Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

What happens when you lie on your resume

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“Seeking liars; apply within.” An unlikely headline for any job. While some employers may be lazy and fail to confirm credentials before hiring certain applicants, people who embellish their qualifications or lie about them are always at risk for losing their positions — even after having worked in the job for years.

Case in point, news reports indicate that Steve Masiello’s coaching career has gone into limbo because the University of South Florida (USF) decided to verify his credentials before extending a formal offer to recruit him away from his current position at Manhattan College. Clearly, based on his bio posted on his current employer’s website, he was representing himself as having a bachelor’s degree. A background check uncovered the lie; he never graduated. Now, he stands to lose the offer to join USF he is on leave from his current job as a result. One lie could result in two lost jobs.

If you don’t want to be looking over your shoulder or hoping no one in HR gets suspicious and decides to audit their files, avoid these whoppers on your resume:

Lies About Past Employers

Do not lie about where you worked, even if you think it sounds impressive to pad your resume with big-name employers. It’s very easy to verify employment, even via a quick review of LinkedIn contacts and an email or two.

Lies of Omission

If you think failing to mention key points will keep you out of trouble, think again. “You never actually asked me if I graduated with a degree” will not serve as a good excuse if you’re approached about lying about your academic credentials that may be listed in an ambiguous manner on your resume. Leaving dates off your resume and failing to disclose other details is not wise.

As illustrated in Masiello’s case, these lies can come back to bite you, even after you’ve been in a job. In fact, there was a case of a dean at MIT who resigned her post after working there for 28 years when the university audited its files and learned she did not have degrees from the three schools listed on her initial resume.

Half-Truths

Plan to leave a job off your resume because you were only there for a short time? Keep in mind, there is a lot of scrutiny on new hires, and if a company conducts a background check, you’ll need to be prepared to explain why you didn’t want anyone to know you worked in that company. You don’t want to raise any red flags or spook employers who might wonder what else they don’t know about you before they hire you.

Little Embellishments

You’ve likely read about how personal branding is an important part of marketing yourself for a job, but you may have incorrectly assumed boosting your qualifications was part of growing your brand. Avoid embellishing your titles, your mentors or your skills and accomplishments on your resume and you’re much more likely to land in a job that’s the right fit for you. Avoid this big job search mistake to find – and keep – your next job.

Originally appeared on AOLJobs.com.

Can you say no to your boss?

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Screen Shot 2014-07-03 at 10.38.49 PMAre you the “yes man or woman” at work? Whenever your boss or a colleague needs anything, your name is at the tip of his or her tongue? If you are the go-to person at work when someone needs a “yes,” congratulations! You’ve likely secured your place in the office. Who wants to lay off the person who can never say no? On the other hand, it’s likely you put yourself (and probably non-work relationships) at risk in favor of doing whatever is necessary for your career. That could be a big mistake.

How can you find a balance between maintaining your indispensable status at work and your sanity? Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. Everyone’s circumstances are different, and if you work in a place where you’re only as good as the last thing you’ve done, not all of this advice may work for you. However, in many cases, once you’ve created a reputation for being helpful and agreeable, carefully choosing times to say “no” may not hurt your work reputation, and may actually earn you additional respect.

How can you say no without risking it all at work?

Choose the situation carefully.

If everyone is stressed to the hilt, you’re up for a promotion and the boss comes to you with a desperate request for help, it’s probably not the time to decide you’re going to change your reputation as the “can-do” person in the office. On the other hand, if things are a bit more stable, and it seems like there are plenty of people who could help out, you should have more leeway to indicate if your plate is already full. See the following suggestions for ideas to say no instead of yes.

Learn to say no, without saying no.

Perhaps your boss forgot about all of the other crucial work you are doing. Instead of saying, “No, I cannot take on one more project,” say, “I can see how important this project is. Can we sit down for a few minutes so you can help me prioritize my work? I want to be sure to focus on the most important things.”

In this meeting, make sure you don’t forget to include any key projects (or even day-to-day work) you’re managing. If you can make a solid case indicating that you really don’t have time to handle another thing, it’s possible you can say “no” without actually uttering those words.

Suggest an alternate solution.

Perhaps you are too busy to take on the work by yourself, but you can handle one part of the project. If you have a specialty area (for example, you’re the best at analyzing data), suggest that you could manage that piece of the project in partnership with someone who specializes in the research piece.

No doubt, this is a tricky conversation, as you are trying to deflect pieces of a project away from you. However, if you maintain an enthusiastic, “can do” approach and communicate in a way that will resonate with your boss, it’s possible you can trick him or her into thinking you’re still saying “yes,” even though you are really saying “no.”

Put your foot down, but have a really good reason.

What qualifies as a “good reason” will vary from office to office. Condolences to you if you work in a place where there are no good reasons – perhaps you are in the wrong job and it is time to look for a new job that values your time outside of work.

If you already have planned time off to attend a family wedding or your child’s graduation, and this new project will interfere with that, you may choose to tell your boss you cannot help. Ideally, you won’t lead the conversation with the word “no.” Instead, choose your words carefully, remind your supervisor that you always like to say yes, but the circumstances this time mean you’d like to help by coming up with another solution.

Originally appeared on AOLJobs.com.

How to work with a clueless co-worker

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cluelessDo you work with someone you could only generously refer to as “dumb as a post?” Do you have a clueless co-worker? You have no idea how this person finagled a job in your department or company, but it’s clear focusing on the task at hand is not his or her strong suit? There are a lot of difficult personality types in the office, but it’s possible the colleague who just doesn’t seem to ever “get it” can be one of the most challenging to manage – especially if patience is not one of your virtues.

Take these tips into consideration if this hits home for you.

Put yourself in the other person’s shoes.

Maybe you’ve already decided your co-worker is clueless, but try to stop and think about what may be confusing him or her. If the job is new or the job description recently changed, it is possible your colleague is experiencing overwhelm and maybe isn’t as dumb as you think! Instead of getting angry or annoyed, take a deep breath and try, try again to explain things, or co-opt another colleague to take a shot at helping make things clear.

Is it you? 

Maybe you don’t realize how intimidating you are at work. Do you have a tone of voice that makes it clear you think the other person is clueless when alerted to a mistake? Do you raise an eyebrow a little too quickly or let out an exasperated sigh? If so, you could be contributing to the problem. Try to take a long look at how you are handling the co-worker and make a change.

Extend yourself. 

Perhaps a little special attention from you can make a difference in helping get things on track. Don’t underestimate the power of spending a little extra time explaining things and offering support and help. Some people would rather make mistakes than ask a question. If you offer to respond to inquiries – even though you’ve already explained things – you could save yourself a lot of grief later.

Seek assistance. 

Depending on your company, there may be external resources available to help manage a problem employee. In some cases, he or she may be offered formal training. In other cases, it will be up to you (or a supervisor) to carefully document problems in order to counsel him or her into a more appropriate position elsewhere.

Problem solve.

If the problem isn’t a matter of a new employee, and it’s clear you’re stuck working with someone who is more likely to cause a problem than to solve one, do what you can to circle the wagons and avoid handing important projects to the sub-standard colleague. It may mean more work for you and others in your team, but if you can avoid cleaning up problems later, it could be worth it. (Consider trying for a promotion yourself while you are at it.)

Be a friend.

If nothing else works, and it looks like your clueless colleague is there to stay, consider how you can help him or her find a different job. Share information about networking events and talk up the value of social networking to move ahead, career-wise. While you won’t want to give a strong work recommendation to someone who clearly can’t perform, maybe you can mentor the person into a role more appropriate – and out of your department.

Originally appeared on AolJobs.com.

 

Get a recruiter’s attention on Twitter

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social media expert, how to find a job on TwitterWhen you’re looking for a job, you want to be sure to take advantage of all of the tools at your disposal to help you land the best possible opportunity. Social media should be on your to-do list, because it provides a way to connect with networking contacts and decision makers. [Read more…] about Get a recruiter’s attention on Twitter

Crazy interview questions

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Screen Shot 2014-07-03 at 10.19.37 PM“If you could throw a parade of any caliber through the Zappos office, what type of parade would it be?” 

How are you supposed to reply to such an off-the-wall interview question? Do you even want this job? Someone applying for a position with the Zappos Family as a customer loyalty teammember was faced with such a quandary; the question is number one on Glassdoor.com’s list of “Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions for 2014.”

Glassdoor.com’s team of data scientists compiled this list, which is not in any particular order, based on questions shared during the past 12 months as part of the Interview Reviews feature on Glassdoor. This feature, which is free to use, offers insights into the interview process including the interview format, how the interview was achieved, the average interview length and overall ratings regarding the interview experience. Glassdoor has collected nearly 1 million interview questions and reviews from around the world. To develop the list, they take into account community feedback, such as questions tagged as “brainteasers” and compile questions job candidates shared on their site over the past year.

Glassdoor’s Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions for 2014:

1. “If you could throw a parade of any caliber through the Zappos office, what type of parade would it be?” – The Zappos Family, Customer Loyalty Team Member interview

2. “How lucky are you and why?” – Airbnb, Content Manager interview

3. “If you were a pizza delivery man, how would you benefit from scissors?” – Apple, Specialist interview

4. “If you could sing one song on American Idol, what would it be?” – Red Frog Events, Event Coordinator interview

5. “Are you more of a hunter or a gatherer?” – Dell, Account Manager interview

6. “If you were on an island and could only bring three things, what would you bring?” – Yahoo,Search Quality Analyst interview

7. “If you were a box of cereal, what would you be and why?” – Bed Bath & Beyond, Sales Associate interview

8. “Do you believe in Bigfoot?” – Norwegian Cruise Line, Casino Marketing Coordinatorinterview

9. “Why is a tennis ball fuzzy?” – Xerox, Client Manager interview

10. “What is your least favorite thing about humanity?” – ZocDoc, Operations Associateinterview

11. “How would you use Yelp to find the number of businesses in the U.S.?” – Factual, Software Engineer interview

12. “How honest are you?” – Allied Telesis, Executive Assistant interview

13. “How many square feet of pizza are eaten in the U.S. each year?” – Goldman Sachs,Programmer Analyst interview

14. “Can you instruct someone how to make an origami ‘cootie catcher’ with just words?” – LivingSocial, Consumer Advocate interview

15. “If you were 80 years old, what would you tell your children?” – McKinsey & Company, Associate interview

16. “You’re a new addition to the crayon box, what color would you be and why?” – Urban Outfitters Sales Associate interview

17. “How does the internet work?” – Akamai, Director interview

18. “If there was a movie produced about your life, who would play you and why?” – SinglePlatform, Inside Sales Consultant interview

19. “What’s the color of money?” – American Heart Association, Project Manager interview

20. “What was the last gift you gave someone?” – Gallup, Data Analyst interview

21. “What is the funniest thing that has happened to you recently?” – Applebee’s,Bartender/Neighborhood Expert Server interview

22. “How many snow shovels sold in the U.S. last year?” – TASER, Leadership Development Program interview

23. “It’s Thursday; we’re staffing you on a telecommunications project in Calgary, Canada on Monday. Your flight and hotel are booked; your visa is ready. What are the top five things you do before you leave?” – ThoughtWorks, Junior Consultant interview

24. “Describe to me the process and benefits of wearing a seatbelt.” – Active Network, ClientApplications Specialist interview

25. “Have you ever been on a boat?” – Applied Systems, Graphic Designer interview

Before you freak out at the thought of answering one of these oddball questions, keep in mind that most employers will stick to the more traditional, “Why should we hire you” and “What is your biggest weakness” type of interview question. Be prepared to explain why you are a good fit for the job.

Stay tuned for specific tips later this week just in case you face one of these eclectic inquiries at your next interview.

What are some of the strangest questions you’ve been asked on an interview? Comment below.

Originally appeared on AOLJobs.com