This article originally appeared on DiversityInc.com on November 10, 2004

Diverse job-seekers beware. The constricted U.S. job market may be responsible for the lack of invitations asking you to come in and interview. Then again, your résumé could be to blame as well.

Desperate to get the attention of the hiring manager at that company that has a reputation for being a diversity leader, you may be putting too much emphasis indicating you are a member of one or more diverse groups. Or, your résumé could be dead on departure with a typo or because it embellished your credentials or performance.

Falsifying or exaggerating data on your résumé may seem like a good idea but odds are it will keep you from getting the job or, if you are hired, come back to bite you later on. Résumé writers and career coaches said job-seekers typically oversell their past achievements because they don't take the time to drill down far enough to recall details of past achievements and choose the proper words to characterize results.

"There is never a place to exaggerate on your resume," said Meg Montford, president of Abilities Enhanced of Kansas City, Missouri.

With October's unemployment rate at 6 percent or more than 8 million Americans out of work, human-resources professionals cite the abundance of qualified candidates employers have to choose from these days. All the more reason, a job-seeker's résumé, diverse or not, should focus on the value offered to a potential employer. Montford said, "The difficult thing these days for a candidate to understand is it is not about them but about the employers' needs."

Human-resources experts agree. They view the resume as a marketing tool in which the candidate is given the opportunity to position himself or herself as a solution to a business situation. They encourage job-seekers to research the business, company and industry and present a solution to a problem the prospective employer may face.

"An effective resume offers compelling proof of performance; for example, the candidate is a problem-solver, can generate positive results and will bring value today and beyond," said Debbie Ellis, president, Phoenix Career Group, in Danville, Ky. And to ensure that the candidate can deliver, employers are paying closer scrutiny to and verifying everything a candidate puts down on a résumé.

Ellis cited the proliferation of verification companies as more people have opted to misrepresent, themselves including executives at high-profile companies. Former Notre Dame football coach George O'Leary, Bausch & Lomb Chief Executive Officer, Ronald Zarella and Veritas Software Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Kenneth Lonchar, are just a few of the high-visibility cases in which people were caught supplying false academic credentials on their résumés.

According to Montford, easily checked, education is rarely among the categories job candidates falsify because it is so easy to verify. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) cited in a study that job candidates frequently falsify information including their lengths of employment, former titles and salaries. Based on a 32 percent response rate, or 854 human-resource professionals, answering a poll faxed to 2,640 randomly selected SHRM members, prospective employers typically check past work histories, including former employers, lengths of employment and previous titles.

So be careful and don't lie. But how much should you include? Are you giving out too much personal information or would it help you get the job?

Career counselors concur that while employers are casting wider nets seeking more diverse candidates, regardless of the pros or cons of placing the status on your résumé or cover letter, they still hire the best candidate for the job.

Before including your race, ethnicity, and or sexual orientation, executive and career- coach Richard Koonce of Northampton, Mass., said he suggests asking yourself if it relates to the job.

"You don't want your sexual orientation to go before you and your credentials unless you are applying to a gay organization," said Koonce. "Although more and more companies are embracing diversity," Koonce said, "the bottom line is the resume should speak to your professionalism."

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