A few weeks ago, I was disappointed to learn that one of my favorite Food Network Stars, Robert Irvine was losing his contract because he had embellished facts on his resume.While I was quick to form an opinion about his behavior, it got me to thinking about the challenging circumstances that often lead people to make poor decisions in their job search.
If you have been out of work for sometime and keep running into roadblocks with your job search, how are you addressing issues like employment gaps, age discrimination, job hopping, etc. on your resume?
Well, before you took the "wise" advice of well meaning friends and family - here are a few techniques to consider:
- Eliminate month and year format from the dates on your resume, so 3/2004 to 7/2005 becomes 2004 to 2005.
- Use a chrono-functional resume format for the first page of your resume, so the reader is drawn in by your skills and achievements and less focus is made on the dates or employment gaps.
- Avoid creating a career obituary and instead develop a compelling career marketing document that emphasizes your most relevant and recent work experience. Use a summary paragraph to capture early work experience without divulging the dates.
For example:
Early Experience: Held several positions as COO for startup and growing companies requiring direct expertise in operations management, sales and market, and revenue enhancement.
- Always include your achievements, but do not exaggerate - more companies and employers are conducting background checks and contacting references.
What is my point, no matter how tempting it seems at the time, if you lie on your resume, you will get caught.
About the writer
-- Are you struggling to effectively market yourself to employers because you don't know your personal brand?
-- Does your executive resume lack compelling Challenge-Action-Results success stories that indicate your value proposition?
-- Are you getting interviews, but not getting favorale job offers?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you need to contact Abby Locke. She helps 6-figure executives and professional MBA women who have a hard time marketing themselves become sought after leaders, attract jobs that match their values and earn the salaries they deserve.
