Embellished Resumes - A Real ProblemWritten by Sarah Hightower
Take jobseeker in Alabama who, knowing that his IQ was far above average and that in course of his life had learned valuable skills allowing him to function at a very high level, embellished his resume by adding a doctorate that he had never earned. And knowing that because he had never graduated from college or earned a degree he was forever kept away from best jobs and highest salary. So it seemed only a little white lie to add Phd., to academic credentials on his resume. After all he could talk talk and walk walk in his defense industry specialty.The gentleman was so wrong – in any high security position a background check will be a priority and he, of course, did not survive his. Now, he may have had a good job for a short time, but because of this indiscretion, could be forever ruined in that industry. Fortunately for him, his employer did recognize his value and decided to keep him on and send him to school. This story has a happy ending but it is certainly exception rather than rule. The truth is, lying on your resume is just plain stupid, and ranks right up there with other 10 most stupid things people do in their lifetimes. In fact, lying at any time is single act that gets most people in most trouble - trouble in work, in relationships, trouble everywhere. If you have weaknesses in your work history, references, or credentials before you lie about it consider that a skilled resume development specialist can assist you in highlighting what you can do, have done, and will do well for an employer. That same specialist can assist you in ways to overcome other weaknesses on your resume such as age and termination. All employers are looking for right person to solve a particular problem. Your job is to convince that employer that you are right person – most employers know that there are very skilled job seekers out there, not all of them with impeccable credentials, and will be willing to overlook certain weaknesses if everything else is in place.
| | Smashing the Gray CeilingWritten by Virginia Bola, PsyD
For decades, women have chaffed at invisible glass ceiling which prevents their moving into high executive brackets that their competence, knowledge and skills have earned. The same amorphous barrier confronts older workers both in terms of advancement within a company and, most especially, when a job change is required. There is an adage in military that if a rank above major has not been obtained within twenty years, it never will be. The ranks of early military retirees are sprinkled with majors who knew that ten or fifteen more years would never bring a Colonel's cluster.How can such "unwritten rules" be fought? No lawsuit can prove that you were best individual for job. No employer is unintelligent enough to state that your age is stumbling block. You sense discrimination, you become aware of sideways glances and emotional response of an interviewer, but you feel powerless to change their perspective and their bias. Sitting across an interviewing desk, often facing an individual same age as your son, your esteem erodes and your confidence self-destructs. Impotent, humiliated, and angry, you accept that nothing you can say is going to change anything. You continue job hunting with a mounting sense of frustration and an indisputable anticipation of failure. If you have nothing to lose, why not attack problem head-on? Prejudice and discrimination survive only in silence of unexamined judgments and, often unconscious, illogic. Confront situation and at least you create opportunity for white light of reason to enter fray. Try these approaches to prompt more honest interaction and possibly more rational conclusions. 1. You need to be one to put age issue on table. Offer it gently, as one area of needed exploration regarding why you fit employer's needs. Bring it up objectively, as something that can be discussed unemotionally, without triggering lethal interviewer defensiveness. 2. Acknowledge your age as a basis for emphasizing experience of a lifetime and value that such experience can provide to any employer. Concentrate on describing how business has changed over course of years and how deftly you have adapted to those changes and incorporated new ideas and technical advancements into your work performance. 3. Acknowledge common misperceptions about weaknesses of age: hard-to-break habits, lack of flexibility, technological ignorance, and distrust of authority, especially if young. Then use your sales ability to eliminate those misperceptions, probably already resonating in interviewer's head.
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