Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

Don't Be Desperate – Lying on Your Resume is a Bad Idea

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There is a car wash not far from where I live with a marquee out front that reads, “We are not participating in the recession.”

I drive by frequently, but today, the sign made me stop and think. (Literally stop – it was a really long red light!)

Maybe it sounds silly, but can individuals deny the recession? Some would talk about the power of positive thinking and how it can impact our reality. I’m no economist, but I know that the stock market rises and falls on confidence levels and expectations. Can we wish ourselves
out of a recession?

Maybe not, but job seekers should control one factor – acting on desperation.

Desperate people do foolish things. We’ve all watched the movies where the main character, anxious to achieve some goal, takes paths that lead away from the target instead of toward it…Viewers feel like shouting at the screen – NO – STOP! Don’t do it! If you were a character in a movie, what would you say to yourself?

One mistake you never want to make is lying or embellishing your resume. The Wall Street Journal recently noted that “about 20% of job seekers and employees undergoing background checks exaggerate their educational backgrounds. In a 2004 survey of human-resource professionals, 61% said they “often” or “sometimes” find résumé inaccuracies when vetting prospective hires, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.”

You can imagine that finding a lie on your resume would be a deal breaker in a job hunt. Anita Bruzzese recently suggested a great list of facts that an employer can easily check. Here is her list of items you should review on your resume to be sure everything is on the up and up:

1. Schools. Make sure your dates are correct, as well as the major field of study, GPA, etc.

2. Honors. Everything from graduating at the top of your class to an industry award can be verified with a couple of phone calls by an employer.

3.  Job titles. While many former employers will only verify your dates of employment, it’s easy enough to use online resources to find people who used to work with you and can talk about your past work performance, titles, duties, etc.

4. Credit history. If you are applying for a position where you will have anything to do with money, chances are good your credit history may be reviewed. Be prepared to explain why it’s bad, if that’s the case, and what you’re doing to improve it.

5. Criminal history. Unless you’re applying for a government job, it won’t be required that you answer if you were charged with a crime. And, most employers are willing to even overlook some convictions if it was a youthful indiscretion or you got caught with one too many glasses of wine in your system. If you were convicted of a crimes that involve sex, drugs or theft, it’s going to be tougher. On the application, simply note that you would like to discuss the issue. Remember: It’s pretty simple to access court records concerning a conviction, so it’s better to come clean in person and try and explain it rather than lying outright.

6. Online. First, try and clean up your reputation with these tips. Second, get your story together on how you’ll explain anything that an employer digs up about you online. It’s better to show you’ve learned your lesson rather than trying to lie about something unflattering that is revealed on the Internet.

Another thing that raises a red flag? Many people do not write their LinkedIn profiles carefully. An employer who finds that your LinkedIn and resume have discrepencies may hesitate to contact you for an interview.

What would raise a red flag for you? Do you think that this job market will drive job seekers to desperate measures? Share your thoughts in the comments section!

Don’t wait until you are desperate! Keppie Careers will help get your job hunt on the right track.

photo by the hidaway

Perfectionism vs. Excellence on the Job Hunt and in Life

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I spend a lot of time reading other blogs in what I like to call the “career space.” One of the best things about being part of the blogging community is being inspired by others who write thought provoking and interesting posts.

One of my favorite bloggers, Anita Bruzzese, award-winning journalist and author, recently wrote about what a pain it is to work with a perfectionist. She said:

The truth is, there’s a difference between perfectionism and excellence. Perfectionism on the job is anything but. It’s disruptive and unproductive. For the perfectionist, it can lead to physical illness and depression. For those who must work with a perfectionist, it’s annoying as hell.

The problem is that the perfectionist gets so caught up in minor details that they can’t attain excellence. Instead, they become a bottleneck as they fuss, for example, with the binding of a project report instead of getting the report completed by deadline. The perfectionist boss hovers and nitpicks and agonizes over the smallest detail, preventing the staff from getting their work done…

Instead of aiming for excellence, which can energize someone because they like what they’re doing and enjoy reaching for the top, perfectionism seems to bog people down in realizing what they’re missing, not what they’re gaining.

I was struck by the distinction Anita made between perfectionism and excellence. I think many of us mistake one for the other in our lives, our careers and in our job hunts. It’s easy to be confused by the differences…After all, you may think, isn’t it semantics to debate the difference between two words that imply being “the best?”

I don’t think so.

Striving for quality – for excellence – is admirable and necessary. We should all commit the time, energy and resources necessary to achieve top-notch work. In a job hunt, you MUST strive for excellence. Your resume, cover letters, other correspondence, interview preparation…All of it needs to be first-class. It’s important to take your time, to review and double-check. Striving for excellence indicates that you care about the outcome and are willing to put your best efforts towards success.

Quality doesn’t equal perfection, though. I often find myself quoting my first boss who said, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” Why?

Coping.org uses these words to describe perfectionism:

Irrational, the underlying motive present in the fear of failure and fear of rejection, a reason why you may be fearful of success, a rigid, moralistic outlook, an inhibiting factor that keeps you from making a commitment to change habitual, unproductive behavior.

Knowing the difference between excellence and perfection? As the credit card commercial says, “Priceless.” I think being able to distinguish between these characteristics is a soft skill that separates those headed for the peaks of success and those headed in a different direction.

At the very least, everyone should be able to follow this advice: The next time you think about answering the pervasive but challenging, “What is your weakness?” interview question by insisting that you are a perfectionist…Think twice!

Striving for excellence is our hallmark! Keppie Careers is here for you! Need a great resume? Some help to write the perfect cover letter? Write to me and visit www.keppiecareers.com for more about what services we provide.

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photo by ewitch

Read Any Good Books Lately?

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One of of the best parts of writing a blog is joining a community of bloggers and sharing ideas, opinions and sometimes games!  Today, Anita Bruzzese, blogger, columnist and author of 45 Things You Do that Drive Your Boss Crazy tagged me in what she calls a “new meme being passed around the blogosphere.”  

Anita describes the rules:

Find the book nearest to you, go to page 123, go down to the fifth sentence and then type the following three sentences. After that, you pass the message along to other people you want to bug… uh, get to contribute.

Anita’s contribution:
Of course, the book nearest me is my own, “45 Things You Do That Drive Your Boss Crazy…and How to Avoid Them”:

Anything that has a “those people kind of edge to it should be ommitted from your language in the workplace.  Speak up if there a problem. If you find something a coworker says is insenstive, take the person aside and calmly say, “You know, you’re giving all women a bad name when you make sweeping, derogatory comments about men.” Focus on the behavior, not the person. Calling someone a racist or a bigot won’t get you anywhere — it will just erect more barriers.”

My contribution:
I have been reading a soon-to be-released book by Tamara Erickson, published by Harvard Business Press – Retire Retirement:  Career Strategies for the Boomer Generation.  This optimistic book takes a look at opportunities and changes that may be coming to the workplace as boomers reach retirement age:

Request a lateral move.  Lateral moves are a particular subset of fresh assignments that allow you to develop new skill sets, thus providing even greater scope of experience, and enhance learning more, than a new assignment based on your existing skill set.  Ideally a transfer sideways would be based on some mix of new knowledge and existing strong capabilities. Expect options to move laterally to become more common; with the changing shape of the workforce, vertical promotions – advancement up the hierarchy – will occur less frequently.

Stay tuned for a full review of Erickson’s book on this blog!

I’m going to pass this game on to some friends at Secrets of the Job Hunt:

Chris Russel of Jobs In Pods, Phil Rosenberg of Recareered  and Sam Blum of Razume.

Please, join in!

Keppie Careers will help make your job search possible!  www.keppiecareers.com