By Dan Morrill
Expert Author
Article Date: 2008-03-18
The most annoying thing for a hiring manager is to go through a resume, cull it down and start on the phone interviews, only to find out that the person lied on their resume, and could not do the job that has been advertised. I don't know the real statistics, but Forbes describes them as "substantial".
The percentage of people who lie to potential employers is substantial, says Sunny Bates, CEO of New York-based executive recruitment firm Sunny Bates Associates. She estimates that 40% of all résumés aren't altogether aboveboard. Source: Forbes
This makes hiring all the harder, not only can they not pass the prescreening process that we use, but then people spend 15 to 30 minutes on a phone testing real knowledge and how well they have retained it only to find out that web developer had never ever touched a web server or written a line of HTML code.
Here is why lying on your resume is going to get you into a lot of trouble over time.
1. If you pass the prescreen, there are another two levels of interviews, odds are most likely that people who do not really know what they are doing, will never get to the offer letter point, no matter how well they padded their resume, and what they think they know.
2. Technology is a lot like a small town, word gets around that the resume was padded, people talk, and that talking while informal and more like whining makes quite the impression on the listeners.
3. Resume padders or resume liars usually get caught out sooner or later, this kills off any career prospects that that person might have in the future. When checking back on references, one common question to ask is "is this person eligible for rehire" if you say "no" (which will be said if your resume was fake), the person checking references knows immediately that something is very wrong here.
4. You have just wasted hours of a recruiter's time, a pre-screeners time, and any other time that went into the process of culling resumes for the best likely candidates. People will remember that.
With recession looming, the desire to stand out in the crowd is understandable, but lying on your resume is never a good idea. You should always get your job honestly, if you lie and caught out, you will get fired. There is no sense in taking chances in a faltering economy to try out the idea of padding or lying on your resume, odds are highly likely that you will get caught out, and that will not bode well for your future ability to get hired.
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By Dan Morrill