We can’t stress this enough, if your first pass on applicants is to sort resumes, you are making a big mistake. Granted, you have to look at their history, but odds are you are looking at an embellished document.
From workforce.com:
ResumeDoctor.com says nearly 43 percent of people in a new study fibbed about their qualifications. The South Burlington, Vermont-based company scoured 1,000 résumés for factual errors on seemingly insignificant items such as dates of employment, educational and professional credentials, and job titles. The résumé-counseling company found that many people intentionally misstate or exaggerate these details in an effort to get better jobs–a tactic it says usually backfires. The study discovered one or more “significant inaccuracies” in 42.7 percent of the résumés, while 12.6 percent of résumés contained at least two or more inaccuracies.
As if that news isn’t disturbing enough, a Web site is offering to help job seekers intentionally distort their work history–for a price. For $19.95, job hunters can purchase The Fake Resume Guide, billed as an “underground guide (that) will teach you how to take your real-life experience and embellish it so that you get the job you want.”
I had to unleash my Google-Fu to find out if this was real. You don’t have to be a Google ninja to find this guide – it showed up as the first item.