The Reality of Embellished Resumes

Everybody knows that it’s okay, maybe even expected, to embellish or overstate the truth on your resume. After all, everyone is doing it and it’s just the game you have to play these days if you want to be competitive. Right?

The real answer is not all that clear. There is a gray area between showcasing your skills and experience and overstating them to the point where it’s inaccurate and a downright lie. Recent surveys have shown that just over 40 percent of resumes have inaccuracies related to dates of employment, education and title. One survey of managers reported that 70 percent had found an employee had lied about their qualifications.

More attention has been brought to the subject in recent years as high profile CEOs of major corporations (think RadioShack’s David Edmondson) and even college football coaches (think George O'Leary) have been fired for inaccuracies on their resumes.

Why resume embellishment is trending up:

With higher unemployment, resume embellishment has been on the rise. Candidates feel the pressure to appear as though they are more than what they can really deliver. A lot of it stems from the insecurity of younger workers with less experience that feel the only way to get the better, more sought after jobs is to “enhance” their experience.  

Another reason many candidates feel compelled to over state on their resume is because many hiring managers believe they are in a position to assign much higher requirements to qualify for a position than in the past due to the job market conditions.  So in order to try and fit into the strict and lofty requirements of a position they are otherwise a fit for, some candidates are making their resume fit the position by stretching their skills and experience to match.

Why you should care as a candidate:

In a survey by CareerBuilder, 93 percent of managers that caught a candidate lying did not hire that person.  Add the fact that more employers than ever are spending the resources to complete thorough background checks and verify resume details.  Embellishing to highlight the real value you can bring your prospective employer is one thing - fabricating or grossly exaggerating the truth could be a serious career limiting move.

Inconsistencies and a clear overstatement or overselling of your skills and experience makes passing on you as a candidate an easy choice for the recruiter or hiring manager that is juggling numerous resumes.

The biggest risk of misrepresenting yourself is that, once on the job, your new employer will quickly discover you’re not as qualified as you appeared. If you have a weakness in your resume, highlight the positives areas, what you have done and what you can do for your next employer. If it's obvious you don't have the experience they want, but you know you can easily pick up the skills needed to do the job, then use the cover letter to explain that you are willing to do whatever is necessary to acquire them and illustrate that you do have related skills.

The bottom line - under all the fancy type and expensive high cotton content paper needs to be a well written resume that won’t require any explaining or fast talk should you make it to the interview.  Focus on industry keywords that help your resume stand out and quantifiable accomplishments that allow you to use specifics.  Only change your job title if it clarifies your position and overcomes company-specific jargon.

Why you should care as a hiring manager:

As a hiring manager or HR professional trying to sort though numerous resumes to find the best candidates, you probably review every resume with a little hint of skepticism - and rightfully so. However, should you really care if a resume is slightly embellished?

As long as the embellishment has been done to highlight the value the candidate can truly bring to your organization, then the answer might be no. However, that does not mean you should not do your due diligence with background and reference checks. We also recommend testing candidates when there are required skills that can be accurately measured by a test.  Ultimately, though, you are trying to answer the questions of, “can this candidate do the job well and will they be a long-term contributor to my team.”

Your interview questions should be focused on answering these questions. Once you have selected candidates to interview make sure you’re not spending all the valuable interview time fact-checking. Often, behavioral interview questions are used to focus on past performance and behaviors. This can be a good indication of how the candidate will behave in the future.

Some examples of good interview questions include:

• Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond to get a job done.
• Tell me about two memorable projects, one success and one failure. To what do you attribute the success and failure?
• What unique experience or qualifications separate you from other candidates?

Embellishing is something nearly all of us have done, but embellishing a fishing story to make a point has far fewer consequences than embellishing a resume to the point of misrepresenting the truth.  Following these suggestions will keep you competitive as a candidate and help you pick the right team as a hiring manager.