Should I Lie on My Résume

Should I Lie on My Résume As a professional resume writer, HR manager and career coach for over 10 years, I have come across this controversial issue more times than I can count. Lets say you have been actively pursuing employment for over a year and keep being told youre over qualified by recruiters, so you start thinking to yourself, maybe I should remove some of my older jobs or change the job titles to something less managerial. For example,  if you wanted to effectively lie on your resume, youd want to remove the job title of your previous employer from District Sales Manager to Sales Representative and remove any verbiage related to leading teams or managing daily operations. Obviously this might make you appear less over qualified and in return prompt the reader of your resume to consider you for the job. While this may actually happen, you must use caution and think about the long-term repercussions of such an action. Can a job seeker be jailed for lying on their resume? The short answer is no, but there may be other serious consequences which I will explain below: Scenario #1 Lying on Your Resume: You have been unemployed for quite some time and decide to lie on the resume by exaggerating your experiences, altering your actual job titles to read differently, removing dates from older jobs, leaving the dates of your most recent employer as (still presently working) even though you were laid off, eliminating jobs altogether, or even worse including degrees from colleges that you never earned. Keep in mind that employers try to verify EVERYTHING before hiring you and it is very likely they will find out one way or the other. Not only are some of these tactics unethical and could get you fired down the road, but it is considered fraudulent and could hold some legal ramifications in certain situations. While it is unlikely someone could get jail time for lying on a resume, civil damages could arise if something happens at the job that causes harm to the business or a client of the business and they later find out you lied about your credentials on the resume. To put this into a mo re simple perspective, just dont do it! Scenario #2 Being Truthful on Your Resume: You are still unemployed after several months of hiring-manger rejection and job turndowns, but not selling your soul to the Devil is more important than deceiving your way into a new career. While this might subject yourself to some hard times ahead in the short term, the long-term benefits will be far greater because when you do get the job, you wont get fired for lying! Yes, recruiters may be telling you over and over again that you are over qualified. However, this should not deter you from your better moral judgment. Instead, their discouraging words should motivate you to start targeting jobs where your qualifications balance with the level of requirements and set your sights a little hire. Doing this will not only help you find a more stable career path, but it will increase your chances at gaining a higher salary. In todays economy, we see many job seekers selling themselves short by applying for jobs they are over qualified for out of pure desperation. This is understandable if you were laid off unexpectedly, but if you are still employed and looking for a new career, plan ahead and keep your resume fresh. Effective career management strategies such as making sure you have at least a three month stash of funds to hold you over can greatly benefit the outcome of your job search. Anxiety during a job search is never good, and one should never succumb to lying on their resume to get a job. Prepare yourself ahead of time and I can almost assure you the process will go much smoother than expected. Conclusion: Is there any benefit at all to lying on my resume? The only benefit to lying on your resume would be getting a job that you are not really 100% qualified for. You are not only putting a business in a bad position by doing this, but you are harming career as well. While you may find employment much quicker by doing this, more than likely your boss will eventually find out and fire you. If you get into the habit of doing this and end up job-hopping, your resume will become even less effective in the future. How are you going to explain why you only lasted a few weeks at your last three jobs? Dont even think about hiding these jobs from your resume because employers can always see who you worked for by using your social security number. If youve ever had a credit check done, you should know that the reports sometimes show the name of your prior employers. There are many ways for them to find out. In summary, it is just best not to lie on your resume at all if you want a rewarding, long-lasting career. Author: Justin Olsen works for cpresumes.com

Best Resume Writing Services In Brisbane

Best Resume Writing Services In BrisbaneMost of the professional resume writing services in Brisbane are also well-versed in good writers in the IT sector who can make your CV look exceptionally impressive. Of course, you can be confident that the work you will be getting is made up of seasoned professionals who know how to write an impressive resume, or at least you can be.If you want to avoid wasting time with a resume that is irrelevant and does not get noticed by potential employers, a resume that is well crafted by a qualified professional can indeed be a great help. And if you want to focus on what you can get from an online resume service - a professional copywriting service that can provide you a resume that looks professional and is an excellent representation of your skills and abilities - you may as well begin looking for a reliable resume writing company in Brisbane in the very first place.Be prepared, it can be the best way to get your foot in the door! A resume is one o f the most important things you should ever have and it is all too easy to waste time and money on a poorly written one which only serves to hinder your chances of getting the job.The next best thing is to look for such service providers in the Internet cafes, stores and other places where they can be found. It is so easy to browse the Internet for the best resume writing services in Brisbane because it is so easy to find what you are looking for, when you need it. You just need to take a few minutes to look around before you find a job search website that meets your requirements.If you don't know how to narrow down your search to the different types of services that are offered, then this step might be quite hard. However, as much as possible, limit your search to only those CV writing companies that have been established in the same city as your workplace, that have a proven track record of offering excellent services, and that provide work which clearly shows the level of experti se that they have in their field.Also, ensure that you take time to read through reviews that can be found online regarding various resume writing services, because online reviews can give you a brief idea of the quality of the service that you are about to purchase. In addition, online reviews will provide you with reviews about such services which can be useful to you because they will provide you with an insight into what you can expect from the service.So, the very first step that you need to do is to find out if the best resume writing services in Brisbane can provide you with a CV that would easily earn you an interview with your potential employer. If they don't offer such a service, it is advisable that you take your chances by trying other resume writing services which are well-known for offering good services and products.Resume writing services are fast becoming the norm in the online resume writing industry and most of them have done so after getting a lot of experience, especially with resumes. A resume that is well crafted by experienced professionals who know how to write an impressive CV can actually mean the difference between getting the job and losing it, so you need to take your time before you actually hire any kind of service provider.

Failing My Way to Success

Failing My Way to Success Thanks to  Samara Zimmerman  for todays post on overcoming the fear of failure! Failure â€" curious word â€" seems so indistinct and feeble when it slips off the tongue. But its bitter sting is in that very vagueness that masks a word so powerful because “failure,” “failing,” is truly in the eye of the beholder, and as a result its influence can be very broad and paralyzing. When we are younger, we are never told that it is ok to fail â€" that failure is acceptable, that sometimes we fail in order to succeed. No, rather, we are always directed to chose paths, lives, situations that are more guaranteed to direct us away from even the possibility of failure. Failure â€" it’s like the other F-word â€" profanity in its own right. I wish when I was in grade school they stressed the importance of your mistakes and that mistakes are ok, its being afraid of making mistakes, fear of the failure itself, that is not. My entire life I have always been afraid of failure, and in many ways that has hindered me and made me live a very measured life. If I’m honest with myself it is this fear of failure to a certain extent that has stopped me from pursuing the profession I deep down wanted for myself, the relationships I desired, even the lifestyle I crave. I think that is why I have always been attracted and drawn to people in the arts and entrepreneurs. When I watch my favorite musicians on stage at a concert they look so uninhibited â€" so free â€" in their own skin. And when I hear how casually an entrepreneur discusses all the risk he undertook to implement his latest business venture, matter of factly as if he had the power of premonition, I think how wonderful to feel that self assured. I used to think these people were free and unrestrictedâ€" perhaps even born special â€" that they had to just follow their path. But I think I mistook a free spirit for a high-risk tolerance, for people who are not afraid of failure. Because when you are a creative or an entrepreneur, failure and rejection is just par for the course. But it’s the not fearing that failure that keeps them going, keeps them free. But here is the good news â€" my own personal fear of failure is a failure in and of itself. What could be good about that you might ask? Because through the miscarriage of fear of failing I have learned a great deal about myself â€" about what I don’t like about how I’m living my life, about how I really do want to progress through my life, and about the smalls steps I can take to get me to where I want to be. And that collection of knowledge, information learned from my shortcomings, is priceless. That’s the great thing about failing it’s like that quote from the movie Vanilla Sky, “Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around” â€" you can take what you experienced from a situation that didn’t work out and use it to maneuver into something that will. Sometimes you fail because you are supposed to fail. It brings the clarity and the momentum to move you from a wrong situation into the right one. Like Mary Pickford said, “Supposing you have tried and failed again and again. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down.” And it’s pretty thrilling to know that life has multiple do-overs that don’t discriminate because of age or circumstance, that new beginnings that can rise up at any point in your life as long as you don’t allow the fear of failure or so-called failure itself stop you from pushing, moving, towards what you want. I have experienced times where I have failed, and probably will experience such times in the future. While it can be intimidating to admit that to myself â€" that with life it is inevitable that there will be times of failure â€" failure itself is no longer as threatening. Rather, I’m failing my way to success!

Survey Report Calling in Sick when Healthy Can Get You Fired

Survey Report Calling in Sick when Healthy Can Get You Fired This guest post is contributed by  Alvina Lopez.   She welcomes your comments at:  alvina.lopez @gmail.com. Boss, I cant come into work because a chicken attacked my mom. Its not exactly one of the more traditional lines, but it is an excuse one employee used to play hooky from work, according to a recent survey. The surveyâ€"which was conducted by online career site CareerBuilder.com and research firm Harris Interactiveâ€" discovered that almost three in 10 employees make up reasons to stay home in order to take a mental break from the office. But taking a personal day off can result in losing your job altogether, the survey suggests. According to researchers, out of the 27 percent of employers who said they rarely believe employees when they call-in sick, 16 percent theyve fired a worker for missing a day on the job without a valid excuse. Not only are employers starting to investigate their workers crazy stories, but they are also getting more prone to check out even believable excuses. Nearly 70 percent of surveyed employers said they asked for a doctors note, about half called the sick employee to check-in,   and 18 percent had someone else make the phone call to catch the employee off guard. And in extreme cases, about 15 percent of suspicious employers said theyve on occasion driven by the employees house or apartment to confirm their whereabouts. So why pretend to be sick in the first place? According to the survey the number one reason is simply because the majority of polled employees just dont feel like going to work. Other reasons included needing to catch up on sleep, go to doctor’s appointments, run personal errands, and fulfilling plans with family and friends. So in short, a few sniffles and a light cough over the phone just might not do the trick anymore. To not risk termination it is highly beneficial to save your sick days for when you are actually feeling under the weather. But what to do if you need to take a personal break which is bound to happen eventually during your career? Be honest. Six-in-ten employers we surveyed said they let their team members use sick days for mental health days, said CareerBuilder spokeswoman Rosemary Haefner in a press-release. If you need to take some time away from the office, the best way not to cause yourself more stress is to be open and honest with your manager. Most creative sick day excuses: Employee had a hair transplant gone bad. Employee fell asleep as his desk while working and hit his head, causing a neck injury. Employee said a cow broke into her house and she had to wait for the insurance man. Employee’s girlfriend threw a Sit n Spin through his living room window. Employee’s foot was caught in the garbage disposal. Employee said he wasn’t feeling too clever that day. Employee said he had to mow the lawn to avoid a lawsuit from the home owner’s association. Employee called in the day after Thanksgiving because she burned her mouth on a pumpkin pie. Employee was in a boat on Lake Erie and ran out of gas and the coast guard towed him to the Canadian side.

How to Overcome Resume Writing Block

How to Overcome Resume Writing BlockA common problem that many people face when it comes to resume writing is the inability to write. In order to avoid this problem, you need to know how to overcome resume writing block.For some, it is not only important to give the appropriate type of information that they should be included in the resume but it is also vital to allow their personality and experience speak for itself. There are a number of ways that you can help yourself overcome resume writing block.Your first task will be to identify what type of information that you want to include in your resume. The next step is to provide enough information about yourself that you have the opportunity to persuade a potential employer to read further and take you seriously.As you prepare to write your resume, do not rush it. The main reason for rushing your resume is to ensure that you have enough time to write it properly. If you start writing too early then you will find that you have wasted valuable time that you could have used to spend in order to absorb the information that you are about to put in your resume.Once you have completed the actual writing of your resume you will want to review it and rewrite it as needed. Rewriting is the perfect way to make sure that you get every word of your resume perfect. It is also a very powerful way to ensure that you keep your resume readable and that you cover all of the essential information that you should include.There are many types of resume writing block that you will find yourself in. One of the most common problems that most people face is the inability to add the appropriate amount of information within the resume.A major reason why most people run into resume writing block is because they do not follow some very simple rules of resume writing. In fact, these are the reasons why many people fail at writing resumes.The most effective way to avoid these problems is to spend the time required to write a quality resume. T his will guarantee that you do not run into resume writing block in the future.

First reviews of Happy Hour is 9 to 5 - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

First reviews of Happy Hour is 9 to 5 - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog The first reviews from readers of my just-published book about happiness at work Happy Hour is 9 to 5 are coming in and people seem to love it. Yaaaaay! Sheldon Cooke says: by far one of the most refreshing books on work culture that I?ve ever seen. Lars Pind says: I just purchased my copy, and it?s looking really good? It?s easily worth the $19 price tag for the PDF version. stic writes: the tips tricks and recommendations will certainly take you closer to this euphoria. Read all about the book, read it free online and buy it here. If youve read it, you can also add your own review. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

10 Ways Your Career Center Can Afford a National Speaker - CareerEnlightenment.com

I agreed to speak for a reduced fee at Portland Community College this year because the coordinator got a local reporter to interview me about my book. It would have cost me much more than my discount to hire a PR firm who can only promise a chance of media exposure. The interview helped me sell books and I can keep the footage for my press kit.4. Organize a Train-the-Trainer with Your ConsortiumMost speakers will charge between $5,000 $10,000 for half-day trainings at professional associations. Most consortiums have between 15-40 members (that’s what makes it a consortium!). For a single institution, $5,000 can be a steep fee. But when 20 members pay only $250 for professional development, then the cost of the learning is cheap. Especially if you can add CEU credits to the event.If you’re a member of a consortium, your job will be to call each member and get their buy-in. Typically, a consortium member would have to take initiative in such an event. I was speaking with a school in Iowa who wasn’t able to afford my fee. So they contacted all 30 members of their career professional’s consortium and got 20 schools to agree to share the fee. It took him a week to set it up, but he managed to organize a great event for himself and his colleagues.Since training is only a half-day, and the speaker is getting a proper fee, why not ask them to stick around for a quick afternoon keynote with your students at a steep discount of course. Give them an energy drink if they’re tired!5. Convince Your President You Need a Senior DayPart of the reason why you may be having trouble getting budget for a speaker is because you might not have an annual speaking event which requires that level of cash, let’s call it a Senior Day. A Senior Day is a full Saturday in January or February adorned with national career speakers, workshops, resume writing and fire tossing. The key is that it happens every year so that the budget is simply maintained.The hard part, as I’m sure you’ve picked up on, is starting an annual Senior Day in the first place. From my experience, it would seem that approval for such a shindig would have to come from high-up, like the president of the college. And what does the president of the college care about? Fund raising! Your Senior Day could have big results for the college as it represents a major benchmark in the institution’s success, especially when you can measure improvements in hiring and who recruits from your university.If schools are often ranked by how well their students place jobs, and rankings affect how much money the school can charge for tuition, and better job programs help the president raise even more money from alumni, then I think you have a clincher.Download the restTo get the remaining 5, visit my speaking page.