There is an inevitable desire to lie when you are writing a resume no matter what kind of job you are looking for. It is pretty easy to understand because applicants try to show off and win the competition and many of them believe that all the means for achieving that goal are good. If you have ever written a resume for yourself to apply for a job you have felt that temptation to misrepresent some facts in order to present yourself in a better light. Obviously, you wouldn't call that a "misrepresentation of facts" or "lie", you would rather choose a more smooth description of that. But the truth of the matter is that whenever you put the information that is not 100% accurate, it is nothing else but a lie. At least in the eyes of those who are to make the final hiring decision.
What Do Job Seekers Lie about?
1) The very first thing applicants lie about is their achievements. In most cases, it is so obvious for recruiters and employers that they won't even check the information by calling your former supervisor. Statements like "Increased sales by 400% in 2 weeks" or "Expanded customer database by 700%" appear to be overstatements (lies) right away. You don't have to be a super detective to understand that an applicant is lying, especially if one has never been in the management positions before.
2) Another way how job seekers try to exaggerate their contribution and highlight their qualification is by claiming the responsibilities for the projects and programs where they only assisted in routine implementation procedures. "Planned and directed the implementation of process improvement initiatives to enhance operations efficiency" sounds cool but if you only assisted with the implementation not providing any guidance or leadership it will be pretty easy to figure out for employers.
3) Some go so far that they make up their degrees and diplomas in order to seem more qualified. For example, they pretend to have a bachelor of science degree in business management even if they have never been in for that diploma. There are those who add specific training courses they believe would be beneficial for their resumes.
4) The work experience section is one of the most important chunks of information. But job seekers sometimes mess up with this information too. Making up employment dates and job titles may appear like a cool thing to you but as a matter of fact, it is a terrible thing to do in the eyes of hiring managers. And if you think about it, you can understand why.
There is one thing you should know about putting a lie on your resume. It is not a good way to make your first impression on your potential employer. Of course, job seekers assume that nobody is going to know about it but based on our extensive experience and background in HR we can say with confidence that this is not true. Experienced HR managers will easily recognize a lie on a resume and as a result, they will not deal with such applicant any further. So you have to think twice before trying to outsmart an HR by putting a lie on your resume. There are other ways to impress an employer after all.
