YOUR RESUME—IS IT THE BEST FICTION YOU’VE EVER WRITTEN?

By Tim McIntire

‘Professional Goal: Want the truth? To land a job I’m not qualified for by lying in this resume and during the job interview.”

FACT: A CNNMoney article quoted the outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas as concluding that between 10 and 25 percent of the 249,000 resumes it reviewed last year contained discrepancies. The distortions most often occurred in five of the most predictable areas: education, job title, compensation, reasons for leaving and notable accomplishments on the job.

Here are our top five interviewer follow-up questions:
1. Education. “Did you really earn a MFA in nuclear physics from M.I.T.?”
2. Job title. “Was ‘Grand Poobah of Corporate Profits’ really what your boss called you?”
3. Compensation. “This salary figure you mention—is that in U.S. dollars or Italian lira?”
4. Reason for leaving. “OK, Moses and the Israelites escaped bondage in Egypt. Do you suppose the pharaoh said they ‘left to pursue new opportunities?’”
5. Accomplishments. “It says here you ‘performed miracles’ and ‘walked on water.’ Does anybody in management not related to you recall any of this?”

FACT: In a non-scientific CNNMoney follow-up poll, 30 percent of the 17,300 readers who responded admitted they exaggerated claims on their resume. That’s the same figure Edward C. Adler, a “resume detective” and author of The Complete Reference Checking Handbook (1998) discovered. He claims resume distortions doubled from 17 percent in 1971 to 36 percent by 1991.

These days, it’s got to be higher. But how high? Got an opinion? Tell me a lie I can believe.

FACT: Job applicants seeking a position in sales have a statistically higher tendency to buff the truth.

SPECULATION: Many observers say the increase in resume deception is only part of a larger breakdown in attitudes toward cheating, particularly among the young. Polls of college students report as much as 90 percent of all college students are willing to lie to get a job.

TRUTH TIME: What is your best resume lie?

Respond now. Remember, this isn’t poker. No credit for bluffing.