A sales pitch too far University of Manchester Careers Blog

A sales pitch too far Some people are economical with the truth, tell lies, plagarise coursework, cheat in exams  and on their boyfriends/girlfriends. You can think what you like about the morals or ethics of such people but what actually happens to them?    Do you hear about the ones  who got away with it or the ones that got caught and were expelled from their course or make the headlines in the papers? Its tempting with other people seemingly taking advantage all over the place to consider doing yourself a favour and padding out your CV with some things that will make you look good too. There is a BIG difference between doing a good sales pitch and downright lies. DO Think about everything you have done, paid work, family business, voluntary work, projects on your course, hobbies, sports, helping friends etc Consider very carefully what skills you might have gained. Its not JUST a bar job, the skills you used are valuable in almost every job teamwork, leadership, verbal communication skills, negotiation skills, customer service skills, even marketing and sales skills. Use active language to help sell these skills to an employer. Words like: Analysed, Assessed, Classified, Collated, Defined, Designed. See our CV guide for more Give evidence to prove that you are competent at the skill you claim to have. What was the situation? what did you do? what was the outcome? e.g. Coordinated projects across campus, including market research surveys and facilitating focus groups, gathering student perspectives all of which enabled me to develop effective analytical and project management skills. DONT Copy someone elses CV and put your name on it. Seen it on assessed course work. Outcome  FAIL 2  graduates were recently found out when they both got a job at the same company and their manager looked at their CVs and got rather a shock. Outcome immediate sacking for both of them! Say you worked somewhere when you didnt Its too easy to check and people do check on these things, a simple phone call is all it takes. Even informally you can be found out, your boss asks you if you knew John Smith who would have been your boss, what can you say?? Claim you worked on something when you didnt. Did you really run events with that professional body?   Again its too easy to be found out e.g .Your boss says oh  you worked with Tricia Smith at CILIP didnt you? Can you just ring and ask her about this? There might also be a realistic expectation that if you did a particular task you would have developed a particular skill or knowledge, it can be pretty hard to fake. And if anyone tells you its ok to make stuff up on your CV or that everyone does it just ignore them! EDIT 31/7/2014 CIFAS the UKs fraud prevention service has produced a new leaflet explaining why it is a very bad idea to lie about your qualifications on a job application and the possible repercussions. All Undergraduate Undergraduate-highlighted applications Applications and interviews CV job hunting jobs