Truth or Fiction: Top Resume Lies
Most HR professionals have stories concerning applicants who lied on their applications or resumes. According to Forbes.com, the following represents the top things that applicants lie about when looking for a job. Some you might have guessed, but I was surprised at one or two:
- Playing with dates to hide employment gaps
- Bogus college degree claims
- Fear of ageism and leaving off jobs, dates of graduation or other omissions
- Embellishments of previous accomplishments (what I call the "walk on water" candidate -how many times has a manager come to the HR department with the resume of a fairly new employee and said that the competence of the employee doesn't match the resume?)
- Embellishing salary
- Exaggerating the academic GPA or other honors, or claiming technical proficiency that one does not have
- Claiming foreign language proficiency
- Exaggerating titles (I guess to justify the lofty title he/she lied about)
- Providing fake addresses (most likely done by out-of-towners looking to relocate to a new city). While I've seen this one done, the fact that it could be so high on the list surprised me.