Young people are exaggerating their resumes and Recruiters seem pleased with it.

Sourced from: Forage

Most young people will be offended by this article, but as a young person myself, I felt compelled to let the cat out of the bag.

Exaggerated resumes are the latest trend in today’s job market, and they go beyond the memes you see on the internet. As I like to refer to it, resume polishing or manipulation is the act of making a mundane task appear to be saving the world. Many of us have seen the light bulb meme, which depicts a job candidate miraculously transforming the act of changing a light bulb into a heroic activity. This may appear normal to so many, but the story does not end there.

People have gone so far as to include skills, languages, and courses about which they know little or nothing. Just because I can say “hello” in Spanish doesn’t give me the right to list Spanish as a language skill on my resume. I was with a group of young people when one of them joked about not having a skill listed on their resume. This is a very common trend nowadays because everyone is trying to make a great first impression that will put them ahead of other candidates for similar roles.

How are recruiters reacting? 

Most recruiters are eager to bring in the next rock star candidate whose skills and competencies match the needs of the organization, but they appear to be overlooking one critical factor in the race to find the right candidates. That factor is originality; in recent times, I’ve noticed more firms emphasizing the importance of originality when candidates submit applications, and I believe this is the right way to go.

Highlighting in job descriptions that having a specific skill or understanding a specific language is a plus to candidates’ applications, in my opinion, does more harm than good. These are possible interview questions. It is more important to be genuine than to create a false impression. I’ve seen people day-learn a specific skill just to get through an interview. They end up entering those organizations with half-baked knowledge and, as expected, learning on the job. This denies other legitimate candidates the right to a level playing field.

Recruiters must devise strategies for bringing in the best candidates while maintaining integrity. In this day and age, where innovation drives growth, a company needs humans, not robots, to think, learn, and brainstorm ideas that could bring in billions of dollars. Who will focus on creating value if everyone is focused on creating impressions?