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How to write a truthful resume that stands out

According to Richard Bayer, COO of the Five O’Clock Club, the country’s leading career coaching/outplacement counseling company, lying on resumes has reached an all-time peak from little fibs about job titles to exaggerations regarding responsibilities to fictitious claims of advanced degrees. And, with resume padding getting press attention, employers are stepping up efforts to weed out fakers.

As Bayer says, "There is no reason to lie. The slightest inaccuracy on your resume can come back to bite you in the face and disqualify you for a position you have the skills and experience to win honestly. To distinguish yourself from the competition and make your resume stand out from the crowd, you need to highlight and reposition your accomplishments so they accurately reflect what you are capable of doing."

Here are research-based suggestions for writing a truthful resume that stands out:

- Brainstorm and rank your accomplishments. List them as bullets in the summary section at the top of your resume. Leave off responsibilities that are not important.

- Don’t lie about a degree. If you attended college, but didn’t graduate, list the name of the school and your major area of concentration.

- Use a descriptive job title. Make sure your title accurately reflects the scope of your duties. Often the title a company assigns to a job is not a true indicator of the responsibilities of the position.


- Don’t give each job equal prominence. Highlight or underline the jobs you want the hiring manager to notice.

- Position yourself at the right level. You won’t need to lie about salary if you position yourself at the right level. Don’t say you "install computer systems" because you could be making anywhere from $15,000 to $200,000 a year! Use specific language to signal your experience and the level you are seeking.

- Use a summary or objective at the top. Without this opening statement you are positioned by your most recent job. Make sure the very first line positions you for the kind of job you want.

- Reason for leaving. Don’t lie if it was not voluntary. In today’s economy, with plant closings, outsourcing, downsizing, mergers and acquisitions, it is not unusual to lose a job through no fault of your own. HR managers understand and should not judge you unfairly.