Raise Your Right Hand

The truth always wins out

It goes without saying that one should never lie in a resume. Just think about all the celebrities, politicians and other notables who have fudged things only to have them come back and bite them in their butts when the truth comes out – which it inevitably does. Oh, the shame.

This time it’s personal

In your case, there probably won’t be much public retribution. Your comeuppance will likely have a much more profound impact on your personal space: You probably won’t get the job.

So you have to ask yourself: Is it really worth it? Hardly.

“OK. That’s the easy part. Don’t lie. We get it. So what?”

The “so what” is the age-old appearance of impropriety. If it looks like you’re lying, your prospective employer – who most likely has encountered resumes and interviews that have not been 100 percent truthful – may just assume that you are stretching the truth and… oops! There’s the door. Don’t call us, we’ll call you.

How do you keep from not falling into that trap? Just like the Boy Scouts, be prepared.

Give your resume a good once over. Think carefully about all the anecdotes that you could mention in the course of an interview. Can you prove everything that you say about yourself and your accomplishments? Are there verifiable means to corroborate your claims?

How can you prove everything you just told the interviewer? This isn’t to say that you need to have every report, every source, every contact at the ready for immediate justification. But you should know where and how you can support your claims within 24 hours after an interview. And if you come across something that can’t be verified, sometimes it’s OK to say, “I don’t know.” That’s better than stretching the truth.

In the end, it’s just another log on the fire of being prepared.

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