Overemphasizing Your Accomplishments Job applicants who are particularly insecure may attempt to exaggerate their achievements on their resumes in order to make their candidacy more appealing to a manager. Granted, it may be difficult for a would-be employer to check to see whether you indeed boosted sales in your department by 20 percent or whether you earned an employee of the month designation at the job you held three years ago. This is because many businesses are only willing to confirm basic facts about a former worker, such as start date, end date, and position held.

Yet, it can be said that employers have their ways of verifying key information. For instance, in a job interview, a manager may ask you a series of direct questions about a questionable accomplishment that you list on your resume. If the interviewer finds you to be inconsistent in your answers, he or she may have reason to believe you’re fudging your resume.

In addition, the truth about your accomplishments may come out in the course of your employer interviewing your references about your background. For example, if a reference laughs when the manager refers to you as “Smithton’s top seller,” your lie has been easily exposed.

A Consultant Can Reveal Your Weaknesses Because of the prevalence of inauthentic resumes, some companies actually hire firms that specialize in exposing individuals who have lied on their resumes. These outfits possess the special knowledge needed to unearth details that will reveal misstatements on resumes and job applications. Given this fact of modern business life, it is more important than ever that you include only truthful statements on your resume.

How to Avoid the Inadvisable Lie In many cases, job applicants lie on their resumes because of one single overriding factor: shame. They are ashamed of their lack of education…their lack of experience…a misstep in their career…or a firing that left them devastated. In other words, a job applicant doesn’t necessarily want to lie. Rather, he or she may feel as if circumstances require it.

But, in actuality, there is no situation in which a job applicant would be required to lie. If there is something in his or her background that could be an obstacle to gain employment, the job seeker needs to deal with it head-on—in as professional manner as possible.

Arrange your resume so that it showcases your skills in the best possible way. If you lack experience in a certain area required by a given job, simply emphasize those skills you do have. Be forthright in how much education you have, recognizing the fact that an employer may be willing to waive a degree requirement because of the amount of experience you’ve amassed.

Rather than lying about your previous job titles, list the correct titles—then make sure that you include all relevant information about your successes in your various professional roles. While your resume should not be a long-winded dissertation, it should be complete. By packaging your qualifications well, you will earn the respect of a manager and, possibly, a job offer in the process.

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