One very common evergreen recruitment issue is resume inflation.
Resume Inflation happens when a candidates exaggerate or embellish their resumes to appear more impressive than they actually are.
For example:
– Job Title Inflation: Calling yourself “Manager” when you were actually a “Senior Executive.”
– Data Stretching: Extending employment dates to hide career gaps (I’ve seen this a lot)
– Skill Padding: Listing software or languages they barely touched/practiced (I’ve also seen this A LOT!)
– Qualification Faking: Claiming a degree you never completed or certifications you don’t actually have (I’ve seen too. Please, I beg you, don’t do this)
– Company Name Dropping: Implying you had a much bigger role at a well-known company than they actually had (and amazingly… this works vice versa too and I’m guilty of this one)
– Result Fabrication: “Grew revenue by 300%” with no actual basis (this is why I want to verify your payslips, honestly)
People do this because competitive job markets push candidates feel like the truth alone isn’t enough.
And honestly, many get away with it because hiring managers simply don’t have enough time to verify everything thoroughly.
But from an employment law and HR perspective, resume inflation creates:
– Mismatched hires
– Performance issues down the line
– Trust and credibility problems
– And in serious cases, involving fake credentials or fake payslips, grounds for immediate termination even years later
Recruiters and hiring managers… please do your reference checks properly.
Call. Don’t just email.
Use skills-based assessments to support hiring decisions if necessary.
Happy weekend, everybody!
Remember, the right hire tells the truth. We just need to learn how to ask better questions.
xoxoxo, AuntyHR
