A friend of mine is currently looking for a job, and so he’s writing a resume. I can tell, with confidence, that 75% of his resume is pure lies, about 20% of his resume is truth mixed with lies, and about 5% of his resume is exaggerated truth. He got his past 2 jobs with a similar resume, so, I guess it’s working for him.

Unfortunately, my friend is not alone, anyone who’s anyone is doing this. Granted, the percentage of lies varies slightly from one resume to another, but, lies are lies (in other words, you are hiring a liar). The problem is, candidates are taught that it’s best practice to submit a different resume that will match the skills needed for each and every job they apply to. Of course, that’s not technically possible without lying.

Lies aside, resumes are also a pain to read. Why would I care about someone’s hobbies if I want to hire him? Why would I care about someone’s work experience from the 90’s? Why would I care about a nearly endless list of programming languages that the person claims to have worked? Why would I care if the person speaks Swahili when the job only requires English?

In my opinion, the CV, if it’s really necessary, should only be a few lines long. This will make the process of writing and reading that CV a light, non-painful process.

I personally would not ask for a CV from a candidate. I would just ask them to perform a task for me in their field of expertise. If they did it, then they’re good for the job, if they didn’t, then, I’m sure someone else will.

I hope this little rant of mine gets viral, so that this whole resume practice (and the industry built around it) will end.

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