Embellishing Your Work Experience

As the UK economy slides closer to recession and the job market tightens, the inclination might be to inflate your credentials and your work experience in order to impress potential employers. If youíre feeling the pressure to pump up your profile, youíre not alone. Research shows when times get tough jobseekers are more inclined to exaggerateóor even outright lie.

RESUME FALSIFICATION
Accu-Screen, a leading employment background screening company that has been keeping records on resume falsification for 14 years, has noticed spikes correlate with economic downturns and weak labor markets. Currently, Accu-Screen is seeing an increase across the board of the most common incidences of lying on resumes.

The top seven resume lies, according to firm data, are:

ï Job title (rank)
ï Dates of employment
ï Inflated salary
ï Criminal records
ï Education (e.g., bogus degrees or degrees from diploma mills)
ï Professional license
ï ìGhostî company (self-owned business)

STRETCHING THE TRUTH
Exactly how do jobseekers enhance their experience? Consider job titles as an example. Thereís a tendency toward what Accu-Screen calls self-promotion.

In this case, self-promotion isnít about marketing yourself, which is generally viewed as positive. Instead, self-promotion means something altogether different, as in bestowing bigger and betteróand unearnedójob titles.

WHATíS THE REASONING BEHIND JOB TITLE LIES?
Jobseekers typically inflate job titles in order to apply for more senior positions, with the thought that those positions offer more prestige and higher salaries. However, job titles arenít only about status and income, at least from the employer side. Employers equate job titles with experience, skills, and, in some instances, credentials.

THINK IT DOESNíT MATTER ALL THAT MUCH?
Accu-Screen shares a well-publicized story, reported in The New York Times this summer, of a man who posed as a doctor and caused brain damage to a patient while administering anesthetic. Itís an extreme example, to be sure, but the potential for error exists in any job for which a person isnít qualified.

Education is another area where people frequently lie. Jobseekers may claim to have gone to a school, usually a top-notch university, they never attended. In other instances, they are self-graduators; that is, they attended a particular school but never completed the degree requirements and nevertheless claim they have a degree.

Kevin Connell, CEO and founder of Accu-Screen, finds this lie particularly ironic because not all jobs require college degrees. ìThe message to job applicants is to, number one, find out what the position requires,î Connell says.

THE QUESTION HE RECOMMENDS ASKING IS: DOES IT NEED A DEGREE?
Even if a position requires a college degree and the jobseeker lacks the credential, Connell advises against falsification. He has seen many job offers rescindedónot for lack of college degrees, but because the applicants lied.

TEMPTED TO INFLATE
Itís very easy for companies to check employment history, educational background, and criminal history. Whatís more, employers let jobseekers know they will be performing these background checks www.Check4Jobs.com Business Manager Claire Brown confirms that today a majority of employers perform background checks, and that notification is standard procedure.

STILL, MANY JOBSEEKERS ARE DISHONEST.
In fact, Accu-Screen finds resume falsification is a bigger problem than has been previously reported. According to the companyís data, 43 percent of all resumes and job applications contain falsifications. And itís not only desperate jobseekers who fabricate experience and credentials. ìIíve seen applicants lie when they donít have to,î Connell says.

WHY WOULD JOBSEEKERS DO THIS?
The intent is to set themselves apart from other applicants, says Connell. In addition, many jobseekers are able to rationalize the behavior. In the case of a college degree, for example, they tell themselves they plan to go back to school and graduate. Nevertheless, good intentions are not accomplishments. Resume falsifications are dishonest, Connell says, and grounds for disqualification.

THE FEAR FACTOR
Lying on a resume or job application carries risk. The most obvious one is that the lie will be uncovered and the jobseeker wonít be hired; or, if already hired, the employee will be dismissed.

But thereís another potential pitfall to being dishonest. Falsifying education, experience or skills means the person might not have what it takes to do the job.

Connell gives the example of customer service representatives. ìI see people put themselves down as customer service manager or vice president of customer service,î he says. ìIf somebody says theyíre a manager, thereís a belief [on the part of employers] theyíve gone through management training.î

It may seem harmless enough, but what happens if thereís a situation on the job that requires management expertise, like a sexual harassment charge? ìIf you donít have training, youíre in a dangerous position,î Connell says, indicating there may be personal liability.

A DIFFERENT APPROACH
Instead of falsifying credentials, Connell recommends that jobseekers try to stand out in other ways to separate themselves from the competition. He says his company is hiring people right now, and he tells of how one applicant took the time to mail a handwritten thank-you note. ìThatís the type of thing to separate yourself,î Connell says. ìDo a little thing like that to make yourself stand out.î

He also recommends choosing resume writing services with caution, indicating there are a lot of bad ones out there.Regardless of who prepares the resume, he advises a jobseeker to be actively involved in the process. ìLook at your resume and really scrutinize it,î Connell says.
Proofread for errors and content, but also determine what the document is saying. Put yourself in the employerís position as youíre doing this. You want to make sure youíre zoning in with laser-target precision on the job you want, Connell says.

Which raises a major, often overlooked point with regard to resume falsification. Jobseekers, rather than lie about your experience and credentials, why not go after a job for which youíre actually qualified? Whatís more, why not follow your passion?

If this means working your way up while finishing your education, so be it. Showing pursuit of education on a resume can be very attractive to a potential employer, and the hiring organization may even cover the cost of your education.

Connell recommends looking for a job in the most honest and forthright manner possible, and today this doesnít only mean presenting yourself via resume or job application.

KEEPING IT HONEST
Jobseekers now have online identities, thanks to business and social networking sites like LinkedIn, MySpace, and Facebook. Although some of these sites are designed to connect with friends, Connell advises jobseekers to still examine what theyíre saying about themselves. ìUp to two-thirds of hiring managers have googled applicants, and theyíre looking at MySpace pages,î he says.

This brings up another potential stumbling block to employment. A hiring manager may find someone else with the same name and similar credentials online and, if that personís background is questionable, disqualify you. Or, as Connell points out, in rare instances, someone may have created a fake profile of you online. A British businessman was recently the victim of a fake Facebook page that threatened his reputation. He ultimately sued for libel and won.

In other words, itís not only the lies jobseekers tell about themselves that can hinder a job search. Due diligence with regard to potentially false associations and accusations is also required. The message for jobseekers, then, comes down to this: Your reputation is yours to control.

AND THAT JOB OPPORTUNITY YOU SEEK?
ITíS YOURS TO WINóOR LOSE.


News By
www.check4jobs.com The UKs Fastest Job Search