Hi guys,
I found this article and I think it's particularly interesting for us as students, as many of us will be sending out applications soon. What do you think of "embellishing the CV"? Is it okay to exaggerate a little bit? Is it completely unacceptable? Or maybe you have already lied a little bit yourself?
Personally I think that most people lie, because they are afraid the truth just doesn't look good enough. Especially when there's a lot of competition they might be desperately looking for something to brush up their applications.
EDIT: Sorry! I completely forgot to inclued the link. Here it comes:
http://www.hcamag.com/hr-news/three-quarters-of-applicants-have-already-lied-to-you-129553.aspx?keyword=3/4%20of%20applicants%20have%20already%20lied%20to%20you
Dear Sonja,
AntwortenLöschendid you post the link to the article too?
Anyway, probably you are right when you say that most people "lie" in their CVs because they are afraid of competition and that they won't be hired if they said the "truth". However, a saying goes "The truth always comes out". At the latest when the hiring manager is meeting the applicant, who embellished his or her CV a little to make it look more interesting and qualified, for the first time, the hiring manager might figure out that some passges of the CV are not a 100 per cent accurate.
Within a personal interview it is most likely to go through an applicant's CV step by step - education, degrees, additional extra-curricula activities, internships and other professional experience...
What would you do if the interviewer asked you a question linked to a particular passage included in your CV which you "tuned" a little to make it look better? Would you lie straight to his face? Would you take the risk of being hired and then, when certain qualifications are expected from you which you do not even have since you didn't tell the truth in your CV (and your interview) in the first place, having to admit that you are not that of an expert in this very field even though you pretended to be?
I personally think that people should be proud of what they have achieved in their lives and they should not be afraid to stand up for it, too! If somebody feels the need of embellishing his or her CV due to the fact that he or she deems his or her qualifications and skills not to be sufficient, than he or she should probably just acquire those additional qualifications he or she wished to have.
Hi Sonja :)
AntwortenLöschenI can't see the article you are referring to?
I can understand that people try to put themselves in a better light when it comes to an interview with a company they really like to work for. But (as Ulrike said) is it really worth it? Sooner or later the truth will come out and then maybe real troubles will show up as the person can not handle the situation right because of lacking skills and/or knowledge.
AntwortenLöschenHowever everybody wants to be appealing, especially for companies. I think if one tunes minor things in the CV it is not that big of a deal. Nevertheless one shouldn't indicate any job positions he or she actually never had.
It is not bad if people can not do certain things, nobody is perfect. But the competition is out there and actually one is replaced easily.
I am also not sure why there is the tendency to more truth on the web as you can easily google every person and find out if he or she said the truth.
I agree with you.
AntwortenLöschenAs CVs are important to advertise yourself, it is understandable that people try to do whatever is needed to make their application stand out. But lying and including information that is not true and qualifications that you do not have but are important for the job will always backfire eventually. Even if you make it through the interview and get the job you will face situations you cannot cope with, because you do not have the required qualifications. If you cannot fulfill the basic requirements for the position it is probably not the right job and it won’t be satisfying for the company and for yourself anyway.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/homo-consumericus/201111/how-often-do-people-lie-in-their-daily-lives
AntwortenLöschenIsn't it also a question of definition?
It is! There is a difference in fine-tune real statements to make them sound more "spectacular" as to completly mislead people. I think almost everybody is lying to some extent.
AntwortenLöschenRegarding the post of Ulrike, if I would state something completely wrong in my CV and I would be asked during the interview exactly this point, I think I would continue lying. This would never happen because I would not state something in the CV which is not correct, but you do this for a certain reason.
So in the end it is the question, are you good at lying. ;-)
Dieser Kommentar wurde vom Autor entfernt.
AntwortenLöschenIt always depends at which part of the CV you are lying.
AntwortenLöschenYou should not mention a university you never attended or a job you never worked for. But in most of the other cases you shold try to sell yourself as well as possible. If you finally get employed, you will see yourself how difficult it is to keep up with the standard you set yourself.
Personally, I think honesty is the key.
AntwortenLöschenThe one aspect that shot into my head instantely were languages.
Being exposed to an international work market, with most companies requiring at least 2 spoken languages, one almost feels obliged to claim to speak multiple languages.
Thus people include spanish, french, chinese, russian and many more, although the skills do not go beyond the point of saying hello (or ordering beer, probably, which, to be honest, is not all that helpful in business life - although it probably is of help outside of business hours ^^)
I have personally experienced this during my PTS. Somebody applied to my company claiming to speak english fluently.
My supervisor asked me to briefly talk to the applicant and assess his proficiency.
When he was not able to answer my basic questions, it became obvious instantly, that my supervisor lost interest.
So when you write your CV, it makes sense to include your personal assessment of how well you speak a language (or do any other tasks).
DO NOT BE SHY. When your English is fluent, say it. If your chinese is just basic, state that just the same.
Up-talk your skills as much as possible, however, do not tell a lie, because as has already been said repeatetly:
Lying will eventually backfire at you and it will effect your reputation as a potential employee, in case a new company asks for feedback from previous employers.
Thanks Sonja for that interesting article!
AntwortenLöschenIn my opinion it is okay to embellish the CV a little bit, but it is always important to stick closer to the truth than to the lie. Of course, concerning personality, there you can always state that you are more flexible, a better team player and way more open-minded person than you actually are. Nevertheless, there are certain issues like language and computer skills, where it is actually way more important to state the truth. There might come the situation where you are invited to a job interview and then they suddenly start talking to you in the language you stated in the CV.
In conclusion, a small upgrade in the CV is okay, but in general it is more recommended to stick to the truth.
Regards
Tanja