Is Padding Your Resume Dishonest?
November 3, 2008 by Darlene McDaniel
Filed under Jobs
YES! In a word! If you pad your resume you are being dishonest. I know there are lots of you out there who may disagree, but let me tell you upfront why padding your resume is dishonest. My definition of padding your resume is fabricating information that does not truthfully depict your skills and abilities. If you are fabricating information to get the interview or the job, then you are being dishonest. It is as simple as that.
Many people choose to pad their resume for many reasons. Here are a few:
1. Job titles are obsolete – For example, janitor versus maintenance coordinator
2. Generic job titles – For example, Analyst
3. Struggling to get a job
4. Fired from last organization
5. Need a degree, don’t have one
6. Believe that companies will not do a thorough review of their resume
These are just a few of the reasons people pad their resume. I would really like to hear from my readers on this topic. Is it ok to pad your resume? Have you ever padded your resume? Did you get caught? Why do you believe it is ok to pad your resume? I would like to hear some real life stories on this topic. Feel free to share!
Tags: Padding Your Resume, Interview Chatter, Fired, Resume, Share your story
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This is something that I run into all of the time. As a recruiter, I find myself sifting through resumes trying to understand exactly the skills of a professional vs. say their job title or listed skills in their resume.
One area that I see as “padding” all of the time is specific to technical skills. Companies look for specific technical skills to support their business operations. I see people list a laundry list of technical criteria at the bottom of their resume but have no mention of them in the body of their resume. They do this so their resume comes up in job searches for people to see. This is a HUGE waste of time for recruiters. If you do not have the skills, do not list it.
You should never list skills you don’t have on a resume. It’s a bad habit to get into and one day you’ll get caught having to know something you don’t. Honesty is always the best policy.
Hi Telecommute Jobs! Welcome to Interview Chatter! Thank you for stopping by!
Getting caught is the one thing people don’t think about when they pad their resume. You may be able to get away with a padded resume, but it will catch up with you eventually. If it comes up for you while your in the middle of a great job, you will be out of luck!
This post has offered some strong opinions. Let me add this, I think that padding needs to be defined to better understand ones position. Specifically, if padding is direct lies – then that is wrong and dishonest.
However, padding can also be the selling of someone to educate a potential employer on transferable skill sets. I find that the cover letter offers opportunity for this, the forum in which to sell your ability to do the job even if you have not done the exact job. Padding is the adding of certain things, or possibly the representation of certain skills in a way that promotes interest from the employer. Seems to me like we have been discussing more of just plain misrepresentation vs. padding.