How transparent should you be on your CV?
Transparency during a job search has always been somewhat of a grey area for candidates. In my experience, I have seen applicants who want an opportunity so much; they do all they can to further their chances, even if this means lying. Unfortunately for them, recruiters are savvy to this, developing more advanced searching strategies by the day.
No matter how small or seemingly insignificant the lie, once the candidate is exposed, their application is immediately written off on the basis that “if they can lie about this, what else could they be lying about?”
The first step to getting the level of transparency right, is understanding the difference between not informing and misinforming. Whilst it is essential that you don’t misinform the recruiter during your job search, in other words lie, you can leave out certain information.
The second step, is knowing what to leave out – like that paper round that you had when you were 14, and what to mention – like that year long career gap where you went travelling and did some volunteer work.
Hopefully my advice will help you to clarify what counts as a lie, what counts as an omission, what you should/shouldn’t omit and overall, how transparent you should be during your job search.
Career history
With employers becoming increasingly cautious about whom they hire, recruitment agencies make it their duty to check everything in the person’s career.
Recruiters will look into your previous and current employers, the roles you had with them, the length of tenure in each job, whom you were reporting to and your responsibilities. They have even more investigative scope now that candidates have a strong online presence. Therefore expect to get your name Google searched, CV cross referenced with LinkedIn and your references tracked down.
Sometimes, recruiters don’t need to look very far to spot a lie. I remember a candidate who applied for two jobs and therefore sent me two different CVs. However, the employment dates and job titles were so inconsistent that they actually looked like they were from two separate people. Needless to say, I couldn’t tell fact from fiction and their application went straight in the bin.
Whilst you shouldn’t misinform the recruiter about your career history, you can leave out certain roles if necessary. I would recommend doing this for reasons such as; the role was several years ago, it was for three months or less, your CV is too long and ultimately, it doesn’t add any value to your application.
However I wouldn’t miss out a role that you had for six months or longer, otherwise you are doing yourself a disservice as the recruiter may think you weren’t doing anything. Even if you just list the company, job title and employment dates, this will stress that you were working during this time period, without taking up too much space on your resume.
If you have been out of work for more than six months, I would advise you communicate this reason to the recruiter, preferably via your CV, alternatively over the phone or in person. It’s ok to have a career break, but make sure you highlight how you kept yourself busy, whether you volunteered, undertook training courses or went travelling.
In short, most recruiters have some savvy searching techniques when it comes to digging into your career history; therefore never misinform, and be transparent about any job roles or gaps of six months or more.
Skills and qualifications
Never list something you cannot prove. If you cannot readily talk about the skills and qualifications on your CV, leave them out.
A classic example for me could include a couple of candidates stating in their CV that they speak fluent French or German, without expecting me to speak these languages too. Whilst this skill wasn’t critical to the role in question, the lie or “over assessment” of their fluency made me suspicious of their entire application.
If a skill or qualification is essential for the role, it is even more likely to be investigated in detail. If you feel tempted to lie about possessing these skills; remember this fact and think about how embarrassing it will be once you are exposed, whether it’s by the recruiter or worse – once you’re hired.
Rather than misinforming, take measures to acquire the skills or qualifications needed to be truly equipped for the vacancy. By being honest with yourself and the recruiter, you may even open yourself up to some brilliant opportunities at companies looking to train candidates up.
The moral of the story- be transparent about your abilities, or you could ruin your chances of getting and keeping a role.
Sensitive information
You should be under no obligation to provide information about your marital status, number of children, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, full address and gender. These factors shouldn’t have any bearing on your application. I appreciate that remuneration is a delicate subject, and you do not have to provide salary information on your CV either. However, you should be prepared to talk to an agency about this without misinforming them.
Some candidates may feel tempted to exaggerate their current package to avoid setting the bar too low for their earning potential in a new job. This is a very common misconception, firstly, because most recruiters understand that it’s common place to expect a higher salary in order to incentivise moving jobs – after all, you’re taking a leap of faith and making a big change.
Secondly, if you outline any extra expenses and cost of living in that location, recruiters will take this into consideration and understand that the opportunity has to be financially feasible for you. They will also know the industry standard for this job title, and how much your desired vacancy is looking to pay. You never know, you may be getting vastly underpaid in your current role and suddenly this massive salary increase doesn’t seem so unrealistic anymore.
Either way, you need expert advice on the situation, and you will only get this by being transparent with the recruiter about remuneration.
In summary, knowing the difference between misinforming and omitting information should provide you with a gauge of how transparent you should be during your job search. Misinforming involves telling outright lies about employment dates, job titles, key skills, and current salary. This is short sighted because more often than not, you will be exposed and will hinder your chances of success. Omitting information however is acceptable when leaving out irrelevant and sensitive information which clogs up your CV and has no bearing on your application.
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