All Lies Matter

Lies If I had the proverbial dollar for every time a candidate’s defense to my question about a, let’s call it “mistruth”, on their resume was “Because a recruiter told me to” I could by a pair of Louboutins. And who are these recruiters? Coaching candidates to omit, embellish, or outright fabricate on a resume is a fireable offense in my office.

My team and I review close to 500 resumes weekly and with a survey from CareerBuilder of more than 2,500 hiring managers finding that 56% have caught job candidates lying on their resume, we’re potentially reading more fiction than I did in my Freshman Intro to American Lit class. While I’ve spent my career in Executive Recruiting learning much about human behavior while guiding people through the major stress of job change, this pervasive attitude that it’s ok to be less than truthful on a resume still leaves me shaking my head.

Maybe the license to play fast and loose with the truth is in the definition of a White Lie. We’re taught that White Lies don’t count. They’re harmless and trivial and we usually tell them to spare other’s feelings. Isn’t it better for me to tell you that I’ve got a stomach bug and can’t come to your party because I don’t want everyone else to get sick… than the truth…your party will be so boring I’d rather spend my Saturday night binging through Season 4 of “Parenthood” on Netflix?

So it’s not a stretch to think, “Who am I hurting if I tell a White Lie on my resume?” The simple answer is you’re hurting your professional self, and if not the ‘you’ of today, potentially the future you when the stakes are so much higher.

There are very high profile examples of Executives being caught in resume lies. One of the most publicized was ex-Yahoo! CEO Scott Thompson who claimed he had degrees in Computer Science and Accounting from Stonehill College, while in fact he only had the Accounting degree. We’ll never know if Yahoo!, a technology company, would have hired him to this top spot without the fabricated Computer Science degree, but it’s certainly not the only reason they hired him. What it came down to is trust and character. In a statement, Daniel Loeb, a shareholder of Yahoo! wrote, “If Mr. Thompson embellished his academic credentials we think that it 1) undermines his credibility as a technology expert and 2) reflects poorly on the character of the CEO who has been tasked with leading Yahoo! at this critical juncture. Now more than ever Yahoo! Investors need a trustworthy CEO”.

Ironically, Ken Lonchar joined, Veritas Software (yes, Veritas) as the CFO through a merger. It took five years but eventually it was discovered that he never received an MBA from Stamford as he claimed or an Accounting degree from Arizona State University, but did have his accounting degree from Idaho State. Shortly thereafter the company’s credit rating was downgraded and shares dropped 20%. Needless to say, Lonchar was asked to resign.

Even though resumes are designed to be a professional’s marketing brochure and hiring managers admit to spending on average less than five minutes reading them, they are often given the weight of something along the lines of your career affidavit and maybe that’s how you should examine your resume. Would you be able to stand up in front of a judge and under oath, swear to the truth of the document?

Lies on resumes fall into three main categories:

Omission: The most common is leaving jobs off your resume and then closing date gaps to cover the omission. If a job stint is under three months, it’s acceptable practice to omit that position, but don’t close the date gaps. Also, structuring a resume as functional rather than chronological, leaving dates off your resume altogether is a major red flag to many employers. The lack of dates implies you’re hiding something.

Embellishment: It’s ok to say you “manage the customer service team” when the team consists of you and an assistant, but not ok to say “manage a team of 10” when it’s only you and the assistant. The former may be misleading but it’s not a lie.

Fabrication: These are the easiest to uncover, the plain old made up stuff. Here’s where we find a free for all. People lie about degrees, employment dates, job titles, technical certifications. The list goes on. Crazy how the things which are easily fact checked are the most often fabricated.

Here’s the truth about hiring. Being an employee with integrity who can be trusted is at the top of the list when it comes to soft skills. Companies will hire you if you’re 70% of their ideal skillset but they won’t hire you if you’re even 1% lie. And if by some chance, your mistruths get you through the hiring process you’ll carry the weight of the lie, dreading that moment of discovery and the ensuing fall out.

The bottom line is when it comes to lying on your resume there really is no equivalent to a White Lie. Every lie matters and every lie has the power to do irreparable damage to your career. You can build a strong professional legacy on your truths, no matter how ugly but when built on lies it’s one big real life game of Jenga. You’re one background check, Google search, LinkedIn connection or grapevine reference away from toppling.