Top Three Resume Lies

October 26, 2011|Interesting Facts| No comments yet

When people are filling out resumes, there are a lot of assumptions that they make. How many businesses are really going to call every job on the list, or call their university to see if they graduated? The lies people tell tend to grow every year, and with the need to fill jobs, a good resume can speak a lot. Here are the top three lies that people tell to get jobs, that without proper vigilance from employers, can work.

1. Hiding The Gaps

Adding or subtracting a month to hide a job gap is the most common practice. The reason people might do this is to cover up a month after they were fired, or a year where they just couldn’t find a job. The understanding is that employers don’t want to see a gap in employment, so people might stretch out the dates that they worked there. If they are called on it, it isn’t hard to just feign innocence, so where this one is the easiest to do, it is also the hardest to call somebody a liar on it.

2. College Degrees

You would think that people would check on this more, but it happens more than you might think. Just because someone took a class at a prestigious university, does not mean that they graduated from there. Claiming that they were there for four years doesn’t mean that they have their Bachelor’s Degree or Associate’s.

3. Certifications

There is a growing want for tech certifications in the world of IT. In recent years there has been a rash of people claiming to have the certificates that they don’t. Some are trying to hide the fact that they have no formal training, but have on the job experience that might be just as good as what the certificate offers, but the practice is still deceitful.

When you are hiring employees, the only way to fight against these things is be vigilant when you find the person you want to hire. Ask the right questions, and make sure to go over their resume with them so that you know where they are coming from. If, in the end, you find that they are honest about everything on that piece of paper, you probably found yourself a decent worker. Otherwise, as the old adage goes, let the buyer beware.