by Darlene McDaniel on July 16th, 2007

Is there such a thing as too honest? Well, some of you may think there is, but I don’t. There are not varying degrees. Either you are honest or you are not. Either you are telling the truth or you are not. Pretty black and white.

I was reading an article this evening by Penelope Trunk, called When writing a resume, don’t be too honest . The title got my attention. But the article got me writing.

Here is a direct quote from her article, “The advice, “Don’t lie on your resume” is useless. If you don’t know lying is bad then you’re not qualified for any job. The problem is that most issues of resume truth are not so black and white.”

The first part of this paragraph, I agree, wholeheartedly! As I stated in my post earlier today, Do You Dare Lie? No one should have to tell you not to lie.

I completely disagree with Penelope Trunk on the latter part this paragraph. Either a lie is a lie or its not. Either the statement is true or it is false. I have included the next part of her opening paragraph.

“A well-written resume to one person is a pack of lies to another. Make sure yours falls somewhere in between, which is no small feat. We all know there is such a thing as stretching the truth too much. But there is also such a thing as being too honest.”

I will say it again, either what you are writing in your resume is true or false, period. Stretching the truth is a lie. How can Penelope Trunk or anyone else for that matter say that what you write on the resume should “fall somewhere in between.” What is that? Where is that? And who defines that?

The definition of a lie is making a false statement. A deceptive statement is a lie. Stretching the truth is a lie. If the middle is stretching, than it is a lie too. Period.

Here is an example of stretching the truth that Penelope Trunk gave in her article.

“My 21-year-old brother, Erik, worked summers at Blockbuster Video where, predictably, none of the mostly-teenaged employees followed company rules. In a fit of productivity my brother rearranged the displays to be in line with the standards sent from company headquarters. At the same time, store sales increased ten percent. So (as the family resume writer) I wrote on his resume, “Assumed responsibility for in-store marketing and increased sales 10%.” At a family dinner, we passed around Erik’s resume. (Yes, we do this in our family.) My 34-year-old brother, Mike, said, “Are you kidding me? This is such crap. No one will believe this.” Erik kept that line in his resume, and he explained and supported it well when challenged in interviews. Recently, he landed a job at an investment bank.”

Please feel free to read her article in its entirety. I want to know if I am the only one who has a problem with the first part of this article.