Is it okay to lie about experience in a CV?
First, I want to thank you for your articles published in Monitor. Is it okay to lie in the CV? Some times a job advert asks for experience which i don’t have yet i can do the job. Joseph
Dear Joseph,
First of all it’s a big disservice to yourself to begin your career on a lie. Lack of integrity right from how you write your CV is very risky because it always backfires when you least expect it. One lie always leads to another and before you know it, you have created a web of lies making you prone to contradicting yourself with disastrous consequences.
Secondly, employers specify experience because they believe it gives you the opportunity to practice your acquired skills and reduce your lead time to become productive in the job.
That said, I have earlier on written that fresh graduates most times fail to land jobs not because they lack experience but because they fail to articulate that even if they don’t have the desired experience, they acquired attributes which potential employers would pay highly to bring into their companies.
These attributes are easily acquired during school and college days.
Therefore, to make your CV take you through the sieve to the interview room, it should indicate with examples incidences you lived the following attributes irrespective of whether it was in school, college or a workplace:
1.Resilience: Indicate when you ably dealt with setbacks. 2. Good communication: Show how clearly you put across your ideas and ability to listen to others. 3. Effective leadership: Demonstrate to potential employers that you have the potential to motivate and lead others in order to achieve common objectives. 4. Teamwork and interpersonal skills.
Moses Ssesanga
Head Human Resource
NMG - Uganda
[email protected]
