Resumes and Interviews: A Thin Line Between Embellishment and Lies
Raise your hand if you’ve ever exaggerated your proficiency level in a software program on your resume. Or if you have listed that you are fluent in Spanish since you once took a course in college or high school. Or worse, raise your hand if you have ever overstated your volunteer activities to appear more community-driven.
If I had to guess, most of our readers would be raising their hands high. At the very least, they would be looking at their feet and shifting uncomfortably.
How about during the interview?
I can hear you now...
“I am self-motivated, always on time, first to volunteer, a people person...” and the list of embellished qualities continues on. We all do it. Our main priority in the interview is to sell ourselves. But when does it cross the line from embellishment to just a flat out lie?
Truth be told, if you are in the mix of job hunters, you understand how competitive the game is. It’s almost as if the job seekers are now the predators and the interviewers have unfortunately evolved into the prey.
On the contrary, one of the best pieces of advice I have been given is to just “be yourself” in the interview. I should stipulate here that you should be yourself on your best day: great outfit and pleasant persona in tow vs. rolling in a wrinkled attempt at business casual and attitude from the wrong side of the bed. But the reality of an interview is that you are interviewing the company just as much as they are you.
So who was raising their hand at the beginning? Do you consider yourself completely honest, or just an embellisher? If you are an out-of-the-closet embellisher, when do you think it crosses the line to straight up lying?
EMBELLISH: to highten attractiveness by adding fanciful details.
LIE: to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive.
Lauren Kleinman
Reader Comments (8)
If you are interviewing with a company who needs you to be something you are not, you need to work some place else.
Saying you're fluent in Spanish when you're not is a lie.
Wearing a push up bra is an embellishment. You already have breasts, the bra just makes them "more attractive" to your date.
CMG- here is the real question. You came up with the analogy of a woman wearing a push up bra to impress on a first date. So translate that type of embellishment over to a resume (i.e. stating that you are a proven team player every day when you know that you enjoy working individually better). When does that type of an embellishment cross the line?
Robin Ogden
http://www.firedupcareers.com
I often work closely with college students who have little to no work experience, so there are times when I have to dig really deep to find substance that the student can add to their resume. That being said, I tell my students that its better to have a short resume that's completely true than a long resume that's only partly true.
Good question! Actually, Lauren, your example isn't an embellishment at all. I have collaborated with coworkers on projects and enjoyed it very much; however, I prefer working individually. So to say that I am "a proven team player" is a true statement. Save preferential statements for the interview. If the employer asks what you prefer, be honest. The fact that you CAN and WILL work amicably with others speaks volumes when taken into consideration with your preference for working alone.
Perhaps I should have said wearing makeup is an embellishment. A pretty woman is pretty whether she has makeup on or not; however, she's "more attractive" when she has on makeup and is therefore able to attract more suitors. Your resume should be written with that same attitude in mind.