If you Google “lies on resumes,” you’ll get roughly 7.2 million results. Much has been written on this topic and obviously, there are many people who have been caught in an untruth.
Enter social media.
While social media and its viral transparency make lying much more difficult and much easier to catch, it also instantaneously broadcasts to the world your misdeeds … and, unfortunately, even “alleged” misdeeds. This kind of PR is not what you want …
“Boston Provident fires CFO Levy for Alleged Theft”
“Ex-Petters Co. CFO ‘Lied for a Living’”
Recruiter John Keenan’s answer to a recent question on Quora around how recruiters use Linked In got my attention because it spoke directly to the issue of MISrepresenting onself:
I will check out the connections to make sure someone is who they say they are — you’d be surprised how many people misrepresent who they are.
Misrepresent themselves? On a public forum like Linked In? And believe they won’t be caught? Seriously?
Are you who you say you are? If you are currently exaggerating on your Linked In profile or any other public forum where you can be found out by recruiters and Google, get it corrected immediately.
You can read my full article, including a few things that can negatively affect authenticity, in the AFP Futures in Finance newsletter.