Job Search

Help! I Exaggerated Employment Dates

By April Jimenez ⋅ August 9, 2010 ⋅

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Is It Worth It to Beef Up Your Time at Your Last Job?

Lying on your resume can cost you the job. (Image by Juliana Coutinho via Flicrk, CC3.0): Lying on your resume can cost you the job. (Image by Juliana Coutinho via Flicrk, CC3.0)

The job search can feel like a competition. We all want to be the best candidate and have the most notable and impressive resume. And sometimes this eagerness can lead us to make not-so smart decisions. A common one? Resume fibs. Even a little white lie on your resume, can have disastrous results according to ABC NEWS/Money columnist Michelle Goodman. Even more surprising is just how common “resume fakery” is.

“My inbox runneth over with recruiters across the country sharing similar tales of job seekers — entry-level workers and executives alike — embellishing their resumes with everything from contrived college degrees or manufactured military service to trumped up job titles and responsibilities,” writes Goodman.

So, where does exaggerated employment dates rank on the conniving continuum?

You were at your last job for a year and 7 months. Just three months short of 2 years. You know how difficult it can be to explain gaps in your job history, should you stretch the dates to cover or lessen the gap?

Mike Worthington of ResumeDoctor says to think twice before lying about anything on a resume, it might come back to bite you.

“Background checks might happen years after you were hired. There have been a number of high profile cases where the individual was working and was caught with lying on their resume years later, “says Worthington, citing Former Notre Dame football coach George O’Leary’s forced resignation.