Discuss why exaggerating or lying on your resume is dangerous

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: Your résumé can make or break your job search because it is the first impression you give to a potential employer. When the stakes are high and there are many applicants, you may be tempted to enhance your résumé by listing job duties you did not perform, stretching your responsibilities to include qualifications that you do not actually have, or inserting keywords from a job advertisement that do not apply to you so that you can "pass" the automated screening process. Other common errors include changing dates of education or employment, increasing previous salary amounts, inflating titles and job responsibilities, and padding grade point averages. Potential employers can easily check all of these facts.
It may seem obvious not to lie on your résumé, but potential employers can perceive even slight exaggerations of your accomplishments as lies—for example, rounding up your grade point average (GPA) or listing a "major" GPA without labeling it. The Society for Human Resource Management reports that increases in résumé lies have led managers to check the accuracy of candidates' résumés with greater detail than they had in the past.
Even if you make it through the application process and have proven yourself as a valuable employee, lying on your résumé can cut your career short. Yahoo! CEO Scott Thompson was forced to resign when the company discovered that he had lied about his academic qualifications on his résumé.