What if you can't prove your skills?
I have been bothered by a particular Joe User for a while and one of my recent discoveries brought an interesting question to light. Is it wrong to embellish your resume?
This particular person says he was webmaster of a site (writersjournal.com) from 2002-2004 and that it was closed due to a conflict with his schedule. I know this person a little better than an HR person might but is obvious to me that this person doesn't possess the skills to be a webmaster. So I checked (Isn't that what a good HR person would do?).
Domain Name: WRITERSJOURNAL.COM
Registrar: REGISTER.COM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.register.com
Referral URL: http://www.register.com
Name Server: DNS2.LAKESPLUS.COM
Name Server: DNS1.LAKESPLUS.COM
Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK
Updated Date: 07-sep-2005
Creation Date: 23-mar-1999
Expiration Date: 23-mar-2008
A simple whois search turned these results. I already knew this guy was a habitual liar though.
To the point... If you are a dishwasher and call yourself a Hobart Specialist or you dig ditches and you call yourself a Drainage Control Technician, is that a lie?
I know my first example is of a blatant lie. It is easy to see that this site has been owned by the same person since 1999. When you inflate something that you did into a more prestigious sounding title you're not really being dishonest, but you are not being totally honest either.
Labor laws prevent former employers from releasing information about your work history other than a few pieces of non telling information. Of course you can ask if they are rehire able, but a yes doesn't mean they would. I worked for a retail outlet. I had a problem with one of the mangers there. According to the company standards, I was able to be rehired. However, the manager there would never allow me to come back to work for him because he and I didn't like each other.
Those little pearls you add to your resume, as long as they are not easily verifiable, could make you seem to be more than you are but eventually you will have to back up the listed skill with the actual. I think embellishing your resume is wrong, but it seems to be more of a little white lie instead of a big whopper.
So... Do you do it?