Lying in your CV or misrepresenting it, is wrong and unacceptable. It is going to get you outed, shamed, and fired...almost for sure.
Turns out there might actually be one exemption to the rule. As recruiters explain, filling your CV with fiction might be the perfect way to plan out your career path and set professional goals for the year.
As Top Recruiters explains
1. Align Your Lies With Your GOALS
A top recruiter explains "At the start of every year, I do this thing where I update my CV with falsehoods. I lie, intentionally and boldly: proficient in X; launched Y; led a team. I mold it to perfection".
What do you want to achieve professionally? Add it to your CV. Your CV is not about a job application anymore. It is now a GOAL that you want to achieve in the year. Once the goal is set, there is no editing. Achieve it. It puts pressure on you to upgrade, achieve and excel. Jobs will fall in place when you align your goals and your ambitions.
2. Plan the Process
A top recruiter explains, "And in its perfect state, wrought with lies, I think about what steps I can take in the coming year to make it less fiction and more non-fiction"
This whole agenda is only useful if you take it one step further and start plotting out how you are going to make these lies a reality. What skills do you need to acquire? What projects do you need to undertake? Who do you need to network with? When do you want to start and how quickly within a year you want to complete it?
3. "Just Do It"- As NIKE says
"I am convinced this is the best career advice I have, a modern-day version of ‘dress for the job you want.’ Craft your CV to how you want it to look, and then figure out how you’re going to make that piece of fiction, a piece of non-fiction in a year’s time".
Finally executive your action plan. Lying on your CV is unacceptable. But, using your CV as a way to hone your career development objectives is an interesting way to set yourself up for success.