Hi all, it is your HR guy, and today, I will be taking about consequences of exaggeration on your CV. I would also remind you that I have interviewed thousands of candidates, so I speak from experience.
In a bid to land lucrative job roles, job seekers perform a whole lot of wonders on their resumes. In a bid to get lucrative job roles, most of them tend to exaggerate. But should you really risk telling a lie on your CV?
While it may seem just harmless making a “little adjustments” to your resume accomplishments, it can have lots of consequences on you, but what really happens when you exaggerate on your CV?
1. It is your shortest cut to getting yourself an interview
Most times when we advertise a vacancy for a job position, I always pray within me to see the right set of candidates without stress. In the pool of unqualified candidates, you see someone who’s CV is like a gold hidden among stones. Most times I leap for joy at such moment. I know he might be exaggerating, but how would I know?
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“Only via an interview” – one thing most candidates always pray for.
Whatever happens during or after the interview is now a question of his ability to show what he can offer. But one thing has happened; the candidate has gotten a chance for an interview.
2. Expectations during interviews are heightened
I wouldn’t be so happy to come across your resume and don’t expect much from you. I once advertised the position of an IT Support officer. I saw the resume of a guy who claimed he had all the certifications present in the world. I was surprised when the technical team asked him some practical questions, he went on rambling.
I was ashamed, not for him but for myself that called him for an interview. I will still tell you how to create a CV that wouldn’t get you into this kind of position.
3. Gives you room to negotiate a higher salary
You should know that most firms can go a little bit above their salary scale just to attract a “bright” talent. It would be so unwise just to neglect someone who has lots of accomplishments on his resume because of a salary difference of 10k.
As long as your accomplishments are mind-blowing – whether true or false, you stand a chance to claim a high salary package.
But you should know that salary discussion comes only after you have been tested on all fronts, and have been certified qualified. I don’t know how you are going to do it, but trust me that great accomplishments attract great salary remunerations.
4. Job expectations heighten
A guy passed all the stages of our interview during a certain recruitment season, and we even went above our salary scale to hire him. We were so confident that we’ve found the right guy to replace another expert that left us and moved to a competitor.
I guess it was because we didn’t have qualified hands to access the guy when he was being interviewed. He excelled and answered some general questions we threw at him. He wowed the junior staff in the same department, and everyone liked him already at the interview hall. I felt so proud fishing out such talent, to the extent I got some recommendations from the MD on my ability to hunt talents.
It was exactly two months after he was hired that he was fired. He made a mess of his unit; he couldn’t perform basic functions that a network Engineer should do, junior colleagues complained about him not being able to do his job. I was shocked as to what happened.
I later got to discover that he was quite able to perform those basic functions, but it was too basic to earn such an amount in salaries. Much was given to him, and much more was expected. Unfortunately, he was gone already.
I understand that I only gave negative examples of those who failed after exaggerating on their resumes. I would also want you to understand that there are those who have succeeded in such exaggeration and have learnt even on the job.
I would leave you with these 3 key tips.
- Exaggerate reasonably
- Write things you have basic knowledge of and can defend
- Don’t get intimidated when questions start coming left, right, and center during interviews. Human Resource managers also work based on perception. “He might be tensed” might be the phrase that would save you and get you a job.
Till we meet again, happy job hunting to all job seekers and God would give you all your desired jobs.
