In a tough job market, the temptation to stretch the truth in your application materials can be enormous. This temptation has hit headlines in the form of Yahoo! CEO Scott Thompson’s computer science degree from Stonehill College, who confirmed that Thompson only earned an accounting degree during his time there.

It’s true that busy human resources staffers and even busier business owners may not have time to fact-check your resume and chit-chat with your every reference. However, you never know when one might take the time or which piece of information they will check, and that alone is enough reason for most people to stay honest in their resume and professional profiles online.

There is another good reason not to lie on your resume, and that is simply that you may wind up in a situation where you suddenly need to have knowledge that you don’t have. There are wild tales of people who faked being doctors or pilots for years (or both, in the case of con artist Frank Abagnale, Jr.), but these stories are few because most people get caught.

And finally, the best reason to be honest in your job search: a lie may get you in for the short run, but people appreciate honesty in the long run. Rather than pretending to have skills which you don’t have, turn yourself into an eager learner. Many companies would rather have an employee who can and wants to learn five skills than an employee who sticks stubbornly to one.

Honesty, integrity, and reliability are golden values in an employee. Get in touch with us if you’d like to learn how to project these values in your job search!