It can be really tempting to lie on a resume, and if you talk to any HR department, you’ll find out that people do it all the time. However the other thing that hiring managers will tell you is that lies are almost always found out immediately, when they aren’t eventually sniffed out later on down the road.
The experts at Resume Pundits have seen it all. We have extensive experience with professional CV writing services, resume writing tips and services, salary negotiation, and other job search services; we know what works and what doesn’t.
The bottom line is this: lying on your resume is a good way to introduce a built-in failure into your career sooner or later. Here are some of the reasons this is true, as well as some useful resume writing tips to make your resume stronger and more competitive than ever, without having to lie.
Lies in the Short Term
With the amount of information available on the Internet these days, it is pretty difficult to hide from a thorough background search. Or at least, it is difficult to introduce a lie and not have the inconsistency found by a hiring manager. You have all sorts of online profiles, backlogged data, and personal references to file through.
Oftentimes, inconsistencies are detected right away. Hiring managers have a lot of work on their hands, and candidates to sort through, so your application will just get trashed and that will be the end of it. Otherwise a lie is likely to get addressed in the interview, or it will turn up after a phone call with a personal reference. One of the best resume writing tips you can get from an HR professional is simple: don’t lie!
Lies in the Long Term
Let’s say that a lie gets passed up in the initial vetting process, and you get hired with the lie intact. What then? Hidden lies introduce serious weaknesses into your long term career prospects for several reasons.
Once you have lied, you have to maintain that lie, often, by creating other lies. This means keeping the lie consistent wherever your internet footprint happens to be, and you have to hope that it never gets found. This is quite stressful, and actually quite a bit of work! It is more work than just putting in an honest effort to further your career.
A lie introduces a weakness that may catch up with you later. If an HR department picks up on an inconsistency, or there are problems with your work performance in the future, a more concerted search is more than likely to turn up the lie. These are career moves that blow up in people’s faces, resulting in humiliation in the workplace, severed relationships, and damaged reputations.
With stakes like these, it is much safer and more effective to focus on honest resume writing tips to better your interview chances and further your career.
A Better Way
Lying on your resume carries a lot of unnecessary risk and stress, and you don’t have to do it to yourself to be successful on the job market. As professionals working in the field of resume writing, we’ve offered our share of professional cv writing services, resume writing services, cover letter writing, and much more. We’ve worked with experienced hiring managers and we know what recruiters are looking for. Here are some honest resume writing tips straight from the experts.
1. Think about what you want and stick to it. Where do you want to end up in your career and how do you go about doing that? Don’t be afraid to start small and work your way up if you don’t have the experience. Clearly specify your ambitions and what you want to achieve, and build your resume around what you’ve currently accomplished.
2. Hiring managers have to deal with lying all the time, so an honest and passionate candidate is a breath of fresh air that goes a long way. Be open about where 
you are at in your career and where you want to be. Don’t worry if you lack a certain skill or still need schooling. Companies are happy to cultivate employees that they believe in. It could open some doors for you.
3. Don’t be afraid to sell yourself. Be sure to use bold and clear language in your resume and highlight qualifications and accomplishments that matter to your company of choice.
4. Take advantage of formatting and technical attention to get in the door. This means using clear job titles and bullet points, showcasing relevant job experience and achievements in reverse chronological order. Research related keywords for your field of choice as well. Make sure your resume is readable, and the pertinent information should read easily to a hiring manager.
5. Proofread your essay. You’d be surprised what a second set of eyes can do for the quality of your resume. Solicit feedback from someone experienced in the job market. Besides catching typos, a second opinion can help you refine the picture that you are trying to get across to a hiring manager.
Talk to Resume Writing Experts
Our resume writing tips make for a much better foundation to build your resume on. Lying on your resume may net you short term benefits if you aren’t immediately caught, but those benefits are sure to end up in flames eventually, erasing all of the hard work you put into your career.
If you need help strengthening your position on the job market, Resume Pundits can help. We offer professional cv, resume, and cover letter writing services, as well as additional services to help candidates succeed on interviews and advance their careers the honest way. Reach out to Resume Pundits today and get started.
