According to a survey from CareerBuilder, the majority of employers (70 percent) spend less than five minutes reviewing a resume, and half (48 percent) spend less than two, which means that creating an attention-getting resume can be a tall order for job seekers.
And this desire to stand out might be why some job seekers are including some unnecessary, inappropriate or downright untrue information on their resumes.
Most Memorable Resume Blunders
For the survey, hiring managers gave the following real-life examples of blunders—from innocent gaffes to obvious lies—they have caught on resumes:
1. Applicant claimed to be a former CEO of the company to which they were applying.
2. Applicant claimed to be fluent in two languages – one of which was pig Latin.
3. Applicant wrote “whorehouse” instead of “warehouse” when listing work history.
4. Applicant’s personal website linked to a porn site.
5. Applicant introduced himself [in the cover letter] by saying “Hey you.”
6. Applicant vying for a customer service position gave “didn’t like dealing with angry customers” as the reason for leaving her last job.
7. User name of applicant’s email address was “2poopy4mypants.”
8. Applicant claimed to be a Nobel Prize winner.
9. Applicant claimed to have worked in a jail when they were really in there serving time.
10. Applicant claimed to have attended a college that didn’t exist.
11. Applicant listed as a reference an employer from whom they had embezzled money and had an arrest warrant out for the applicant.
12. Applicant’s stated job history had him in three different companies and three different cities simultaneously.
Honesty: Still the Best Policy
When it comes to impressing hiring managers, one of the biggest mistakes a job seeker can make is lying, which is more common than one might think. According to the survey, more than half of employers (56 percent) have caught a lie on a resume. When asked to name the most common areas around which job seekers lie, these employers named the following:
- Embellished skill sets: 62 percent
- Embellished responsibilities: 54 percent
- Dates of employment: 39 percent
- Job titles: 31 percent
- Academic degrees: 28 percent
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