Fraudulent Resumes:Why Embellishing, Omitting and Lying Are

You spent hours crafting your winning resume and it looks great, but did you accurately compose your experience, education and achievements for would-be employers? Savvy recruiters, who review thousands of resumes a year, are becoming increasingly more vigilant when reviewing applicants' resumes.

 Surveys conducted by human resource professionals suggest that 23% to 45% of all resumes in circulation contain substantially misleading or inaccurate statements. In fact, Wayne D. Ford, author of the employer's guidebook How to Spot a Phony Resume, conducted his own more disturbing survey: a minimum of 25 to 30 percent of resumes were considered phony by some employers, but others estimated the number at 50 to 60 percent and even much higher!

Most employers do thorough background checks on prospective employees, and many also utilize other ways to spot inaccurate resume information. Ford offers clues employers look for in resume entries that alert them to a potential problem:
 

Positions that aren't supported by qualifications elsewhere on the resume. In most cases, senior managers have education and experience forming the foundations for their positions.

A list of references from or positions at companies that have gone out of business. Be suspicious of impressive information that can't be verified.

Job titles that don't make sense in the context of the organization. Question someone who was "director of personnel" for a five-employee company or "vice president of production" for a service organization that doesn't manufacture anything.

Ford suggests that employers investigate thoroughly where inconsistencies or subtle and unverifiable embellishments exist, so it is important not to distort the reality of your experience. The most common forms of exaggeration or embellishment are on the dates of employment and on educational qualifications. The motivation for altering the former is generally to cover up periods of unemployment, incarceration or a probable bad reference. Embellishment of educational qualifications often comes when a job requires a college degree, for example, and the candidate only has three years of college.