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Are You Lying on Your Resume?

Written by Bernie

Bernie Frazier, SPHR is the Founder and President of CAREERCompass, LLC, a speaking and career coaching firm in St. Louis, MO. She also spent almost 25 years recruiting talent to six organizations across four industries and led the talent acquisition function for four of those organizations, including one global team.

You just read a job posting and thought, “I KNOW I can do this job even though I don’t have the experience they’re asking for!”  So, what do you do?

  1. Throw in the towel.  You don’t have the experience so why waste their time and yours?
  2. Lie about your experience.  Your last company shut down, so they’ll never find out the truth.
  3. Apply for the job anyway listing the experience you do have.  In your cover letter you can explain what relatable skills you do possess.

If you guessed #3, you’re right.  By following option #1, you may miss out on a great opportunity.  In most cases, recruiters are looking for, at least, the exact skills listed on the posting, but there are times when they see how a candidate’s related skills could also be a good fit for the position.

By following option #2, you’re setting yourself up for a bad fall!  Lying about your credentials is NEVER a good idea; you’re bound to get caught.  I have personally witnessed the termination of several (good) employees when it was discovered they lied about their skills and credentials – one had been with the company for over a year!  Anyone remember Scott Thompson?

In this day and age of background and reference checking, you take a great risk when you don’t tell the truth.  Hiring organizations and background/reference checking companies are becoming more and more sophisticated about how they ascertain information about candidates.  And, believe me, if it’s discovered that you’ve lied on your resume or application, you will usually be automatically disqualified.

So, would it be better to take a chance and apply for a job with your current skills and not get it (maybe you will?), or lie about your credentials, get the job, perform well, then lose it because you lied about your work experience?  You be the judge.

Until next time….