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Why You Shouldn’t Exaggerate on Your Resume

As a professional and accredited resume writer, I often speak before groups of other resume writers and give advice to many job hunters. I always caution people against exaggerating on resumes. I stand up for truthful resumes because I am a truthful person but also because:

  • If you exaggerate on your resume and are invited in for an interview, you are going to have to defend what you wrote. The more you try, the more obvious it will become to the interviewer that you lack enough confidence in yourself to stick to the truth.
  • If you exaggerate on your resume and somehow pass the interview, the company will check references and they will discover that none of the references can confirm the information on your resume.
  • If you exaggerate on your resume and somehow make it all the way through to hiring, you will have to deliver on the job. How can you deliver on skills and accomplishments you simply do not have?
  • If you exaggerate or lie on a resume (for example, claiming that you graduated with a degree when you didn’t or attended a college you didn’t attend), and you are found out later, you can be fired and might even ruin your chance to ever get hired. In some states, you could be charged with a misdemeanor or even a felony.

If you are feeling insecure about your job history, your accomplishments or your skills, please contact Robin’s Resumes®. My job is to make the real you stand out from the crowd and to showcase your real value to employers. I have accomplished this feat for many hundreds of job applicants. I can do it for you.

 

How Do Employers Find Their Ideal Candidate?

Recently on LinkedIn, someone asked how business owners, recruiters, and HR executives find their best candidates. The answers to that question are valuable for anyone who is searching for a job. There are five key steps that employers take in evaluating a candidate:

  1. Check the resume for job history and skills. Recruiters eliminate people who are clearly job hoppers, with one position after another that lasted less than a year; they also eliminate applicants who lack the vital skills they need.
  2. Check the resume for intangibles. It may be important, for example, that the candidate likes to work alone or travel out of the country or make presentations.
  3. Look at social media. A Facebook or Twitter page may reveal that a candidate has a problem the company does not want to deal with, such as excess drinking or anger toward co-workers. Or a company where volunteerism is important, for example, may look for evidence of a candidate’s volunteer activity.
  4. Pay attention to the job candidate’s attitude during the interview. If a candidate arrives late, texts during the interview, treats the receptionist rudely or gives inappropriate or flustered responses to questions, that candidate is considered a bad choice.
  5. Be prepared to train the right person. For some companies, a demonstrated willingness to learn is more important than current skills.

Robin’s Resumes® can help you anticipate these steps when you are looking for a job. I write resumes that put your job history in the best light and make it clear that you have the right skills and attitude. The resume also indicates whether you are a good candidate for training, if the company offers it. Together, we can evaluate your online presence for consistency with your resume.

Let me help you become the ideal candidate for business owners, recruiters, and HR executives.

Contract, Consulting or Self-Employed Jobs on Your Resume

These days many people work for at least part of their careers in contract, self-employed or consultant jobs. Though each job may be short in duration and there may be many of them, they don’t represent “job hopping” in the traditional sense. Consultant, self-employment and contract jobs are supposed to be short-term and are supposed to involve many different clients.

However, if you list each employer separately and your work for each only lasts a month or two, your resume will give the impression that you do jump from job to job. You do not want that to happen.

Instead, group all of your contract or consulting clients under a single category; for example, Contract Positions or Consulting. Each employer then becomes a separate bullet point under that category.

Another approach, particularly if you are self-employed, is to provide an overall company name for yourself; a freelance web designer might call himself “ABC Web Design.” Your company is treated like any other company on the resume and your position is (for example) founder and president.

Many people have job histories that don’t seem to fit the standard resume format. If you are concerned that your history is keeping you from the job you want, please send me an email or call today. I can help.

How to Describe an Unusual Job

I often help job candidates redesign their resumes to deal with unusual job histories. A recent candidate owned her own business for several years but was ready to re-enter the corporate world. Her business had several components. Every time she tried to describe them all, her business sounded out of control and amateurish.

She needed my help in making her resume adapt to her unique experience.

We identified three major areas of her business: she delivered services, she sold products and she advised other business owners.

When I tackled her resume, I began the description of her business in the usual way with the name of the company, its location and the dates she worked there. A short summary focused on her overall responsibilities and achievements as the president and founder of the company. But then the resume departed from what you might think of as a “traditional” format.

I created three subheadings, one each for Service Provider, Product Sales and Business Consultant. Under each subhead I listed her specific achievements in that area.

The result was a clear and organized review of her business that any recruiter could follow. As a candidate she appeared knowledgeable, innovative, flexible and in charge at all times.

If you have a problem that seems to stretch the bounds of a “traditional” resume, give me a call. I know that a resume that lands interviews is more important than any tradition.

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