There are any number of articles and advice columns providing employment candidates with tips. These missives can vary fromthe extremely useful to the very useless. Reading some of the articles, as a job candidate you have to ask, “tell me something I don’t already know.”
The articles about networking, though unintentional have a darkly humorous tinge to them, as many of the network functions are populated by out of work folk all hitting each other up for jobs. Nothing to me could be looking for work among fellow job seekers. With the economy on the downturn, a shortage of jobs, and intense competition, it’s like saying go out there and network for season tickets to Lambeau Field. People I have spoken to who have attended these networking sessions say most of the time they emerge from these job seeking sessions even more depressed than when they first went in. Some have alluded to the smell of desperation.
Not that you can blame people. To be laid off and out of work, living on your savings and unemployment is a horrible feeling. I know. I have been there. Advice givers tell you things like reinvent yourself, but reinvent yourself to do what in a jobless market? Become a nurse? Maybe. But not all of us are cut out for healthcare, which remains one of the few robust industries.
Advice givers in the employment sector are oftengoing on about resumes. What makes a good resume? What to put in your resume. Whether to use the chronological format or whether to prioritize with experience, especially if you a more senior employment candidate. What’s interesting, is when bloggers and article writers issues these nuggets of wisdom you seldom if ever hear any of them stress that you refrain from lying on your resume. Perhaps the take for granted that everyone applying for a job will be telling the truth.
The fact is people do lie on their resumes. With the economic downturn and the job crunch, more and more people are lying out of desperation, claiming experience, certifications, and degrees that they just don’t have. I am not talking here of judgment call stuff or discriminating embellishments. I am talking about outright lying.
It is one thing to embellish on your job duties. Make yourself look better. It is quite another to claim employment history that is totally fictional. Or, the more popular choice, claiming education degrees that are fictitious. Any employer who conducts background checks will most likely discover the fallacy. Aside from the obligatory criminal records searches, employers will conduct employment verification background searches and education verification background checks. If employment history or undergraduate or graduate degrees are consequential, then for sure most employers will be checking those out.
Standard practice for most employers is the following philosophy–if the candidate lies about employment history or a college degree, then what else won’t they lie about. These lies are usually grounds for immediate rejection.
So while employment advisers may assume that most job candidates will be telling the truth on their resumes and give them advice, accordingly, employers may not always share those assumptions. With diploma mills, specious degrees, and now employment mills, where they provide fictitious employment verification for a fee, employers are increasingly wary. So the first bit of advice to any job candidate–don’t lie on your resume.
