Posted on: Monday, August 23, 2004

Resumé liars blame pressure from employers

By Andrea Kay

Many of you who responded to my column on the increasing trend toward lying on resumés wrote to say the same thing: Employers are mostly to blame for it.

"There have been many times in the past two years that I have felt like crafting a resumé suitable for framing just to satisfy those employers who ask the impossible and the irrelevant," wrote Ken, an unemployed worker in California.

"You will see job requirements that state things like, 'Must not have had more than two jobs in the last 10 years,' " he says. "I've been laid off three times in the past 24 months, never due to my job performance. When prospective employers see my resumé, many have immediately told me that I've held too many jobs."

It's also surprising to hear how many hiring managers penalize applicants for not being what they see as loyal. Hiring managers "are out of touch with modern times in that they don't seem to understand why a job applicant hasn't been employed by a single company for 25 years or longer," Ken said of his job-hunting experience.

Many of you also pointed out how many times employers cite requirements that have no bearing on someone's ability to perform the job duties. Even though one job hunter had done the job posted by a major bank "with excellence for six years at a bank in Arizona," he said, "the hiring manager told me that he couldn't consider me without a bachelor's degree."

An Ohio woman with a degree, 20 years of professional experience and a work ethic any company would die for, was up front about her shortcomings. Her resumé clearly stated — and she reiterated in a phone interview — that she didn't have the software knowledge the job required.

"But they said this would be an entry level position that would lead to the one I was more qualified for and to come in for an interview," she told me.

After a half-day of interviews and tests, they told her she wasn't qualified because she didn't know how to use the software the job required. No kidding. The applicant could have told them that — and did. "But they still wanted to talk to me. What were they expecting? I still can't believe they wasted my time."

Angela, an out-of-work retail employee, wrote that employers "want the best top notch of the prospective applicants," but they don't necessarily use all the education and experience they say they want. "I worked for a staffing agency, and most of the time when I'd go out on assignments, most of the skills and knowledge that were required, I never had to use."

She summed up much of workers' frustration in saying, "Employers are just becoming too picky in whom they hire — because they can. They are in the power seat."

These and other examples are "exactly what may cause some individuals to lie on their resumés," says Ken. "I've refused to cave to that temptation, but someone needs to get the message to employers that they are missing out on hiring some contributors by demanding the impossible and the irrelevant."

So, here goes: Employers, you certainly have a right to want the very best. But are you missing out on some of the best and most dedicated people because your expectations aren't based on the realities of today's work force?

And job hunters, as weary as you are of the hiring process and as much as you want a position, it's never, never acceptable to lie.

Reach Andrea Kay at No. 133, 2692 Madison Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com; andrea@andreakay.com.