Do You Think Lying on a Resume Is NO BIG DEAL?! Think Again..

Resume Liars Losing Jobs!

By Robin Ryan (Author and Career Coach)

Lying is something just about everybody does once in a while. You tell a friend she doesn't look fat, when indeed she does. You claim you were working but instead you were enjoying a round of golf. There are all sorts of fibs, but lying, by any other name, is still lying. And America is fed up with lies. Enron, Martha Stewart, large corporations, CEOs; the public's disgust with liars continues to grow every time the headlines reveal someone's false claim.

HR Magazine reported that ADP Screening and Selection Services performed 2.6 million background checks and uncovered that 44 percent of applicants lied about their work histories, 41 percent lied about their education, and 23 percent falsified credentials or licenses. A Careerbuilder.com survey of hiring managers discovered that 93% of those who caught a candidate in a lie did not hire that person. USA Today surveyed 7,000 executives and was shocked to learn that so many misrepresented themselves: 71% lied about the number of years in the job, 64% exaggerated accomplishments, 48% lied about compensation and 52% lied about their education or credentials.

Maybe it's because of the intensity of competition for jobs or because of the prevalence of questionable corporate ethics. People justify lying to themselves and excuse it by thinking others are doing it, it must be okay. Don't fool yourself. HR managers have this employee tactic on their radar. They realize this lie can come back to haunt them and wreck havoc in an organization, or even create a legal and financial nightmare for a company, so their guard is up.

HR managers react to suspicions or signs of lying

Most interviewers may think that lying can be detected in a person's mannerisms -- fidgeting, stuttering or avoiding eye contact -- but 99% of the time these gestures are simply symptoms of nervousness. Practiced liars often show no such signs of discomfort, but present themselves well. Many have incorporated lies into their resume from years ago and never corrected the mistruths.

Human resource managers are fighting back. There is a strong push to ask more situational questions such as "Describe a recent Power Point presentation you made." or "Give an example of a difficult employee you managed." They expect details and specifics. They check backgrounds, compare what you say to what references reveal, go to colleges to verify degrees, and some do credit checks.

Liar's biggest mistake

Take this seriously! When you lie, you risk losing the job you have worked so hard to get. Companies preserve the right to fire a person when they have completed a standard job application, and most of these applications state that supplying false information is grounds for termination. In a nation that worships the super successful, even those who have already succeeded may burnish their CV to climb yet higher. Since this is a legal document, always answer all questions on the application truthfully.

What can happen if you stretch the truth?

Pulitzer Prize winner ... Senator ... Congressman ... Washington Post reporter ... TV evangelist ... all of these embellished their credentials, and when they got caught their careers were publicly ruined.

• Radio Shack's CEO David Edmondson resigned after a Texas newspaper reported he had lied on his resume, claiming a college degree he did not have.
• Marilee Jones resigned her position as MIT Dean of Admissions after an investigation revealed that she earned none of the academic degrees she had claimed.
• George O'Leary was forced to resign after being hired as Notre Dame's head football coach due to lies in his resume regarding his education at NYU and his football playing history.
• Sandra Baldwin, president of the United States Olympic Committee, resigned after it was revealed that she had lied about having a Ph.D.

Lying got some people ahead for a time, but there demise was humiliating, very public, and it really ended their careers. Employers have wised up and now, more than ever, look to weed out the liars. Save yourself the disgrace. DON'T do it!

Many of Robin's articles have appeared in such prestigious magazines as Money, Business Week and Cosmopolitan. She has also appeared in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, and many others. Robin's nationally syndicated column by Gannett Newspapers is carried on 100+ online newspaper sites.

GOALS, Everyone Needs Them!

Setting Realistic and Achievable Goals

•  Goals should be believable and achievable.

• Goals should be a challenge, but not set so high that they can never be reached (causes frustration)

            Football teams may set a goal to reach the playoffs or win a conference title in addition to realizing their maximum potential, but very seldom set a “cast in concrete” goal to be in the Super Bowl.

·         Best Goal is something that is attainable and requires hard work and time to accomplish.

  Dream Big!!!  Write down what you want to accomplish in the next year.  Break down into smaller quarterly objectives (Take into consideration seasonal adjustments – summer – Christmas – etc.)  Develop a plan on how you are going to reach your quarterly objectives every month.  (Set some “Milestones”).

-       Don’t let outside negatives, over which we have no control, influence your goal selections.

-       Obstacles to success are generally self-imposed.

-       Road to reaching goals will have twists and turns, but … by keeping your mind on the things you want and off the things you don’t want … will keep you on track.

-       Ask yourself, “Is what I am doing now or about to do helping me reach my objectives??”

-       Just like handling objections - - Know where the potential obstacles to your success may come up.

-       Talk to people who have accomplished what your goals are - - They will give you invaluable insight into what you need to do.

It's Time to Tweak YOUR Resume!

Is your resume working for or against you?

Here are seven signs it may be time to tweak (or toss) your résumé...

1. No Career Summary/Introductory Statement
Most hiring companies don't have time to match unspecified résumés to open positions, so lead off with a career summary or introductory statement that makes it clear what type of position you are seeking and why you are qualified for the job.

2. Lack of Keywords and Phrases
To pass through a company's applicant tracking software, your résumé must contain the keywords and phrases it is screening for. These words are not the verbs stressed in paper résumés, but nouns such as job titles and technical skills.
To find out what keywords you should be using, read the job posting or obtain the actual job description. You also may want to check out the book 2,500 Keywords to Get You Hired by Jay Block and Michael Betrus, which lists critical keywords for each career and shows examples of how to use them in your résumé.

3. No Evidence of Your Experience
Your résumé should not merely list the jobs you've held; it should provide specific examples of how you achieved success. Résumé-writing professionals recommend using the PARS formula: Describe a Problem, the Action you took, the Results you achieved and Skills you applied.

4. Use of Personal Pronouns and Articles
With just two pages to sell yourself, make each word count. Write in a telegraphic style, eliminating all personal pronouns and articles like "the," "a" and "an." Removing the "I," "me" and "my" from your résumé not only frees up space, but also creates a subliminal perception of objectivity.

5. Irrelevant Information
Irrelevant information keeps the reader from seeing your selling points. Weigh each portion of your experience from the hiring company's perspective to decide what to include and what to emphasize. If you're applying for an engineering position, for example, don't devote a whole paragraph to your job as a camp counselor unless the position has elements that are transferable to the engineering job. And never include information about your marital status, personal situation, hobbies or interests unless they are relevant to the job for which you're applying.

6. Poor Formatting
Unless you have no work experience, or have held a number of different jobs in a short amount of time, a chronological résumé is the most effective. That means using the following order:

 Header (your name, address, e-mail address and phone number)

 Career summary, profiling the scope of your experience and skills

 Reverse chronological employment history emphasizing achievements

 Education

Since poor alignment, spacing and use of bolding and caps make a résumé hard to read, you may want to use a résumé template.

7. Typos and Misspelled Words
From the would-be administrative assistant who claimed to be a "rabid typist" to the executive who boasted that he was "instrumental in running the entire operation," misspellings communicate that you have poor writing skills or a lackadaisical attitude. Proofread your résumé carefully and have several friends and family members read it as well.

Lastly, remember that the purpose of your résumé is to communicate your experiences and accomplishments as they relate to an open position and to obtain a job interview. Because each situation is different, you should tailor your résumé to each opportunity.

                                                                                                                                                                         

Unknown Internet Author               

Job Hunting Tips from WORLCO!

Worlco’s Job Hunting Tips for a Challenging Market Environment

During challenging job-hunting times, some people are resorting to desperate measures thinking that it will help their chances of securing a new position.

Here are some useful tips from Worlco that will help you avoid a few of the major pitfalls during the job-hunting process.

1.      Be honest.  The old adage… “Honesty is the best policy” really applies here.  Misrepresenting your current compensation, education level or dates of employment will be detected in nearly all cases.  Misrepresentation of material information on either your resume or application will be cause for immediate disqualification or termination.

2.      Covering gaps in your employment history.  Rather then trying to fabricate activities to cover gaps in your employment history, be honest and prepare a good explanation of why you were out of work and what you did during that period of time (i.e. care for a relative, started a small business, took time off to travel, spent time with children, looked for a new job, etc.).

3.      Have good responses prepared for the most commonly asked questions.

1.      “Tell me about yourself?” – Describe your most recent experience, first.  Presenting job related information in a concise manner is a “learned” skill.  Take the time to practice what you’re going to say. Your high school record is of little importance at this point in your career.

2.      “What do you want to do next in your career?” – Be specific as to what you would like to see in your next job and where you would like your career to head (i.e. management track or technical track).

3.      “Why did you leave a company or why are you currently looking?” -- Be able to, specifically, tell why you left a job and what you thought the new opportunity might be or why you are currently in the market.  What motivates you to look for a new job at this point in time?

4.      Resumes …

·        Use spellchecker.  Misspelled words and poor grammar are “show stoppers” in most companies. 

·        Don’t try to be all things to all people in your summary.  Make your summary as specific and informative as possible. 

·        Explain gaps in your work history (remember the honesty discussion). 

·        Pictures, graphics and Internet links should be avoided (it’s too time consuming to download and deal with).  Using a simple Word attachment is most effective. Don’t let Zip, PDF or Mac technology hinder your chances.  Don’t try to get “too cute”. 

·        Don’t be too general, technology industry managers want to know, (a) what you have done, (b) when you did it and (c) with what technology.  Don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be. 

·        Be cautious about “spreading yourself too thin” across the Internet.  Blasting your resume to hundreds of companies is difficult to follow-up on and can work against you. 

·        Keep your references informed; the worse thing that can happen with a reference is for them not to be prepared when the reference call comes. 

·        Positive first impressions are critical either ‘in person’ or ‘in written form’.

We look forward to helping you find the right job and Best of Luck in your job search!

Motivational Monday!

Four Tips to Become More Motivated

By Scott Love, The Academy of Recruiting Mastery

The other day I received a call from a large state association considering me to speak at their day long annual "Motivation Day" event. To be considered for this event is a huge honor. I was so pleased and excited that I got the call.
But I have a confession to make. I can’t motivate anyone. I really can’t. The only person who I can motivate is myself. I have no control over the long-term changes that a recruiter makes once he or she leaves my program. Motivation is a choice that each recruiter must decide to make for him or herself. Authentic and long-lasting motivation comes from within and is not dependent upon external means.
So how can we get recruiters motivated to achieve long-lasting performance improvement?
The problem that many managers have with the concept of motivation is that their belief about it is flawed. They believe they can read a motivational book, attend a "pump up" seminar, or get psyched by listening to Wagner on the way to work in the morning. These changes might inspire someone for a few hours, but the next day the same old habits are in place with the same old results. The biggest complaint I hear from managers about the concept of speaking programs is that they get tired of sending someone to a session and a week later the performance results are still the same. Everyone gets excited for a week, and then the status quo raises its ugly little head and says, "Move over, I’m coming back home."
In order to change the motivation level of a recruiter, to achieve real long-lasting change, we must change the fundamental beliefs that cause that person to achieve. And it’s more than the externally visible "enthusiasm" that so many people mistake for motivation. They think that a gregarious bubbly person who is enthusiastic is motivated, when they have no idea what habits live beneath the surface.
Here’s the real key to motivation, folks. It’s more than personality or a fleeting emotional charge. Motivation is the commitment that you have to achieve your outcomes even when you don’t feel like it. That’s it. In other words, it’s leading a disciplined life.
If you want to achieve long-lasting change then you must become more disciplined.
If the word ‘discipline’ had a color, it would be a dingy ugly gray. It connotes boring, laborious drudgery, and doesn't have much fun associated with it. "This ain't your father’s discipline!" I’m talking about "fun discipline". Anytime I do a session for recruiters, I make sure that it’s easy, that it’s simple, and that it’s wildly fun. Let’s just admit the fact that recruiters and sales people don’t like to do anything that’s freakishly boring or monotonous. Let’s put some spice in it so people will actually follow up on what really counts when it comes to success: performance improvement. When you peel away everything that doesn't count, success on your desk all boils down to the actions that you take on an hourly basis. Your entire year is made up of a series of hours, and you must manage your performance as a recruiter on an hour by hour basis.


Follow these four tips on how to become more motivated and more disciplined on your desk:

1. Use the telephone discipline tool It will help you connect with more people each day. I receive emails from recruiters all over the world who say this simple little tool has made a visible improvement on their billings. It all starts with the habit of discipline on the telephone. There is a crisis of discipline in our industry right now. This tool can help you overcome it.
2. Secondly, you need to build on your successes. Are you setting your goals high because some hyped-up motivational speaker who has never had been beaten up in this business told you to shoot for the moon? Forget about it. Shoot for a target that you know that you can hit. Set your goals low. That’s right. Set your goals so that you actually achieve them. Forget about having fifty conversations in a day. Start with twenty. Then go to twenty-one. Twenty-five. Thirty. Thirty-five. Do it progressively. And then shoot for the moon once you have a realistic shot at hitting it. Setting goals beyond your realistic reach causes apathy and a 'why even try' performance model, resulting in low billings and recruiters leaving the business. If you end up not giving it your all every day, this is probably why. Scale it back, dude. Give yourself a break. Get some success under your belt and then raise your goals. It's okay to do this. The market has been brutal and you deserve to start feeling successful again. Start with small successes and go from there.
3. Focus on the fun of the business. Here’s what I mean: I quit the recruiting business…again…for the fifth time this year. And I keep coming back to it because every time I talk with a hot candidate who says he wants to interview with my client, I become elated…I just get a rush. Okay, so it’s like a bad gambling habit. But it’s contagiously fun, and you just can’t help it. Focus on the fun part of the business. Sure, it’s drudgery making all of those calls, but takes those experiences that thrill you and dwell on them. Make the association of a placement or a client/candidate interview so insatiably pleasurable that you just can't wait to set up another one.
4. Change your attitude. "But nobody’s hiring right now." "My market is all dried up." "My city’s economic conditions are in a negative growth pattern right now." Here’s a news flash, champ. Nobody ever won a gold medal on the ice because they said the Russians were bigger than they were. David never doubted his ability to overcome Goliath. Lance Armstrong fell this year in the race and choose not to use it as a convenient excuse for failure. Yeah, you've got challenges. We all do. So suck it up and change your self-talk. If you keep telling yourself the market stinks, then it’ll stink. If you tell yourself that everyone you talk to wants to do business with you, then you will get more business. Tell yourself that 'today is going to be the most exciting day of my life' on the way to work, and watch it become just that. Expect to win. Expect to get the business every time. Become surprised when clients tell you no. Your attitude colors your perspective and paints your opportunities. You have more control over your desk than you realize, and if you change your attitude, you will attract opportunities to you.

Performance improvement through authentic motivation really is that simple. Occasionally I will have a recruiter email me a note telling me that my methods are overly simplistic. I usually respond by saying, "Thank you for noticing. Try it for thirty days and tell me it doesn't work." Remember, if you are going to hit the next level, it has to be fun, easy, and simple…otherwise the status quo will burrow a nice little home in your head. Authentic and lasting change comes from minor improvements made in major areas, so follow these four steps and improve your motivation forever.

Worlco's Organization and Professional Services

WORLCO COMPUTER RESOURCES

ORGANIZATION AND SERVICES

Worlco Computer Resources and Worlco Consulting form a Total Information Systems Staffing Organization that specializes in Permanent Placement, Contract Consulting Services and PC Support Services. Headquartered in Suburban Philadelphia, Worlco services clients locally, regionally and nationally.  Worlco started in 1982 and serves it’s clients from offices in Wayne, PA and two locations in Cherry Hill, NJ.

Each Worlco Partner is a IT Professional with extensive experience in the Information Technology industry prior to joining the company.  Their background encompasses many disciplines in the computer industry.  Additionally, each person maintains a constant awareness of the candidates they represent and the clients they serve.

When a Worlco Partner is selected, they become a participant in an intensive training program which is designed to thoroughly familiarize them with the sensitive elements of our business. Each Partner is trained in recruiting strategy, interviewing principles and techniques, effective reference checking and resume development.

Worlco provides a full range of recruiting and consulting services relating to the computer industry.  Contingency fee placement, executive search, contract consulting services and co-sourcing programs with our clients, are some of the services we provide.

Worlco recruits and places the following categories of IT professionals and executives:

Programmers ** Technical Support Specialists ** Systems Programmers ** Systems Administrators ** Help Desk Representatives ** Project Managers ** Software Developers ** Database Administrators ** Communication Specialists ** Network Engineers ** Sales Representatives ** Product Specialists ** Sales Managers ** Vice President of Sales and Marketing ** Information Systems Managers ** Chief Information Officers

In addition we will perform a search for a Technology professional that does not fall in one of the above titles.

When you’re faced with the need to recruit computer professionals or executives for your company, call Worlco. Your Worlco representative is a true professional in the computer field. Worlco’s only business is providing you with a full range of recruiting and consulting services relating to the COMPUTER PROFESSIONAL AND EXECUTIVE.

You receive a candidate’s resume when the background and experience of that individual is on-target to your job requirement. The resume you receive is a factual representation, to the best of our knowledge, of the candidate’s skill. The candidate has been prequalified regarding your company, the position, the salary, the working conditions, the responsibilities and their willingness to be a member of your organization.

To be productive for you, our clients, and effective for our candidates, a Worlco Partner interviews each candidate face-to-face and checks their references before submitting their credentials for your consideration. This important screening procedure enables each Partner to:

Measure the competency of the candidate relative to their career objectives and your company requirements.

Observe and evaluate the candidate’s communication and presentation skills.

Determine management, peer and subordinate relationships.

Prepare a meaningful, realistic resume of the candidate’s experience and job history.

A Computer Professional is attracted to Worlco by a number of methods: advertising in the classified section of local newspapers; advertising nationally in periodicals related to the computer industry; Internet advertising; presentations by Worlco Partners at universities, professional meetings and technical schools; and by “word-of-mouth.”

The most successful method is “word-of-mouth.” The reason is . . . each candidate represented by Worlco is treated as a professional. A Worlco Partner listens to each individual during the interview; identifies from that person their career goals; counsels the candidate; suggests possible alternatives; and prepares them to make career decisions.

Worlco is a professional staffing company who genuinely cares about the desires of the candidate and does the appropriate prescreening to increase the productivity of our client companies.  Our goal is to “make the right match from the beginning”.