My New Venture

When people ask me what I've been up to, the standard answer has come to be, "Oh, nothing much, just working and raising a kid." Believe it or not, the kid has a name. Her name is Tarah.

Raising Tarah is the most important thing I do each and every day, but it is not the only thing. While I have this great space and wonderful community built on human resources, leadership and personal growth (that I would not give this up for anything) there are things I want to say about working, raising a daughter, making choices and discoveries that do not fit well here.

So, Raising Tarah was created. As usually is the case, what's mine quickly becomes ours and this blog is no exception. So instead of an individual effort, it has become a joint venture between mother and daughter. Together we will write, share, post and play as individuals, as mother-daughter, and as a family because we are not in this alone. We are two-thirds of a pretty cool family unit with Bill, husband and dad extraordinaire, rounding us out.

If you are up for an intelligent and fun look at the trials and tribulations of us girls, separately and together, join us for the ride. We are not sure where this will take us but just like Tarah on the alpine slide, we are going for it - full out and eyes wide open.

Fingers are crossed it all goes well so check it out, tell know what you think and let me know if you find any broken links, misplaced text or anything that appears out of whack to you.

Back to regular (backlogged) programming on HR Thoughts shortly!

Creative credit for Raising Tarah goes to Melody Watson for the design work on the new site. 

Is Your Resume Fact or Fiction?

This guest post is authored by Jeri Johansen, PHR, Executive Assistant at Crimcheck. Crimcheck.com provides background checks for businesses large and small nationwide. Crimcheck.com background checks include criminal history, education verification, employment verification, driving records and more.

Ok, so you got your degree and are on the road to begin your career. Why not make your resume shine above the rest with some minor embellishment? Well, for one, gone are the days when you could walk into an interview with a copy of your diploma and that would suffice for authenticating your degree. These days, employers will verify degree, date of graduation and school, at the least. In reality, honesty on a resume is much more highly valued than anything else.

The Society for Human Resource Management estimates that 53% of all resumes contain some form of inaccuracy. Human Resource departments are very aware of this statistic. In my line of work I see all sorts of resume fraud, ranging from the older worker who changes their date of graduation because they think that will help get them in the door, to the recent graduate who states they have one year of managerial experience (while they were still away at college). We won't even discuss criminal records and personal references in this blog, but I could write a novel on the issues that come up during interviews, employment applications, and resumes that immediately rule an applicant out of the pool.

The education portion of your resume should reflect accurate dates, school name and degree type. It will be verified, and these days, verification is as easy as a couple of clicks of the keyboard. Your work history should be truthful regarding non-paid work and internships. Don't try to reflect them as if they were paid jobs. List your job responsibilities accurately, as they will most likely be verified with a phone call to your supervisor.

Employers know that when the job market tightens, resume fraud increases. Employers can afford to be even more selective in selecting candidates. Any false claim or date is a red flag to the recruiter. If the applicant would lie on their resume, how trustworthy could they be?

 Subscribe in a reader