Exaggerating On Your Resume: Is It Ever A Good Idea?

When unemployment is high, the job market can demoralizing. Of that we can be sure! If you have experienced this competitive environment, you are not alone in the frustration that you are probably feeling. It is possible that you have been job seeking for what seems like far too long and have had to face rejection too many times. In these situations it is understandable if you begin to feel a little bit worried and wonder if there are alternative approaches that you should take. It's at times like these that you might be tempted to "pad" your resume, to creatively exaggerate or to, effectively, lie. You might try to justify this to yourself, telling yourself that everybody pads their resume to a certain extent. But, in reality, it is not only unnecessary to do so, but dangerous to your career. Your resume should be scrupulously honest.

The Society for Human Resource Management found in a survey that as many as 60% of human resource professionals discover "inaccuracies" within the resumes that they review. Be careful - if you are found out in this way you can lose your job, your benefits, and find yourself in an even worse position than you were before you applied for the job in the first place.

So what do you do to make sure that your resume stands out and gives you a competitive chance, even though you worry that you lack certain experiences that the employer is seeking? You certainly don't need to claim that you are something, when you clearly are not. The better strategy is to write your resume carefully, selectively highlighting your qualifications, your unique talents, and your "selling" points while downplaying what may be seen as a flaw or two. If your resume is well written and includes strategically selected and presented content, there is no need to lie about anything. Instead, be absolutely honest and focus on the reasons why you are a competitive candidate for the position in question.

If you make sure that you write your resume as if it is a marketing document, as after all this is what it is, the emphasis will naturally shift to and promote the most positive "selling" points that you have to offer. Typically, this information will be presented within the earlier part of the resume. Anything that you want to downplay or deemphasize should be towards the bottom of the document.

Consider also the design of the resume. Use creative formatting, underlining, bolding, and white space to make sure that the employer's eyes are automatically pulled towards those elements that you want to emphasize and not toward the credentials that you might perceive as negative.

It's very unusual that a person who is finally awarded a position is representative of the perfect candidate, from the employer's perspective. There's almost always an element of compromise and therefore it's important to accentuate the key parts of your experience and ability that you know the employer is looking for. Also, don't forget that you can be selective in what you include in your resume, while still being ethical. Your resume is not meant to be an autobiography and you don't, after all, want to put too much information in there that's simply irrelevant or off focus.

Above all, remember that your resume is a marketing piece and an advertisement for you and what you offer an employer. Focus on what is highly relevant to the position you're targeting and why you stand apart as the ideal person for the job. Lies, embellishments, and exaggerations have no place in a resume.