Lying on your CV isn’t right and may end you up in the wrong place.
Lying on your CV will cost you
Recently I wrote about not hiding things on your CV. I followed this up with a post on Facebook asking people a slightly different question: Are you telling the truth on your CV? The post was well attended by likes and comments, but imagine my shock when I saw how many people mentioned that, in many cases, lying on your CV is beneficial for you.
The simple fact is that, no matter what you think is best in the moment, there is never a long term situation where lying on your CV is good for you or your career. Rather omit something or find a better way to state it than lie, only to be found out later.
Here’s the post from Facebook:
What is your address?
The most common lie that was found most agreeable was giving an address in a “better” area. This shows a sad situation where employers are clearly discriminating on applicants based on where they are from. When asked about this issue, some job seekers gave evidence that employers cite “culture fit” as the excuse when in fact the area they live in is the main reason for their aversion to interviewing the candidate.
My advice to avoid lying on your CV here would simply be to put the general area or city (such as Cape Town). Your address is actually, to be honest, none of their business.
The problem with lying on your CV
When you lie, both on your CV or in life, people who believe you form a perception of you. They may accept you, but only on the terms of your lie. You become someone else to them, someone you are not. To keep this up, you have to live a “fake” life, something that hurts you more than anyone else.
Lying on your CV will come back to haunt you. Find another way to resolve things that you think other people won’t want to hire you for. Sometimes, omitting them from your résumé is totally legal and fine – often it’s none of their business. If that doesn’t work, then practise how you will answer questions about it in an honest way – that is the only long-term solution and something that works best for you and your career.
In case you cannot see the above Facebook post embedded, here is the link: https://web.facebook.com/interviewer.co.za/posts/1866284516961607