Don’t you get angry when you buy a product and find that it’s not at all what you were expecting? Sometimes I’ll see new products in the supermarket and look at the package and try it. Of course, the beautiful dish on the box looks nothing like the soggy mess on my plate. I never know at whom to get mad – the marketer for doing their job or myself for being such a dope.
The same thing happens in catalogs or on-line. Lovely product descriptions that are only marginally like the thing that arrives in the box a few days later. The funny thing is that people do this every day and they often do it with the single most important thing they have to sell: themselves.
I happened to be reading a LinkedIn bio of a young person I know pretty well. Their CV was very impressive and if I didn’t know them personally I’d probably want to give them some serious consideration for an appropriate job opening. The only problem is that it’s false advertising. I know them well enough to know that most of the job responsibilities they highlight are somewhat exaggerated (and I don’t mean putting the best spin on them – I mean outright BS).
There’s an old saying: Nothing sinks a bad product like good advertising. Sometimes I’m not sure if we’ve raised a generation of young folks who have been told since birth that they’re the greatest thing since sliced bread (note to self: what was the greatest thing before sliced bread?) and, therefore, can’t fathom themselves as anything less or what. I’ve had kids with 6 months experience ask me why they’re not being considered for VP slots. Maybe that’s what’s driving the personal hyperbole.
Even if hiring mangers don’t check references (most do, and usually not just the ones you’ve given them), even if they don’t spend time vetting out the specific skills a candidate possesses, at some point the fact that you exaggerated your skills or experience will come back to haunt you. You’ll fall behind. Your team will be angry you’re not lifting your weight. Not good.
When I was hiring, I was just as interested in the potential you possessed as I was in the skills you’d already begun to develop. There’s something appealing, at least to me, about molding a younger executive’s skills versus breaking an old dog of bad habits. There’s nothing appealing about finding out the package wasn’t as advertised.
Thoughts?
Consult Keith 