Working Girl journeyed up to lovely San Juan Island this weekend and spent an afternoon at Griffin Bay Bookstore talking with readers.

Fun.

Plus someone asked a really interesting question:

“Is it okay to exaggerate on your résumé?”

Hmmm.

Now this inquirer, whom we’ll call Jane,  is probably not a dishonest person.  Chances are Jane thought that most people lie on their résumés and that if she does not, she will be at a disadvantage.  That’s why a lot of people embellish or exaggerate or whatever-you-want-to-call-it on their résumés and job applications–they feel they have to just to keep up.  “Everybody does it,” they say.

But you know what?  Everybody doesn’t do it.  You, especially, don’t have to.  You really don’t.  Here’s why:  you should not lie because (a) if you got caught it would be really really bad, (b) it takes a lot of energy, (c) life is too short, and (d) you are better than that. 

What you should do is write a clear, forceful, and positive (not to mention short, punchy, and letter-perfect) résumé.  It should be heavy on examples of your accomplishments.  Most of all, it needs to show that your qualifications and experience match the position you’re applying for.  In fact, you should be writing a customized résumé for every job you go after.  This is already a lot of work.  Think how hard it would be if each time you were…exaggerating. 

If you need help getting started, certainly find yourself a professional résumé writer.  Or ask a more experienced relative/friend, teacher, or even former boss for guidance.  We often have trouble describing our wonderfulness in words others can relate to and appreciate.  It takes practice. 

But, hey, your task is already easier–you don’t have to go to all that work of lying.  Thank you, Jane, for bringing up such a great topic.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 5:38 pm and is filed under job hunting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.