To Tell the Truth Resume Rules

To Tell the Truth Resume RulesTo Tell the Truth Resume RulesRecruiters and resume experts draw a firm line between putting your best foot forward and lying on your resume.The woman was mousy and small - just 5 feet tall and 105 pounds. She wanted to be hired full time at the Ohio-based manufacturing facility where she was temping, and asked what she had to do to make that happen.Well, you have to fill out an application and go through an interview, and then well do a hintergrund check, the vice president of human resources, Matthew Rosen, told her.Ill have a tough time with the background check, said the woman.That was an understatement. The background check revealed a criminal record and hard time in a penitentiary. When Rosen asked the woman about it, she said her husband had beaten her, repeatedly. So she shot him - a crime for which she spent seven years behind bars.Rosens jaw hit the floor. And yet, Rosen recommended hiring her.It turned out beautifully, Rosen said. The woman is still working at the plant today. Shes one of the organizations best workers, grateful just to have been given a chance.Its an extreme case. Many people have issues theyd rather sweep under the carpet than reveal on a resume - from work-history gaps to degrees notlage received to an age thats either too ripe or too raw to admit. But all resume issues have one thing in common Getting caught in a lie about them can obliterate your chances of getting hired.Its going to be discovered. If it gets discovered, or when, there will be no chance youll get that job, said Rosen, who is now human resources director for Schiller International University in Largo, Fla. You have a better chance explaining it - much better. If they run a background check, then it will get discovered, and then youve lied to these people. Wholl hire someone whos lied to them? Im going to hire someone who did something and went to a penitentiary. Ill never hire someone whos lied to me.But while its easy to preach truthfulness, resumes are marketing documents that present candidates in the best light. It begs the question What can you successfully gloss over, and how do you do it without turning yourself into a liar? When is it OK to polish, and when does an embellishment become a forgery?In this package, Ladders draws the line. Certified zum besten vonfessional resume writers, job seekers, corporate recruiters and career coaches speak out to delineate the difference between an appropriate omission and a deliberate disguise. They break down the resume into sections and define what shows what and how you can tweak your resume to make it shine and still stay within the bounds of honesty. The result is a clear topography of this slippery slope for all those job seekers whove found themselves questioning the distinction between exaggeration and fabrication.Employment and education dates Bottom line It is acceptable to omit graduation dates, but it can lead recruiters to think you are trying to m ask your age.Every position must include the year, but not the month..Its a bad idea to fudge dates, given how easy it is to check dates of employment and graduation.But with age discrimination at both ends of the experience spectrum, theres sound justification for strategically dealing with dates - in particular, dates of college graduation. For some jobs, like those of top executives, employers wont hire (somebody) in his early 30s, said Steve Burdan, a certified professional resume writer who works with Ladders. Theyre looking for (an applicant) in his 40s or early 50s.Similarly, applicants in their 50s can face prejudice concerning older workers and their presumed inflexibility regarding salary, learning new technology or being managed by a younger person.When to date yourselfBurdan himself was once a recruiter and admits that checking on college dates is the first thing hed do when reviewing an application. Id take the hard resume copy and go immediately to the college (dates) to figure out how old they are, he said.Now that hes a resume writer, Burdan handles resume dates differently depending on where a job seeker is in her career path. If a job seeker has had only three operations jobs in her career and received a degree in 1988, Burdan will include the college dates to signal how old the subject is. If the subject is in his early 60s or 70s, Burdan excludes college dates completely.The point isnt to lie, Burdan said the point is to throw (employers) off the trail as long as possible. An employer will eventually find out a candidates age. But the longer it takes for that to happen, the less time there is for that employer to rule somebody out due to preconceptions about their age, and the mora time there is for a candidate to get into an interview and to build a relationship with her interviewers.But be forewarned Recruiters know what youre up to when youre cagey with dates, and leaving them off can set off alarms. Dates (are) something very critical to have on your resume, said Jacqueline Hudson, a senior account executive for the Renascent Group LLC, an executive search firm. I totally understand age discrimination, but (if dates arent included) automatically (a recruiter will think), What are they hiding? Are they too junior or are they too senior? Dates of employmentWhile leaving off education dates clearly has its pluses and minuses, leaving off work history dates is never a good idea. Recruiters like to see how long a candidate stayed with an employer and, specifically, how many years of experience they have in a given role. If they list five jobs with no dates, we dont know if they spent 25 years at one job and one with another, Hudson said. (Dates) show consistency and what your (work history) pattern is. Nobody wants to hire somebody who will turn around and work for someone else in less than a year.For those worried about a short tenure at a job, contemporary wisdom dictates eliminating months and including only years for job history dates.Work history Bottom LineIt is acceptable to omit work experience, or limit details, after 10 to 12 years.Dont cover gaps by extending your tenure at previous positions.Fill in gaps with consulting and volunteer positions or list the reasons for the unemployment (e.g. a sabbatical, family leave or maternity leave).If you began your professional career in 1974, are you required to fill several pages with technology jobs, promotions and duties dating back 35 years?No. Convention in the resume industry s include a retirement that was cut short due to a nose-diving 401K plan childbirth or family issues a sabbatical or a return to school to pursue a degree.Candidates often write whats known as a functional resume to try to cover up such gaps. In a functional resume, company names and job accomplishments are provided without dates.Dont do it. When looking at a functional resume, hiring professionals cant tell when or where a given accomplishment happened, and it will signal to most hiring managers that a job seeker is trying to hide something.I think thats a big mistake, Van Vreede said. Right off the bat, youre making people worry about you. And if worried enough, theyll leave you out of consideration.Fill in the gapBe forthright by documenting all work-history gaps just as you would a job, said several certified professional resume writers. For example, if you took a sabbatical from 2001 to 2003, include that information on your resume, with sabbatical in all capital and/or bold letters, just as if it were a company name.That way, (the gap is) right up front, addressed and filled in for the hiring manager whos just looking at the dates, Van Vreede said. It gets you through the human resources screen, but you wont be accused of trying to hide anything. And in todays environment, a lot of people have gaps on their resumes.Case in point Schiller International Universitys Rosen reviewed a resume in mid-July that included a gap in employment, but the applicant had been clear that the gap was due to time spent as a stay-at-home mother. Well, thats fine, Rosen said. That was explained. But the other point is, especially these days, losing a job is not a black eye anymore. At one point, if you got laid off, people thought there was something wrong with you. Nowadays if you lose your job, its no big deal.Explain the gapRosen is also understanding of work histories that are somewhat inconsistent, as long as the inconsistencies are explainable. He talked to another job seeker in mid-July who had been at one job for a long time, followed by short tenures at two companies - a potential red flag from a recruiters perspective. The candidate explained that he had moved on from the long-term position to a new one, but left because of a disagreement with a supervisor. He had then moved into a position in the mortgage industry, but lost his job in the early days of the recession. Thats OK, Rosen said. They were at one job for 18, 20 year s - thats OK. Thats a reasonable explanation. It really is.Certified professional resume writers Van Vreede and Burdan recommend that job seekers fill in gaps on their resumes resulting from layoffs with any consulting, freelance or contract work completed. Include pro bono or volunteer work, as well.For those who have done nothing since losing a job, putting nothing down can work if there have been only a few months of downtime. If youve done nothing for more than six months, youre getting to the point where people will start to worry. However, unemployment remains common enough in this economy that it should not automatically disqualify a job seeker.Job titles Bottom lineInsert the official title(s) used by your previous employer(s) on your resume.When it comes to job titles, there is no way around the truth. Certified professional resume writers say you must always be honest because titles are easily verified by reference and background checks.By default, you should provide the title referred to by the employer, said Burdan. Companies like the Big Five, theyll have titles like senior auditor. You have to go along with that, he said, even if that title has an unclear meaning out of context. Thats what the industry knows and the company uses. Its awkward, but youve got to use it.It is also easily verified by reference and background checks.Exceptions to the ruleBut there is some wiggle room, said several certified professional resume writers.An example of an acceptable title change would be for an applicant whose past job was as both a sales representative and a manager. If that job seeker decides he wants to do only sales and would rather not manage anymore, its permissible to include only the sales experience on his resume, said Mary Schumacher, a certified professional resume writer who works with Ladders.Job seekers who were geschftliches miteinander owners present a particular problem for Burdan. Too often they include inflated titles, such as presiden t and CEO, he said. He advises against those titles, even if thats what the individuals business card said. Instead, he advises using a title such as principal.The rationale boils down to perception Theres a big difference between being the president of a one-person company and being the president of General Electric, and, in most cases, its wise to dial it back to avoid being seen as exaggerating your role, he said.Burdan also suggests translating or converting titles of candidates who have military or government experience, given that titles such as colonel, major or agent in charge dont have clear meaning within the business community.Education Bottom lineNever claim a degree or certificate you do not possess.Never falsify or round up a GPA.Accu-Screen, a company that specializes in employment background checks, has found during the course of tracking 15 years worth of screens that some 16 percent of academic degrees and institutions listed on resumes are falsified. Job seekers also falsify 15 percent of technical skills and certifications, Accu-Screen has found.Many job candidates who have gone to college but havent graduated lie by saying that theyve completed a degree. Resume writers also often find such candidates using qualifying language such as only four credits left to get a Bachelor of Science degree.Both tactics are huge mistakes, said Van Vreede. Any reasonable person will look at the candidate and say, Are you stupid? Why didnt you go back and finish your degree? Go back and take correspondence courses online I did it and got a degree. What are you waiting for? he said.More to the point, language tricks send up red flags, giving the impression that a job seeker is trying to be sneaky. A better approach than lying or manipulating language is to say that you attended a program or did coursework at a given institution.Heres another technique that resume writer Burdan uses For those who have college degrees, he labels the appropriate section Educa tion. For those who lack degrees, he bundles their education up in a section he labels Professional Training.In a Professional Training section, Burdan will state, for example, that a subject has completed three years of a Bachelor of Science in finance program at the University of Georgia.By labeling it Professional Training, it appears less like an aborted degree and more like continuing education. After all, many people churn through a boatload of seminars and workshops above and beyond their formal education, Burdan noted.I wont hide it, but Ill downplay it, he said. For somebody not to have a college degree is rarer today, and that makes it best to draw attention away from the hole, Burdan said.CertificationsTechnical certifications represent a special case.One field wherein which it is common to find faked certifications is the technology industry. Many IT job candidates will load their resumes with certificate lists or even paste in graphics that only certificate holders have the right to use - such as is the case with the MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) credential - thinking they wont be checked.But faking certifications, professional accreditations, trade memberships or professional licenses is a cardinal sin, said several certified professional resume writers.Its very easy to check with the organizations that award the titles, and the hiring companies often face liability for hiring someone who faked an accreditation.GPAAnother education-related lie to avoid fudging your grade point average. Christine Bolzan, former vice president in charge of Global Emerging Markets hiring for JP Morgan and current CEO of Graduate Career Coaching, said that job seekers often exaggerate GPAs but that even the slightest tweak will raise a red flag. In todays job market, you cant create any type of question about your candidacy, she said.(Employers) want highly ethical individuals, and hiring companies have their pick. You might say you have a 3.8 GPA and it comes back as a 3.78 GPA. That will raise the red flag. The candidate will say, I was just rounding up, but with the job market as competitive as it is now, theres no room for rounding up.Bottom line If you are caught lying it is too hard to keep lies covered, and, once caught, your chances of being hired are all but obliterated. The Internet and background checks make it hard to cover up a lie.Even exaggerations can hurt you in a tough employment market.The bottom line is that there is no stepping over the line that separates advertising yourself and lying on your resume.Your chances of being hired if you are perceived to be a liar are extremely low. And, with the Internet, rest assured There isnt much that can remain hidden for long.