Tempted to lie on a resume? Think again!

I recently attended a resume workshop that my sorority’s career and personal development chair put on. The speaker, Linda Meixner, who also serves as our scholarship advisor presented the chapter with plenty of information including literature about lying on resumes. It never occurred to me to lie on a resume but from doing a little research it seems some people are more prone to breaking the law than others. As the May graduating class will soon be entering the workforce I felt it was an appropriate time to bring this topic up.

What constitutes lying on a resume?

Will your nose grow while writing your resume?

Lying on a resume can come in many forms and all end with the same result of the liar being out of a job or never hired in the first place. This makes sense because lying on a resume is illegal. The person who lied on their resume will have a hard time finding another job as the reputation of being a liar will precede the applicant for years to come. Lie intensity ranges from making up fake responsibilities and dates of employment to more outrageous lies including fake degrees, made up colleges, and positions that were never held.

The Society of Human Resource Managers offers information about some high profile and extreme lies that applicants have told.

• A former admissions dean at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology lied about credentials.
• A Notre Dame Football coach lied about his academic and athletic background.
• A chef on the Food Network’s “Dinner: Impossible” lied about cooking for the British Royal family.

These lies are out of the ordinary and most people don’t take it that far. So who lies the most on resumes? The results that I found on CareerBuilder.com were not what I expected at all. I expected people who have the reputation of being propagandists and fabricators to have a higher percentage of lies on their resumes. It turns out I picked a field with high ethical standards, yes I am talking about the public relations industry, which by the way didn’t make it in the top three. People in the hospitability industry lie most frequently on resumes followed by the transportation industry and the information technology industry. Surprise, surprise, the people who lie the least on resumes are those who want government jobs. They must figure the government does a more extensive background check than other professions.

Will your hand get bitten off by the "mouth of truth?"

Background checks

Do potential employers really look at applicant’s background information? The answer of course is yes! There is a whole slew of legal information on the topic including questions that potential employers can and can’t ask.

The act that regulates background checks is the Fair Credit Report Act which was prepared by the FTC (federal trade commission).

Included within this report are rules and regulations about the amount of information potential employers are allowed to access. Limitations include medical records, and some credit reports. Criminal records and anything else that is considered a public record is allowed to be searched.

How to enhance a resume

How do you make your resume stand out without lying on it?  Word selection is important as well as parallel construction. Use action verbs and strong adjectives to describe exactly what you have been doing in previous jobs.

Tailor the cover letter and the resume to fit the job you are applying for too. Highlight different features for different jobs. If a job requires extensive knowledge of a certain program and you have it, highlight that and spend less time talking about your excellent writing skills. Be sure to mention other skills in the cover letter and later in the interview.

Use your space wisely. Make sure everything looks clean and is easy to read. Also check the company’s Web site to see if they have any specific resume requests before you format your resume. There are many different ways to write a resume. The best advice I ever got was to find a resume I liked and emulate it and my advice is the same. Do a lot of research on the job you want before you apply. Good luck and happy resume writing!