Honesty Is the Only Policy When It Comes to Writing Your Resume

We have all heard the stories about egregious lies CEOs have put on their resumes only to see them come to light years later to disastrous results (achem…recent Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson anyone?). But what about the rest of us? What about your average individual contributor who pads his or her resume with some not so accurate facts?

In my time as a recruiter I have seen some very fancy resume boosting tactics. Take for example the “skills” section on a resume. Historically, this should be used to identify skills such as a particular system you are familiar with, i.e. Salesforce (or other CRMs), Quickbooks, ADP, etc. Perhaps if you are a software engineer this can become even more specific, and you may even need to list out any languages and databases you work with. A common theme I have seen on resumes is listing “Proficient in Microsoft Office.”

This seemingly harmless addition to your resume is like saying “I know how to open my email!” In 2012 it is understood that you know how to use Outlook, Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. This is not something that a hiring manager scanning through stacks of resumes picks up on and shouts “Eureka! Finally someone who knows how to type a Word document!” In fact, a few weeks back I was on the phone with a hiring manager who reiterated his wariness of someone listing proficiency in Office on their resume. “ I just can’t wrap my head around why people think that is a skill — it stands out to me as much as someone typing ‘I can turn on the computer,’” he said.

I have to agree, he has a point. Unless you have the ability to build Macros and Look Ups in Excel then it really isn’t considered a skill. Listing it as such will come across as adding unnecessary information to your resume.

Another point to consider is your education. Many people believe that the further you get from your graduation date, the less important your degree is. This is not accurate. When I was working as a financial recruiter, I worked with many companies that verified education regardless of the candidate’s level within the company. Simply put, it behooves you to write the correct information as it pertains to the degree you earned.

Typically, GPA verifications are used for entry and mid-level positions, but these can be verified as well. There has been a handful of cases when I represented a candidate who had an offer reneged due to falsifying their GPA. In each case, the candidate would have received an offer with their actual GPA, but because of the dishonesty and misrepresentation, the company decided to rescind their offer.

Lastly, I will point out that the dates of employment on your resume should be clear. When I interview a candidate, I have them take me through their resume and explain any gaps in employment or any dates that do not make sense. Any unexplained or vague dates are a red flag. I had a candidate go in for an interview with a hiring manager who asked about a date of employment in 2001. The candidate held firm that that the company had employed him during the dates provided on his resume. When I asked for a follow up on the candidate from the hiring manager he responded, “Clearly there are inconsistencies in the candidate’s background, because the company was no longer in existence in 2001.”

If you take anything from this blog post, please let it be that you need to be entirely upfront and honest when it comes to writing your resume. No matter what level you find yourself at in a company, it is better to be honest up front than it is to have an indiscretion exposed at a later time. Your resume is meant to be a brief and accurate representation of your professional background — so lets make sure we keep it that way!