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Focus: Lying for success

Has it become OK to lie on your CV?

  • Gulf News
  • Published: 18:30 May 10, 2012

  • Image Credit: AP
  • In this Nov. 15, 2010 file photo, then PayPal president Scott Thompson, who in January 2012 was named CEO of Yahoo Inc., Yahoo swept out Scott Thompson as CEO Sunday, May 13, 2012, in an effort to clean up a mess created by a misleading resume that destroyed his credibility.

Today’s corporate environment is pushing people towards unethical behaviour.

Most managers are too insecure to promote transparency in a team.

Actions like ‘boosting your CV’ or making claims that you cannot fulfill are now considered a necessary evil to climb up the corporate ladder.

Employees who have the gift of gab are more likely to get promoted than no-nonsense workers. 

 

Comments (7)

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  1. Added 23:02 May 19, 2012

    I am also searching for job in gulf. and this is my 2nd time that came here and i have never shown anything fake. I am not in favor of this. But if you don't show fake experience no one will hire you. because each company want a experienced employees. But can anyone tell me that how a fresh graduate will get a experience if no one will hire him/her. if companies want that no one should show a fake things. then I think so that they should equal opportunity to everyone. and at least should call for a short interview to check his/her abilities and knowledge and for their own long term success.

    Anonymous, dubai, United Arab Emirates

  2. Added 19:33 May 13, 2012

    I agree with Shivshankar K.T., Dubai, United Arab Emirates opinion 100%...yes I think few of people were unlucky to work with those shaky managers as you've mentioned in your words...what if you knew that one of the juniors got her termination letter bcz she was busy enough in her responsibilities and she doesnt have time to have chatting out of the work subjects with another managers, what if you knew that some employers throw the cv away if the photo of the candidate was not pretty ..without even give chance to read her/ his cv.

    yasar, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

  3. Added 10:08 May 13, 2012

    I would compare this to the earlier times where a person joins the company and they stay with the same for the next 35 years. Only reason being competition in those times were less. Living and cost of living was much better ,easier and cheaper. In today’s world, competition is at its peak and everybody wants to stay at the top. With more in regards to money, the best way being climbing the ladder of success. But do you actually climb it one step after another or you directly push your way to the top most with extra support? Nevertheless the right way is the best way. Today’s corporate environment totally depends on the kind of person you are and the type of people you work with or the mangers and the top management people that you have. Transparency plays a very important role in employee trust and effectiveness to work. If the employee has a Hitler system to be followed or ‘do as we say’ followed then there would be no motivation and interest in work It Becomes monotonous. Then where do you expect growth? Monotonous work leads to an inefficient employee and the working graph goes down. So where would promotion exist and interest in moving the ladder of success. That is when employees go for a new job .Lying in a cv is a term that is sensibly not understood. If you lie you are caught maybe not in the interview but when you do the work. So why lie? Instead the way to present your cv would be to describe minutest work done in a grouped manner that would give an overview of the work that you have done. It’s always good to understand that your CV is not the only base for selection. The main part lies in the way your perform and complete the selection .Added to this, in today’s world you would hardly find people who would push you up the ladder of success, it upto to you to kick yourself, awaken the sleeping side and say, ‘its time to move up and reach where I have to!’

    Kavitha Prabhakaran, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  4. Added 22:09 May 12, 2012

    hahaha...it is so funny sometime when you see the employer evaluate the candidate who applies for the vacancy..while the employer got his position by "alwasta" means he is not qualified and he was supported by someone could be senior who granted him the position so he is as employer gives himself the right to not forgive the poor candidate upon any small mistake in the cv but no problem for him if his cv as employer was completely wrong or doesn't qualify him to be the employer. e.g. one of the managers wasnt be able to perform the ISO by him/her self but no problem if his/her work got rejected for many many times, but any other employee was getting the termination letter directly if the employee wasn't be able to perform some new tasks successfully from the first time. Another example :one of the managers told his employees that their new ideas will be under his name only...it wont be under their names...so he was stealing their ideas and tell his manager that it is his ideas.

    yasar, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

  5. Added 18:51 May 12, 2012

    It will be quite tempting of puking lies on the CV in order to get impressed and grab that offer in your hand. A CV has to be short and to the point. I have seen tons of candidates CVs with at least 5 pages and most of it would be a lie. At the time of attending the interview if you don't go through your CV well your caught and many companies do a reference check to see where you have worked, what job did you do, your pay scale , conduct , achievement etc. The Interview is the time to test your communication skills and its you who need to talk and that will come out from the CV. CVs are quite impressive with words that I have never heard of but when you actually talk to the candidate you will know his/ her capacity. As long as companies don't do a reference check, the lucky ones can get away. I feel one needs to be honest and if you go through the CV you know where you stand and how you will present your self. I would suggest not faking too many information and giving a hard time to the recruitment managers as they get overwhelming number of CVS. So The plain answer is, of course, a big ‘no’. Every organization frowns upon lies on the resume, and would disqualify a candidate who is caught doing so. The Candidate should be truthful on the CV and that will show at the time of an interview. Even if you do get a job with a fake resume, you need to live with the fact that you lied and you may get caught at any time. So never get carried away by success stories of people with fake resumes, or let go of a job that you could have applied for.

    Mathew Litty, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  6. Added 15:43 May 11, 2012

    The CV or personal data sheet should be of accurate in all aspect, adding more ‘flavour’ to it to attract potential employers would reflect the individual adversely. It makes sense only when portraying the abilities and commitments in a sensible and professional manner. Corporate world has anything to do here; it could be that they spend less time in scrutinizing the bio data which ultimately becomes a blessing or encouragement to potential employees. An individual who is committed and has the willingness to take up challenges never wants to project himself pessimistically; in the long run it might affects the career growth. It is felt that transparency in corporate world is not fully evidenced. Managers are found insecure lack confidence. True success is always lasting, but never supported or evidenced in any field. There are always hidden or unethical practices followed in organisations that often favour a section of the work group. Such practice annoys people with true aspirations and calibre. The personal data sheet must have the actual facts and figures as it resembles an individual. For some it could be a temporary win to succeed higher levels, but such attempt might bounce back to their growth plan. There are training programmes available focusing on preparing CVs to highlights its ethics and values. It is quite common in the corporate organisations that promotions and recognitions follow influential hands and not fully carried out in a professional manner. Therefore opportunities for talented individuals are affected. It is often seen that employees who have close association with senior management team might enjoy an extra boost in their career, especially organisations lack proper staff succession plan often end up in situations of this kind. Promotions are often taking place to simply satisfy the interests of some individuals and such practice does not inspire or motivate sincere and hardworking employees and that becomes a failure of corporate world.

    Ramachandran Nair, Ruwi, Oman

  7. Added 13:02 May 11, 2012

    No doubt that the corporate world is becoming more and more competitive and the pressure that employees are facing is cumbersome. This kind of pressures sometimes pushes people towards unethical behavior just to climb the ladder or just to save the current position. It is very difficult to work under a manger who feels insecure about himself for various reasons. The moment a manager becomes insecure he loses the professionalism that is required for the job and the people working under him automatically become insecure and confused. The productive time he is supposed to utilize for work will be then diverted in handling his manager. The quality of a manager is to support and give enough tools to his subordinates to perform. A shaky manager who lacks self confidence will have time only to find fault with his juniors and interestingly will try to find fault with the ones who performs the most so that he can undermine his efforts in order to feel safe in the whole process. This kind of actions demoralizes the employees and it will affect their career very badly. It is unfortunate for anybody to work under such circumstances and in this part of the world it is very common as people are appointed mostly through recommendations. A real manager is the one who identifies the potential of his subordinates and assign him work accordingly so that he can excel in all his assignments. Another practice which is found very commonly here is, the managers taking the credit of his subordinate’s achievement. Such managers are fast enough to articulate his subordinate’s achievement to his favor. A weak management is the best example for such scenarios. Employees in such situations have only option of either live with the manager or look out for better options rather than wasting their career. Only a self-confident person who knows his job can become a manager who is not only transparent but also eager to teach his subordinates. According to me boosting the CV inappropriately will back fire. Of course it can give the first impression and may help to get an interview. But the moment the person opens the mouth the truth will come out. I have seen so many people who had finished their MBA either through some online programs or from institutions which are not reputed. In such cases you are taking MBA for the sake of taking MBA and it will reflect in the level of knowledge attained, where as if you are from a reputed school of management you cannot come out without knowing the subject and this makes the difference. I have interviewed people who had hiked the current salaries in order to negotiate better. But the moment I ask them the split up of the salary they fumble and the split figures will never match the total salary. This small lie in the CV is enough for the candidate to lose the job even if he is the best for the post. Integrity is very important especially when we have to work as a team. Gift of gab sometimes works and I am sure everybody will have so many examples in front them. I will not blame them as it is a kind of smart work but it is for the management to identify such people. It is a kind of gamble and it works with someone and it doesn’t work with the other. So the moment there is a change in the management such people will look like a fish out of water. This way of making impressions will not help in the long run and I have never seen anybody successful, rather they will become a rolling stone making quick impressions in various organizations. It is easy for such people to join the wagon if the management is weak. According to my experience only hard work pays off and a person becomes successful when hard work plus a little bit of luck comes in to his life.

    Shivshankar K.T., Dubai, United Arab Emirates

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