According to an article on Yahoo.com, 4.8 unemployed people are competing for every job opening. There’s a war out there on the employment battlefield. Your professional, carefully crafted resume may help you win over your 4.8 opponents for an interview, but will it then turn out to be the faulty weapon that causes you to lose the job war?
In the job hunt, as in athletics, having an edge can help you rise to the top. Some athletes, in their desperation to win, have turned to steroids or other methods in order to give themselves an illegal edge. They eventually become their downfall. What is so disheartening is that these are fine, talented athletes who have reached positions that only the best could even aspire to. Instead of having confidence what they have accomplished, they risk of losing it all.
Many job seekers take a similar path. To make themselves look stronger or more experienced than the competition, they turn to the one thing that can be their ultimate downfall. Instead of honestly portraying their skills, education, and work history, they are massaging, enhancing and in some cases, downright lying on their resumes. They think that beefing up their resume is harmless; a calculated risk worth taking. The reality is, one false statement can make the entire resume suspect and lose it all.
Aware of this trend, employers are more diligent than ever in checking references, education, past employers, salaries and any other information on the resume. The higher the position and salary, the tougher the scrutiny. Here are some methods employers use to be sure you are for real:
1. When we were hiring a Rooms Director, our General Manager asked a candidate for a copy of his last paycheck stub to verify his salary information. A number of websites provide salary ranges for positions by location, so it’s easy to see if you’ve inflated your salary history. Put down what you actually made, not what you would have with your next increase.
2. Employers are not only checking the references you give, but other managers in the same organizations. They know you only give your best references. This is a small world, and if you’ve been in your area or industry for awhile, they will find someone who knows a candidate.
3. Don’t put down a friend and have them pretend they are a former employer. No matter how many acting awards they have, they’ll eventually get tripped up.
4. With LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, it’s easy to get another side of a candidate. They are will call your college or university to verify your education and degrees.
5. In order to protect their employees and themselves from negligent hiring, companies are conducting state and federal background checks and comprehensive drug screenings for every position. With more people in financial distress, credit checks have become more commonplace for more than just financial positions.
Your resume won’t do you any good unless every bit of information on it is defendable. Let your resume represent the “real you.” Trying to fake it through the interview, and then dread if and when you’ll be found out isn’t worth the stress and the embarrassment of termination.
Interested in a business career? Check out http://www.businessworkforce.com/
By Mary Nestor-Harper, SPHR, MJNH Consulting
In the job hunt, as in athletics, having an edge can help you rise to the top. Some athletes, in their desperation to win, have turned to steroids or other methods in order to give themselves an illegal edge. They eventually become their downfall. What is so disheartening is that these are fine, talented athletes who have reached positions that only the best could even aspire to. Instead of having confidence what they have accomplished, they risk of losing it all.
Many job seekers take a similar path. To make themselves look stronger or more experienced than the competition, they turn to the one thing that can be their ultimate downfall. Instead of honestly portraying their skills, education, and work history, they are massaging, enhancing and in some cases, downright lying on their resumes. They think that beefing up their resume is harmless; a calculated risk worth taking. The reality is, one false statement can make the entire resume suspect and lose it all.
Aware of this trend, employers are more diligent than ever in checking references, education, past employers, salaries and any other information on the resume. The higher the position and salary, the tougher the scrutiny. Here are some methods employers use to be sure you are for real:
1. When we were hiring a Rooms Director, our General Manager asked a candidate for a copy of his last paycheck stub to verify his salary information. A number of websites provide salary ranges for positions by location, so it’s easy to see if you’ve inflated your salary history. Put down what you actually made, not what you would have with your next increase.
2. Employers are not only checking the references you give, but other managers in the same organizations. They know you only give your best references. This is a small world, and if you’ve been in your area or industry for awhile, they will find someone who knows a candidate.
3. Don’t put down a friend and have them pretend they are a former employer. No matter how many acting awards they have, they’ll eventually get tripped up.
4. With LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, it’s easy to get another side of a candidate. They are will call your college or university to verify your education and degrees.
5. In order to protect their employees and themselves from negligent hiring, companies are conducting state and federal background checks and comprehensive drug screenings for every position. With more people in financial distress, credit checks have become more commonplace for more than just financial positions.
Your resume won’t do you any good unless every bit of information on it is defendable. Let your resume represent the “real you.” Trying to fake it through the interview, and then dread if and when you’ll be found out isn’t worth the stress and the embarrassment of termination.
Interested in a business career? Check out http://www.businessworkforce.com/
By Mary Nestor-Harper, SPHR, MJNH Consulting
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