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Crafting your resume... to the letter | Newsletter 5 |
| Appeared in the Toronto Sun Career Connection section on Wednesday, Oct 17, 2001 | |
If you're going to write "Responsible for ruining entire operation for a Midwest chain store" on your résumé, you might as well include a picture of you with "Don't hire me" stamped on your forehead!
Ah, the résumé - the encapsulated, compact career-in-a-nutshell. The all-important marketing vehicle designed to entice potential employers. The factual, non-fiction (hopefully) document written to highlight your best points and target your skills for the advertised job.
The résumé is also one of the major reasons why many people don't get summoned for interviews! I mean, would you call someone whose résumé contains the statement, "I have an excellent track record, although I am not a horse," or "Received a plague for Salesperson of the Year," or "Marital status: often; Children: various"?
I didn't make those up.
The résumé is one of your most important tools in the job-shopping market, so it deserves a little special care in both presentation and content. As a writer who works in public relations, I know there's a fine line between persuasive language and outright lying. I also know that lying is NOT an ethical or effective way to get what you want in either marketing arena.
Michael Harding, President of Inline Reference Check Inc. (www.inlinereference.com), agrees. Inline provides third-party reference checking that helps employers avoid hiring unqualified job applicants. "It doesn't pay to lie on a résumé," Harding says. "Companies have been burned too many times, so they're checking - or hiring firms like mine to check."
Harding says the number one question college students have is whether to include references with their résumés. "Including an actual letter of reference can open doors," he advises, "and it minimizes the risk that the person who wrote it will give a different verbal reference over the phone from the one you're expecting. You should always ask for a letter of reference when leaving a job on good terms." He cautions, however, that a letter does not replace other references, and that it will usually be followed up with a phone call.
"IF you include references on a résumé, someone MAY phone those contacts," says Harding. "Over the past few years, we've had at least half a dozen people list their current employers without having advised them of plans to leave the company. Obviously, this technique backfires at both ends."
"Ask permission to use someone as a reference," continues Harding. "Make sure the phone number is correct and that the person is still relevant. One reference we tried to reach had been dead for several years, and one had been dismissed from the company for embezzling funds."
According to Harding, other tactics people use are name-dropping and exaggerating the length of employment. "A good reference check interviewer asks what the applicant did from when to when, and what was that person's relationship with the reference." Michael and his staff often call references and are told that the person in question is the worst employee they ever had and was fired. The applicant obviously assumed no one would check.
"Likewise with education," he adds. "We confirm the validity of claims about diplomas, degrees, etc., which is a challenge with the proliferation of diploma mills operating over the Internet." He cites an example of a bogus university that sells a Ph.D. for $900 US. "You get it within ten days, and it comes complete with transcripts, letters from professors and a telephone number that reference checkers can call. What these companies forget is that it's just as easy for us to obtain information over the Web. We can and do find out the truth."
The number of firms offering reference checking and employee screening are growing in Canada. Like Inline, many check criminal and motor vehicle backgrounds as well. Lying on a résumé can result in much more than not getting an interview.
Lying about your weight, however, is fine. Trust me.
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Phone: (416) 410-4881 Fax: (519) 927-5371 Toll Free: 1-800-873-7577 www.InlineReference.com |
1375 Cataract Rd Alton, Ontario L0N 1A0 Canada e-mail: michael@inlinereference.com |