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How to Write a Professional Summary for your Resume

KATHY MCAULIFFE


You want to apply right now for a nice job you just discovered.

Stop! Take a breath.

Have you rewritten your professional summary yet? Your professional summary sits strategically at the top of your resume, and encapsulates your relevant skills and experience. That’s why it’s so important.

What is a Professional Summary?

Your professional summary is a kind of snapshot of you, the professional, and often makes your first impression to the HR person, staffing specialist or hiring manager. Most importantly, it shows how you are a fit for the job.

Your professional summary is filled with your most sought-after skills, abilities, accomplishments and attributes as they pertain to the particular job — and company — for which you are applying. It must clearly show your fit for that particular position. Additionally, any statements made in your professional summary must be supported by information in the body of your resume (as well as in your cover letter).

It is NOT an objective statement, which usually states that you are seeking such-and-such opportunity at such-and-such company. You don’t need to tell an employer that you are seeking a job at their company; they already know that because they’re looking at your resume!

We are here to tell you that it will be worth the work you put into your professional summary. Many HR and workforce development professionals say it is the grabber, the thing that quickly separates you from the pack of applicants.

“Show them why they need to meet with you; why you’re a strong candidate for the position. Let’s face it: busy hiring managers are going to skip over your cover letter. The professional summary is your shot to get their attention.”

Tony Levine, Industrial Division Manager of Banner Personnel Service, Inc. in Naperville

Tony Levine, Industrial Division Manager of Banner Personnel Service, Inc. in Naperville, concurs. “I cannot stress enough the importance of a well-written job summary or narrative…tailored to the specific job for which you are applying, and…focusing on the intangibles that aren’t already listed on your resume,” he states.

“Show them why they need to meet with you; why you’re a strong candidate for the position. Let’s face it: busy hiring managers are going to skip over your cover letter. The professional summary is your shot to get their attention.”

Lori Kramer, PHR, and Human Resources Representative-Illinois for Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, says, “I think a professional summary is a nice introduction on candidates’ resumes to show their specific experience, and skills for a specific job. I caution people that if they use the summary it should be for the specific industry as a highlight.”

Kramer gives the example of applying for a Human Resources job. “In the professional summary some of the skills would be compensation, benefit administration, full life cycle recruitment. Make sure if you also apply for something other than Human Resources, that you tweak the summary.”

“Make sure that your cover letter highlights specific things about the position that your professional summary confirms,” Kramer adds.

So, where to begin writing this compact little statement, this sparkling diamond that many professionals firmly believe will flash and catch the hiring professional’s eye? Here are some ideas.

Writing your Professional Summary

You should highlight skills that directly pertain to that particular job, but basic skills should be included only for entry-level jobs. For example, proficiency in MS Office should be included in your summary only if you’re applying for an entry-level admin job. For higher-level jobs, proficiency in MS Office will be assumed by the employer, and it can be included elsewhere on your resume (such as a Skills section).

Watch out for worn out words, catch phrases and overused descriptors such as results-oriented, hardworking, team player, and self-motivated. You know, all those words the hiring manager will see on everyone else’s resume. These are excellent traits but express them instead through listing your specific achievements. Use a thesaurus if you have to. Find good, appropriate words that substitute for the knee-jerk buzzwords everybody throws in there.

Your goal is to write four to six sentences or bullet points that highlight your qualifications.

Research the Job

Write down whatever you learn or assume about the job, so you can refer to this while constructing your professional summary. For example:

  • What type of background, experience, skills, personality, level, talent, etc. are they seeking?
  • What would you be doing in the position?
  • What is the company’s business, reputation, size, values, mission, etc.?
  • Think about what the employer hasn’t mentioned that you know or assume (based on experience) would be important for the job.
  • Talk with anyone you know who might know more about the position, or find someone through LinkedIn.

Be Specific

  • Focus on how you’re a benefit to the company…not how the company can benefit you.
  • Use industry-specific terminology where appropriate
  • List your achievements and qualities as they pertain to the job and company.

Be Concise

  • You have limited space for all the elements of your resume. Make the best use of it!
  • SHOW you are a fit – don’t simply state it!
  • Boil down your main points – your highlights – into four to six concise, compact sentences that show how you are a fit for the position.

Rewrite and Edit

Carefully write and rewrite the summary for optimal results. In a few clear words describe your experience, accomplishments, primary and secondary skills, job objectives, and personal characteristics.

Make Sure Everything Hangs Together

  • Whatever you state in the body of your resume must be supported by your Professional Summary, and vice versa. That includes the title with which you “top” your summary.
  • Make sure you have used key words that reflect your fit to the job description. These will jump out for the Applicant Tracking System (ATS), and at the person reading the resume.

Run it Past a Good Writer or Career Counselor

Ask somebody to read this completed version of your resume. Another pair of eyes is always critical when we compose documents. And somebody with experience in job search can give good advice in the process. OK, we know this is the ideal situation — having somebody available to go over each version of your resume. At least do it until you are confident you have the technique “down.”

Sample Professional Summary

Professional summaries are not “one size fits all” – you must create a summary specifically about your fit for a particular job. However, here’s an example of a good professional summary, to help you get started writing your own:

An experienced Sales and Marketing professional with a strong background in automotive and electronics industries. Proven expertise with new market development through various media including online advertising and telemarketing sales. Successfully hires, trains and develops successful sales representatives. Excellent teamwork skills and a long track record of success with innovative, challenging assignments.

Just Do It – It’s Easy!

We’re kidding. No, it’s not easy to write an effective professional summary. It’s one of the hardest parts of marketing yourself. It’s like a written-out elevator speech. It takes a lot of analysis, careful and concise thinking and writing, and self-awareness. But a well-written professional summary is a crucial part of an effective resume.

The ideas presented above should help you write a professional summary that will get you noticed by an employer!

These days, an interview often starts with the question, “Tell me about yourself.” That shouldn’t be hard, right? After all, what subject do you know better than yourself?

Ah, but therein lies the problem with answering it: you know too much and can’t possibly share it all in an interview!

Read on to learn how you can successfully answer that important question.

So…Tell Me About Yourself

I sometimes look back on the first time I was asked this question in an interview. I went on and on, though stopping along the way to ask the interviewer — the owner and President of the company — whether I was telling him what he wanted to know.

It was surely the longest interview in history. I can’t believe he hired me (though it did prove to be a wise decision!)

You can only answer this question succinctly if you keep in mind the purpose of the questions: to prove that you are a potential fit for the job, not that you are a wonderful person with a great personality.

Keeping that reason in mind will allow you to frame your answer, keep them short and to-the-point; leave enough time for more questions, and produce the effect you want…an interviewer who thinks you might be the one for the job.

It‘s All About Your Fit for the Job

The question, “Tell me about yourself,” is not an invitation to tell your life story! It is instead an invitation to deliver a sort of verbal cover letter explaining why you applied for this particular job, and how and why you are generally qualified for the opportunity.

To answer this question well, you must describe key aspects of yourself that are not detailed in your resume, but show through your experience and choices that you are a good fit for the job and the company.

So Many Accomplishments, So Little Time

Yes, you’ve done a lot of things over the course of your studies and/or career. And you have all of two minutes to make your case.

We recommend that you only bring up examples that demonstrate your fit and are clearly related to advancing your career. Stay focused on the professional aspects of the job and company, and how your background generally shows you are a great match.

Forget the personal benefits of the job for which you are interviewing, such as the convenience of the commute or the benefits offered. Any and all references to your boredom or unhappiness at your current job are to be bagged, sealed and tossed before you walk in the door!

Here are some ideas of the types of statements you should make:

Tell a Success Story

Tell a story that naturally points to your positive qualities as they relate to the job for which you are interviewing.

For example: “Almost from day one my last job evolved from strictly technical to technical and account management.” In other words, you were recognized as technically adept, multi-talented, with people skills and management potential.

Focus on the Company

Tell those parts of your story that, you know through your research, reflect what the company values in its employees and for this job in particular.

For example: “That graduate internship was a great chance to work with many professionals in the area of healthcare management. I’m still in touch with them today.” In other words, you like people, people like you; you are a team-player, you see value in working with others and sharing helpful information; you value networking with people in your field, you are knowledgeable and have contacts that might be helpful to the company someday.

Focus on Career Development

Emphasize that the job appears to be an opportunity to move forward in your career, and why.

For example: “Whatever position I’ve held, I’ve been assigned projects involving analytical, coordinating and writing skills. I like how the position in your company would allow me to move forward in my career by taking on project management in these areas.” In other words, you have the skills for the job – analyzing, coordinating and writing – and your skills and experience as a coordinator make you a natural for this documentation project management position.

The Key Takeaway

Emphasize the professional steps you’ve taken and recognition you’ve received that led to your fit for this particular job, and you should find yourself still in-the-running after the interview is complete!

 

 

 

Need Help With Your Job Interview Skills?

workNet DuPage can help job seekers prepare for their job interviews with one-to-one assistance and support, and a variety of workshops. 



Learn about our Job Seeker Services

You went into your last job interview fully prepared to answer a plethora of possible questions. Then, at the end of the interview, you were asked, “Do you have any questions for me?”

Your mind went blank. You stammered a bit, then said, “Well…nothing that I can think of.”

Oops. It’s important for you to ask the interviewer some questions about the job. Here’s why and how.

Why Do You Need to Ask Questions?

During your job search, it can be easy to get so focused on answering the employer’s questions that you forget about asking a few of your own. After all, you’re out of work and you need a job, and answering interview questions is part of the job search “game.”

But, that mindset can become a problem in the interview.

Employers don’t want to hire someone who simply needs or wants a job. Employers want to hire the person who is most qualified for, and most wants that particular job at that particular company.

By asking questions in a job interview, you will accomplish three important things:

  1. You’ll show your qualifications and show curiosity about the job. Asking the right questions will demonstrate that you have the required expertise, and that you’re interested in how you’d use that expertise on the job.

  2. You’ll show your interest in the employer. Asking about the company, work flows, or other questions about the organization will show your interest in working at that employer.

  3. You’ll find out if the job and the company are right for you. Asking questions about goals and expectations for the job, about company culture, or about management styles will help you decide if the job and the company are a good fit for you. This, in turn, will help assure the employer that you’re concerned with being a good fit for the company.

Below are some questions you may wish to ask in your next job interview. Don’t feel that you need to ask every one of these questions. The questions you ask will depend on the particular job, as well as on what’s already been discussed in the interview.

Also, keep in mind that this list is not exhaustive, it’s mainly to get you thinking about good questions to ask. There are probably other questions that you’ll need or want to ask, depending on the situation.

What are the biggest challenges that I’d face in this position?

By asking this question you may discover certain problems the company or the department is having, problems you may be able to solve. On the other hand, the answer might lead you to reconsider taking the job.

What are the expectations and goals for this position in the first 30 days, 60 days, or year?

With this question, you show an understanding of the manager’s perspective on performance and goals, and that you have a desire to meet those goals.

What qualities are needed to excel in this role?

Questions like this may uncover things that were not mentioned in the job description, things like personality, character or values. Such insights can also help you get a sense of the company culture.

For this particular job, what’s the difference between a good performance and a great one?

This is a great question to ask because it will position you as someone who cares about doing the best possible job, rather than doing what’s merely good enough.

How will success in this position be measured?

Another great question which helps you appear conscientious and goal-oriented. The answer may shed light on what the hiring manager truly values and expects, and it can provide additional insight into what skills and experience are required to succeed.

How will this position be impacted by new products or services, or plans for growth?

With this question, you’ll need to have researched the company before the interview, to see what new product offerings or growth plans they have. By framing it with reference to the particular job, you’ll show that you’ve done the research and that you’re curious about how you’d fit into their plans.

How would you describe the company culture?

Is there a certain type of person who does very well here, or a type who tends not to do so well? Company culture can be an important factor in the company’s hiring decision, as well as in your own decision about whether or not to take the job. By asking about culture, you show that you’re aware of this, and that you care about making sure it’s a good fit.

What do you most enjoy about working here?

This question can help make a personal connection with the interviewer, and can give you insights into the company and the culture. On the other hand, if the interviewer struggles to answer the question, it could indicate that they’re unhappy working there.

Does the company offer opportunities for continuing education and professional development?

By asking this question, you’ll show that you’re interested in growing and developing in your new position, and acquiring new skills that will benefit the company.

How did this position come to be open?

With this question, you may learn that your predecessor left to go to another employer. By itself, that’s not necessarily a red flag; it happens at the best of companies. But if you’re getting other negative signals, then it could indicate something about the job, the company or your manager.

What is your management style?

This should prompt an answer, or even a conversation, about how your manager/supervisor works and what they expect from their subordinates in terms of communication, amount of freedom in daily tasks, or other considerations.

Do you have any concerns about my experience or qualifications?

This very direct question will show that you have confidence in your skills and abilities, but that you care about the interviewer’s assessment of you. It will also give you the opportunity to alleviate concerns they might have.

What is the typical career path for someone in this job?

This is a way for you to ask about opportunities for development or promotion. You need to be careful in how you approach this; you want to appear interested in staying with the company and growing within it. Otherwise, you risk appearing too anxious for a promotion or a raise.

Other, More Specific Questions

Depending on the industry, the particular job, and your own level of experience, you should also ask more specific questions, including things such as:

  • Current systems/technologies in use
  • New systems/technologies that may be on the horizon
  • Size of budget and/or responsibility for budget
  • Team-building or mentoring
  • Amount of authority in carrying out responsibilities

Read More

When assessing a job candidate, many employers like to conduct their initial interview over the phone. It’s convenient for both the interviewer and the job seeker.

However, speaking over a telephone does present certain limitations: namely, the interviewer can’t see the way you’re smiling when you talk about the job. That’s why it’s so important in a phone interview to use your voice to create a picture of someone the employer will want to hire!

It’s often said that over 90% of communication is non-verbal. Indeed, this article at Psychology Today cites, “55% of communication is body language, 38% is the tone of voice, and 7% is the actual words spoken.”

So, more than half of communication is visual, and all of that gets lost in a phone interview!

The good news is that 38% of communication is your tone of voice, and you need to use that to your advantage when talking to an employer over the phone.

The phone interview will be all about what the interviewer (and you, of course) hears – both literally and figuratively – when talking with you on the phone. Not being able to see you, the interviewer will not know your intended degree of eye contact, your style, attitude, handshake, mannerisms, personality, courtesies or smile, except through your voice. Your voice and how you use it will paint the “you” the employer pictures in his or her mind during the interview, and will likely make or break your chances of taking that next important step – an in-person interview.

Emphasis on What is Heard

You will need to convey through your voice the many things that would normally be conveyed through physical appearance, facial expressions and gestures. You might not be used to thinking about the importance of your voice. This is definitely the time to focus on it.

Of course, some of the things you’ll do to get ready for the phone interview are the same as for a face-to-face interview, and every bit as important. Here are some valuable tips to help ensure your phone interview goes smoothly:

The Surprise Phone Interview

Your phone rings and it is an employer you weren’t expecting to hear from. Are you ready? Are you prepared to talk about the company, the job, and how you are a fit? Do you have notes nearby? Have you rehearsed answers?

You can choose to fly by the seat of your pants, hoping you do a good job in the interview. Or, you can tactfully say you are so sorry, you are in the middle of something, and can you set a time a little later that day (thus getting some time to prepare.)

It’s a tough call because you might miss the opportunity to interview with this company. On the other hand, you don’t want to go into any interview unprepared.

Be Prepared, Just in Case

Whether you are expecting to hear from an employer or not, be prepared!

  • Be prepared to discuss how you are a fit for each job for which you have applied, whether some additional training might help, and why you are attracted to the job and the company.
  • Be prepared – i.e., rehearse – for how you will answer some of the tough questions about yourself that might be asked. Some of those might include:
    • What is your greatest weakness?
    • Where do you need improvement?
    • What’s the worst situation you ever encountered on the job and what did you do about it?
    • What do your coworkers say about you?

When You Have an Appointment for a Phone Interview:

  • Shower and dress; groom as if you are going out to meet someone. This impacts how you are feeling about yourself and your chances of projecting good qualities over the phone. You are what you wear!
  • Have papers with notes carefully placed near you, including your resume; no shuffling sounds allowed!
  • Have the company website and job description up and ready on your computer for reference, right in front of you. This will help you speak smoothly and knowledgeably, with few pauses. Awkward hesitation and the sound of silence seem much longer and louder when there are no visual cues.
  • For the best connection and the best sound quality:
    • Be alone in a quiet place without distractions
    • No wind blowing across the cell phone speaker as you drive with the car windows open
    • No kids crying or dogs barking
    • No TV, music or radio talk show, or video games, etc. playing in the background
  • Call or be at your phone on time. This is a real, bona fide The time set is a real, bona fideappointment.
  • Smile, even before you pick up the phone. Believe it or not, the interviewer will be able to hear the smile in your voice. Of course, even an invisible smile should be sincere, so no need to smile inappropriately when the conversation is more serious.

During the Interview

  • Stand or sit with your best posture. This will positively impact how you sound.
  • Use your voice to convey such positive attitudes as Enthusiasm, Friendliness, Energy, Interest, Happiness Excitement and Confidence.
  • Be aware of the technical sound of your voice. Be honest with yourself about it and adjust accordingly. The interviewer will be noticing, and drawing conclusions about your:
    • Tone– Do you sound critical? Accepting? Arrogant? Humble? Positive? Negative? Willing? Unwilling?
    • Pitch– Does your voice sound pleasant, i.e., would people enjoy hearing it?
    • Volume– Is it loud, soft, or medium? You can control it. Do you show that you are considerate about others hearing you? Do you turn down your voice so as not to disturb others?
    • Speed– Is it slow, medium or fast? Talking too quickly can be a sign you don’t care if others “get” what you are saying. Talking too slowly can imply you are low energy, or slow to catch on.
    • Diction– Is it clear or garbled? Do you tend to mumble? Show you care about effective communication – speak clearly.
    • Emphasis– Speak emphatically (not dramatically) about your fit for the job; you will increase the chances of the interviewer agreeing with you. Speak without emphasis and the interviewer will think you are bored or not really interested.

Before You Hang Up

Wrapping up the phone interview can seem tricky. You can start by warmly asking the interviewer if he or she has any more questions for you. Quickly confirm the interviewer’s full name, title, email address and phone number, if you don’t already have that information.

Jim Fergle, Manager of Job Search Services at the DuPage County Workforce Development Division, has this advice for how you might best bring the phone interview to an end:
“You could say, ‘I’m really excited about this opportunity and how I can help your company grow (or solve a problem, or implement a solution). I would enjoy furthering this conversation in person. What is the next step of the process? If I don’t hear from you (by a certain time), do you mind if I follow-up?’

“This is my humble opinion,” Fergle suggests. “There are other ways to go about it, but I believe the candidate should show some initiative.”

When it’s time to hang up, sincerely thank the interviewer for contacting you, say a friendly good-bye and “I hope to hear from you soon.”

Your Voice Paints a Picture

Your voice conveys an amazing array of qualities, if you let it. It can create positive impressions of you – on the phone as well as in-person. Listening to and learning from your own voice will be time as well spent as the time spent buying a new interview suit.

If you successfully utilize that 38% of communication consisting of “tone of voice,” your phone interview can lead to that in-person interview that says you are officially in the running for the job!

Need Help With Your Phone Interview Skills?

Our Job Search Boot Camp workshops will help you with key aspects of your job search, including two whole workshops on interviewing in person and on the phone.



Learn more about our Boot Camp

In any job interview coming up, you will likely be asked that dreaded question, “What is your greatest weakness?”

Your answer to this question can actually make or break your continued candidacy for the position.

Now, you do have weaknesses, let there be no doubt! So, first off, don’t answer that you can’t think of any weaknesses. It will make you come across to the interviewer as overly confident, or perhaps as blind to your flaws, and therefore inflexible in working situations. Not good.

First and foremost, prepare a response before you show up for the job interview; don’t try to improvise on the spot! While preparing, keep in mind both the job requirements and the needs of the employer. Preparation can take research and a lot of thought; the answer is not obvious, even to you. But there are things you can do to help you keep it honest and effective, and simultaneously show the interviewer that you’re the person for the job.

Don’t Humblebrag

Avoid sounding over-confident, arrogant or like a braggart when you answer the dreaded question. Don’t say, for example, “I work too hard.” Guess what? The interviewer will see right through that little self-pat-on-the-back. People call that a “humblebrag,” and research shows that humblebragging can backfire. But, apart from the psychology of humblebragging, there are other reasons not to use that approach.

First, the interviewer is sick of hearing that answer from all the “clever” job-seekers who say it.

Second, working “too hard” is not necessarily a negative from the employer’s point of view! Such a statement will look insincere, and as if you are covering up other, real weaknesses.

Third, if you try to make it sound even better by saying “I used to work too hard, but I learned that it is more important that I work smarter,” that might backfire, too. Didn’t your instincts tell you in the old days that working smart is critical, and that working hard is what everyone is expected to do? And if you couldn’t manage your time well enough then to achieve work/life balance, perhaps the employer will see you as unable to balance the demands of a busy, complicated job.

It’s About Professional Growth

The question about your greatest weakness, as dreaded as it may be when you are preparing for the interview, is actually your opportunity to share your very own professional growth story: how you’ve overcome a professional challenge and become a better person (and better potential employee) in so doing.

The key is to reveal something true about your previous professional self that you realized was a bit of a negative, and how you turned it into a positive. Give examples of what you did to overcome it.

Concentrate on professional, not personal traits. For example: “Always tending to see the big picture, I sometimes overlooked minor details, until I learned to always have a strong “details” person on my team.”

Another example of a good answer would be: “I tend to be naturally outgoing, but used to be nervous about cold-calling. I enrolled in a professional seminar on the topic. It really put the concept in perspective, gave me ideas on how to think of it and approach it. Over time it became less and less of a problem for me.”

Confessions of a workNet Career Counselor

Zhavonne Haynes, Career Counselor and Workshop Facilitator in the DuPage County Workforce Development Division, located at the workNet DuPage Career Center in Lisle gives her own example of a response to the “weaknesses” question, from personal experience: “I have a hard time delegating my work to others. I know how I would do the work. I don’t know how the other person will do it,” Haynes says. “It’s hard to know their level of competency and commitment. I have to remember that someone trained and trusted me in the past and now I have to train and trust another person. It’s hard for me to let go yet I know I have to in order for that person to grow, and for me to get more done.”

Haynes recommends looking at how to use a strength in your experience to balance the weakness you present; this can help show that you have what it takes to do the job, and just need a little more experience or training in one aspect of it.

You might also give an example of a weakness that won’t directly impact your performance on the job for which you are interviewing. For example, if you are applying for a nursing job, you might share that you are not particularly adept at conducting group presentations (probably not a big part of a nursing position, if one at all.) In this case it will be critical to underscore your strength in one-on-one communication with patients, staff and doctors.

Show That Your Weakness is Not an Issue

Be sure to reveal your weaknesses in terms of how you’ve turned them around or compensate for them to positively impact the employer.

When discussing your weaknesses, don’t focus on making yourself look good, but on how you can contribute positively to the employer.

And make sure you treat most of the weaknesses you might choose to mention as primarily in the past. An exception would be if the weakness is a skill that could be fairly easily acquired because of your strengths. For example, “I’ve successfully used Excel for years, but I’d like to have the opportunity to use more formulas and work on more complex spreadsheets.”

Avoid Drama About Your Greatest Weakness

Your answer should be professionally focused and as concise as possible. Avoid dramatic details such as “I care too much,” or, “I give too much.” Such retorts will make you look like you don’t have professional boundaries, for example. They might also make you look like a martyr, or like you spend a lot of time helping people with their personal problems on the job. I’m sure you can think of other ways such answers might backfire.

The Positive of Your Negative

The way you answer the question, “What is your greatest weakness?” can say enough about you to help tip the scales in your favor. Be honest and open, and don’t try any tricks. Just accentuate the positive of your negative. It’s not simple, but it is worth the time to come up with a good answer – your ability to answer that question may keep you in the running for a job!

NEED HELP WITH YOUR JOB INTERVIEW SKILLS?

workNet DuPage can help job seekers prepare for their job interviews with one-to-one assistance and support, and a variety of workshops.

When you’re feeling desperate for a job, it might be tempting to lie your resume. Lying about your skills or experience probably seems innocent enough. It’s just an exaggeration…no harm, no foul, right?

Not quite! There are many ways that lying about your qualifications can backfire. Here’s why honesty truly is the best policy when writing your resume.

What Do Job Seekers Lie About on Their Resume?

This is comparable to what we see here in DuPage County. We conducted a quick survey* of local HR professionals, and the lies they reported seeing most often are:

  • Responsibilities (63% of responses)
  • Academic degree (50%)
  • Skill set (50%)
  • Dates of employment (38%)
  • Salary (25%)
  • Job Title (13%)

It’s understandable that job seekers lie about these sorts of things. Exaggerating your skills, education and/or job responsibilities will make you look more attractive to an employer. Why not go for it?

Here’s why not…

The Lie Will Probably Get Caught

According to that same CareerBuilder survey, 58% of hiring managers said they’ve caught a lie on a resume. Another 33% reported that they’ve seen an increase in resume “embellishments”.

In our survey of HR pros, all of the respondents reported that they had caught lies on resumes. When asked how often they see lies, 60% said sometimes, 25% said rarely, and 15% said often.

And, here are the two main ways these lies get caught:

  1. In the Interview: Lying about skills or experience on your resume might get you to the interview. However, it will quickly become apparent during the interview that you don’t really have those skills.
  2. Verification of Information: Things like education, dates of employment or salary are easy to verify with a simple phone call. And HR people do make such calls when evaluating job candidates.

So, if you lie on your resume, the chances are pretty good that you’re going to get caught.

What Happens if You Get Caught?

As you might imagine, getting caught in a lie is…not a good thing.

In the CareerBuilder survey mentioned above, about half of employers (51%) said that catching a lie on a resume would automatically disqualify the candidate. Another 40% said that it would depend on what the candidate lied about.

In our survey, even more of the HR pros – 60% – said that you’d be automatically disqualified by a lie. The others said it would depend on what the lie was about. For example, one HR pro said they would call the applicant/candidate for an explanation, then decide whether or not to disqualify them.

Similarly, another HR pro explained, “It depends on whether there is a reasonable explanation for the discrepancy on the application/resume, i.e. if it’s a matter of interpretation, or if it’s just blatantly false information that disqualifies them.”

Overall, there’s a very strong chance that if you get caught lying, you will be disqualified from the job.

But, What if You Don’t Get Caught?

If you lie, it is possible that you won’t get caught. Then, if you really sell yourself in the interview (and continue the lie), you could get the job. That’s not as great as it sounds, and here’ why:

  • You’ll Have to Live and Work With that Lie – Mark Twain famously said, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” When you lie, you not only have to remember that lie, but all the additional lies you end up telling to support the original lie. It ends up being the proverbial “web of lies” that you have to maintain and carry with you. For example, in this confession from someone who lied on their resume, they talk about being “absolutely terrified that someone would find out.” They also felt “enormous stigma” and felt they had to “work twice as hard as everyone” to compensate for the lie. Are you ready to work under those conditions, possibly for years?
  • You Can End Up in a Job That’s Way Over Your Head – Let’s say you lied on your resume, and you fooled the hiring manager in the interview. Congratulations! You’ve landed a job in which you’ll be expected to know and do things that you don’t know how to do. Are you ready for that?
  • There’s a Good Chance the Lie Will Eventually be Discovered – Unlike the above-mentioned confessor who got away with lying, many other “resume liars” were uncovered. Just look here, here and here for the stories of high-profile executives whose lies were ultimately discovered, with disastrous consequences. You may notice that not every one of those people lost their job, probably because they were in such high-level positions. How confident are you that you’d escape “getting the ax” if you were caught in a lie?
  • The Lie Will Follow You – Getting fired for lying on your resume will follow you around. Imagine an HR person calling your previous employer and learning that you were fired for lying – that will put the kibosh on your new job. No employer wants to hire someone with a track record of dishonesty.

Honesty Is the Best Policy

I’ll close with another quote from Mark Twain – “One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives.”

A lie can have many lives and, like a cat, it can bite you when you least expect it. The safest and surest course of action is to be honest about your qualifications. Then, tailor your resume to each job, showing why your true skills, experience and education make you such a good fit.

An honest resume, targeted to the job, will move your career forward in a positive and meaningful way!

 

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We offer workshops, one-on-one job search assistance, and possible funding of up to $10,000 to get new skills or certifications.

If you try Googling the phrase “good resume,” you’ll get something like 67,400,000 results. That’s a mountain of resume advice. How, then, should you approach writing a good resume? To help answer that question, we asked HR professionals in the DuPage County area for their opinions on the biggest resume do’s and don’ts. Read on to see what they had to say.

1. What Makes a Resume Most Effective or Successful?

    • Concise, not too long and to-the-point — Your resume shouldn’t tell the details of your life story, or of your entire work history. Instead it should focus on your fit for the job for which you are applying. When prioritizing what information to include in your resume and what to cut, keep in mind that recent experience counts more than older experience.

    • Organized, clean and easy to read — HR staff are often the first to see your resume, and they prefer resumes that are easy to read. Use bullet points and outline form to make a resume that visually highlights your accomplishments, and makes it easy for the HR person to visually scan and make sense of it. Be sure there is sufficient space between paragraphs and bullet points, so that your resume doesn’t look like a wall of text.

    • Focused on skills, achievements and results — In general, both the HR screener and hiring manager want to see accomplishments at your previous jobs, not just a “laundry list” of tasks you performed. When listing your accomplishments and achievements, be sure to focus on those that most pertain to the job for which you are applying.

    • Clearly written, with supporting details — Make sure that statements about your qualifications are clear and to the point, and supported by relevant facts or statistics.

    • Easy to understand —  Chances are, the first person viewing the resume is not an expert on the position. It most likely won’t be the hiring manager; rather, it will be an HR representative in most cases. Position-specific terms and acronyms might not mean enough to everyone who sees your resume; keep those to a minimum and be sure to define them the first time you use them in the document.

2. What are the Biggest and/or Most Common Resume Mistakes That You See?

    • Spelling and grammatical errors —  Most of the HR professionals we surveyed gave this as the top mistake they see on resumes. Spelling and grammar errors give the impression that you are careless or lazy; a poor communicator or just sloppy. They increase the chances of your meaning or attitude being misunderstood (or worse, understood for what they actually are); they reflect poorly on your level of professionalism and your commitment to communicating well with the reader.

    • Resumes in file formats that are difficult (or impossible) to open —  If the HR person can’t open it on the first try, you are done. Get with the program! Send your resume out in a file format that just about anyone can open. This includes an email with a plain text attachment. Or, email the resume as a .doc file. As long as your resume is largely text-based and formatted in common fonts, it will be easy to read just as you wrote it.

    • Professional Summary is too general —  If you use a professional summary, it will sit in prominence at the top of your resume. It should emphasize experience that fits the job for which you are applying, or show specifically the type of job, challenges and culture you are seeking.

    • Too long of a resume, with outdated information that doesn't apply to the job you want — It’s great that you were one of the first ever to use punch cards or, later, a PC, but that doesn’t matter for the job you want today. Going back too far in your resume will obviously “date” you and, as noted above, recent experience is more important. Also, going back that far makes the resume too long (or shall we say, “boring?”) Show you have current skills and emphasize the ones that will make you valuable in this particular job. You don’t have to make it a one-pager, but do your best not to make it too long, i.e., a resume that gives too much information unrelated to the job for which you are applying.

    • Cutting and pasting the same job duties for multiple jobs — Be specific. What did you do in each particular position that made it different from the previous ones? How did you make yourself more valuable and grow your skills over time? What new things did you have to learn and how did you use them? Show that you are always in “growth” mode and look forward to taking on new challenges. Using the same description for each entry makes you look stagnant, lazy and unmotivated, at the very least.

    • Not enough relevant information — If you do not give much information in your resume that shows you are a strong potential fit for the job, your resume will be quickly tossed out. The competition is heavy and the HR person is anxious to whittle down the pile. Do yourself a favor: pack your resume with the “meat” needed to obviously prove your strength as a candidate.

Remember that today’s HR person is not reading much between the lines. Starting with the “eyes” of the ATS (Applicant Tracking System,) your resume must show you to be an obvious potential fit. Don’t use the same resume you sent for the last job or the one before that. Use one that proves your potential for THIS job.

Also, use keywords that quickly show your potential fit. Make pertinent information stand out with bullet points and/or headings/sub-headings. Create a title for yourself that applies to the particular job you want, and put it at the top of your resume under your name and contact information. Make all the information in this version of your resume work for you, even the fact that, for example, you live only a few minutes’ commute from this employer’s location.

Putting the Pieces Together

Remember that your resume could be in competition with scores, or even hundreds of other resumes. It needs to stand out.

But “standing out” doesn’t mean resorting to gimmicks or tricks. It means creating a good resume. This means writing a resume that clearly and concisely demonstrates why are a strong candidate for the job.

Take the above advice, directly from HR professionals, and you will greatly improve your chances of making it through the frenzied part of the resume competition and into the “yes” pile!

NEED ASSISTANCE WITH YOUR RESUME?

Job seekers in the DuPage County area can receive one-to-one resume assistance at the workNet DuPage Career Center. They may also attend our Job Search Boot Camp, a four-day series of workshops about resume writing, job interviews, and much more.

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