure your résumé is accurate but still portrays you in the best light, heed these tips:
If you don’t have much formal experience… Highlight any activities or coursework that could be relevant to the position. Volunteer activities, part-time jobs and class projects can all provide transferable skills and training.
If you didn’t quite finish your degree… Do not indicate on your résumé that you graduated. Instead, name the university and list the years in which you attended.
If you were out of work… Don’t stretch the employment dates to cover the gap. Instead, keep the dates accurate and address the gap in your cover letter. Be sure to mention any classes you took or volunteer work you performed during this time to keep your skills up-to-date.
Past employers (18 percent) Academic degrees and institutions (16 percent) Technical skills and certifications (15 percent) Accomplishments (8 percent) Rosemary Haefner is the Vice President of Human Resources for CareerBuilder.com. She is an expert in recruitment trends and tactics, job seeker behavior, workplace issues, employee attitudes and HR initiatives.
Corra as a background checking service is aware of many “embellishments,” from the decidedly mundane to the remarkably original. Sometimes we even have to give credit for creativity and imagination in making routine work like extra special.
But for the most part, in today’s world, anyone who messes with the facts probably will get caught. And most employers, quite wisely, have a policy where they figure if you are lying on your resume, at the beginning of your relationship, then you are probably going to lie further up the road.
As for you HR Managers, you already know the best way to sniff out a bogus or exaggerated resume is by crunching the facts. We always recommend a criminal background check. But for management, executive and the more responsible jobs, especially, Corra recommends education verification, employment verification and even DMV/MVR records searches, since they tend to reveal much about a character.
Many Human Resources personnel will be interviewing, if not now, then at the beginning of the year. Don’t be afraid to take the extra time to do the research. As Corra always says, “Check them out before you hire.”
