Claudia Green, founder of recruitment firm Scaling Up, revealed five things to lie about on resumes
Lying on a resume is deemed unethical, but an expert has shared five things jobseekers should withhold when filling out the formal document.
Claudia Green, the founder of Scaling Up, told DailyMail.com that people need to look at a resume as a sales pitch about themselves, and specific points could be off-putting to recruiters and employers.
These include intimate life details, how you present hobbies and reasons for leaving your previous employer.
Green also shared how keeping a resume short could make or break the hiring process.
‘Keep your resume short: it shouldn’t be longer than two pages and shouldn’t have any graphics unless you’re applying for a design role,’ she told DailyMail.com.
‘You will have recruiters looking at your resume before the employer, and they prefer a short resume to a long one: Everything is a sales process!’
Don’t put your side hustle on your resume
If you’ve got a ‘side hustle’ alongside your regular job, you might want to leave it off your resume, as it can put off potential employers, said Green.
‘This one is debated quite a lot, and some people have different opinions, but I’ve seen many times that having a side hustle or a small business can turn off employers,’ she said.
‘Even if it’s that someone runs a burger truck on a Saturday, it has no impact on how they would perform in that job.
These include intimate life details, how you present hobbies and reasons for leaving your previous employer
‘I have seen it turn off so many employers: they don’t want people with distractions in the corporate world.
‘I had someone interview for a job, and he was an unbelievable software engineer. He aced the test but then mentioned that he built his own app on the side – and the company didn’t want him because he wasn’t dedicated.’
However, Green said that in the world of start-ups she works with at Scaling Up, people tend to look more favorably on side hustles as they like the entrepreneurial spirit.
But the opposite tends to happen in a corporate environment.
Don’t admit to being made redundant
Being dismissed from your job due to your employer needing to reduce the workforce or new technologies making your job unnecessary can be quite the blow.
But recruiters may see redundancy as an indicator that an employee can be ‘dead wood’ and will overlook a resume.
‘I really don’t agree with this, and it shouldn’t be the case, but there are an alarming amount of employers who see redundancy as clearing the dead wood,’ Green said.
‘So don’t put in your CV; wait until you are asked.
‘Also, never put the reason you left a job: if there’s anything about conflict on your resume, it will put employers off immediately.
‘If an employer smells or sees the word ‘conflict,’ they will think, ‘This one is going to be trouble!’
Don’t put that you’ve been to rehab
Recovering from a drug or alcohol addiction is an honorable feat that may show to others that you are strong, dedicated and motivated.
But Green said many company directions, at both large and small firms, are more inclined to have a bad reaction to the details.
‘I’m totally not on board that you have to lie about this, but I’ve seen the way people react if you’re putting something like drug rehabilitation or alcoholism or other stuff that’s overly personal,’ she explained.
If you’ve got a ‘side hustle’ alongside your regular job, you might want to leave it off your resume, as it can put off potential employers, said Green
‘If you’ve been sick with cancer, put that, and maternity leave, fine, but there are certain things not to put in there.’
Green suggested that the rule is to keep the personal section brief and not go into too much detail.
‘If they ask you in the interview, then go into depth, but don’t put it down on paper,’ she continued.