A lead told me to LIE on my resume

My sister has a friend that works for what I believe to be a startup company (I say this because I can't find any information on it, no website). The friend told me to email my resume to him.

The next day, he tells my sister that he read it and deleted it right away. Get this, he said that I needed to redo it because it wasn't embellished enough! He then apparently gives it to the human resources person and they said the same thing, that the resume looked like I was being too honest about my skills, that I need to exaggerate, lie even! (Although I don't understand how he could pass it to HR if he deleted it immediately)

It threw me off a little because I spent a few days last week updating and reformatting my resume, and after I did, I started receiving emails from employers and I even landed two interviews this coming week (one with geek squad and one with a Navy contractor).

I read an in depth thread here a week ago about not lying on your resume. I guess I am now a little paranoid about selling myself short on my resume because of this situation, but at the same time, I have two companies who want to meet with me this week.

Just a bit shocked/dumbfounded at the moment, I've never had someone blatantly tell me to lie on my resume because the original was too honest.

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Comments

Mutata

Your resume should outline the skills you actually posses in a positive light.

If you lie on your resume, especially in a field so technical like IT sooner or later it will catch up with you. I would question someone who told me to blatantly lie on my resume and sure hope this isn't representative of the mindset of the company. If so, I would be questioning whether or not this company would be a right fit for me.

I wouldn't undersell myself on a resume, but be prepared to answer questions on technologies you include. Also ensure that whatever word you use to represent your technical level is accurate - if you say you're an expert - be ready to defend that level of knowledge.

You being shocked and dumbfounded is probably a good thing , shows some integrity.

I wish you luck with the two companies!

googol

I for one, say screw him. Sounds like he just is one of those guys with an overblown ego as majority of IT guys have some sort of ego

Hard to say without looking at your resume, but I wouldn't lie on it either because you tend to go over the resume and your experience, especially what you put down on the resume and can be asked questions about it and in any good interview, going to find out you do or do not know what you put down on resume. I would do the two interviews you have lined up and hopefully you can get in with the Navy contractor as that probably be the higher paying job. Being honest, having integrity goes a lot way and aligns with many core/mission values of companies and individuals. Get the experience in whatever way you can and get certs to fill in the areas you don't have.

Good luck.

Kimura410

Thanks guys. Yeah, I was thinking the exact same thing, that this may not be the best or most professional environment for me to work.

The only time I used a word like proficient in my resume was for Word, excel, and powerpoint because I have been using them for school projects for years.

I don't think I undersold myself, I just used more words like "familiar with" and at times I wrote "possess basic knowledge of..." because I didn't want to come off like an expert and then be hammered with off the wall questions at the interview.

Either way, I don't think I will be sending an updated, dishonest resume to them, because this whole thing has put a bad taste in my mouth. I'm going to stick to my morals!

NinjaBoy

I agree with what has been said already

The CV/resume is basically a selling tool for yourself, however one should never lie on it. It can open you up to legal action taken against you, get you fired, etc...

An example of someone who has lied include this woman, and that is just a tip of the iceberg.

Any lead, people, company, organisation who says do it, stay well clear of

TechGuru80

Mutata wrote: »

Your resume should outline the skills you actually posses in a positive light.

If you lie on your resume, especially in a field so technical like IT sooner or later it will catch up with you.

This..lie? really? There is a difference between using very descriptive adjectives that make a resume sound like a task was more glorious than it really was but lying should not be an option. Lets say "10 years experience with Cisco Security functions"...then the interview comes..."Ok how would you configure xyz?" Ok so just a random example but you better believe if you have something that looks good and is applicable, there will be questions about it and if you don't know anything about it.../interview.

TheProf

Definitely don't lie on your CV, but at the same time use your CV to sell yourself so to speak. Your CV needs to catch your future employer's attention, should be creative so that the employer would have interest in meeting with you for an interview. The interview is where you'll be tested based on what you've put on your CV.