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Most Common Resume Lies Kate DuBose Tomassi 05.23.06, 3:00 PM
ET
Lying
about getting a degree
Sure,
you had every intention of finishing up that wildlife biology
degree. That doesn't mean you can claim you got it. Dave Edmondson,
the former CEO of RadioShack, learned this lesson the hard way
when it was found that his college degrees were bogus.
Playing
with dates
So you
graduated from college in 1955. Don't fake it. Be proud. Presumably,
you've gained some wisdom of the world by now. (And by the way,
your age will be abundantly apparent if you're lucky enough to
get the interview, unless you have an excellent plastic surgeon.)
Exaggerating
numbers
Want to
claim you made your previous employer a million pounds last year?
That will look impressive. But remember that your new boss will
expect you to deliver the same for him.
Increasing
previous salary
What's
the harm in innocently exaggerating your salary to get the best
offer you can from your new employer? Just hope the company you
want to work for doesn't request a recent pay stub, because then
you'll have a whole lot of explaining to do.
Inflating
titles
You would
have been promoted to vice president of sales at your prior job
if the company had truly realized your value as an employee, right?
So why not just anoint yourself with the title you deserved? Wrong.
Lying
about technical abilities
Your résumé
says you're proficient in Photoshop. But on the first day of the
job, you can't figure out the software. What now? It's probably
best to avoid this situation.
Claiming
language fluency
Sure,
you took French when you were a freshman in high school. But don't
forget that a claim on your résumé that you speak
the language could be tested by your interviewer. If it happens,
you'd better hope that everything you learned comes back to you
tout de suite.
Providing
a fake address
You haven't
lived in your hometown since you left for college 20 years ago.
Why not use Grandma's address when applying for a job there? A
good reason might be the ease of using the White Pages these days.
Padding
grade point averages
That 3.8
grade point average and magna cum laude honors speak volumes about
your intelligence and diligence. Too bad a call to the school
could reveal that your claim doesn't jibe with your C-student
status.
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