How to Get a Job Without Lying

Audra Lowe: It would be tempting to stress the truth or even lie in order to lend a job these days. But Scott Ventrella says don’t do it. He’s the Managing Director at the Center for Corporate Ethics. He says that it might come back to hunt you at the end of the day. He’s got some really interesting and great tips to help you avoid those temptations and conduct your job search with integrity which we want to do, right? Scott Ventrella: Absolutely. Audra Lowe: Good to have you here Scott. Scott Ventrella: Good to be here, thank you Audra. Audra Lowe: First, we’re going to do we’re going to talk about the temptation and the solution because there’s a quite few temptations out there when it comes to looking for a job; your resume is the first thing. A lot of people will embellish and overstate their accomplishments, right? Scott Ventrella: Yes that’s right. Audra Lowe: There are a lot of people doing that now because they’re looking for a job. Scott Ventrella: Well, there are more people than ever right now looking for jobs and there is less jobs so people are looking to gain the competitive edge. So if the jobs or its process begins generally with the resume and you want to really a well-written resume. So people will either misstate or overstate and sometimes actually and this is a big no-no is that is to just make things up. Audra Lowe: Oh that’s not good. Scott Ventrella: Because they can be check so easily now. Audra Lowe: Yes, that’s what I’m saying. Scott Ventrella: A quick Google check and background checks and things like this. The information is available to companies wanting to do their due diligence. Audra Lowe: So we should tell the truth for sure. Well, it sound easy to do but-- Scott Ventrella: Absolutely and also you can say the same thing using different language so expand your vocabulary. So for instances, a good thing to talk about your results on a resume so let’s say if you increase sales by $45,000.00 that may not sound so thrilling and you want to thrill, you really want to impress, why not use a percentage. So increase sales by 45% so you’re saying the same thing with integrity totally intact. Audra Lowe: Sounds a lot better too, I like that one. Okay and also in the interview itself I mean they might ask you a lot of questions and you might embellish your answers just to get the job. Scott Ventrella: All these things, yes and they’re not meant to be trick questions but they’re tricky questions. Audra Lowe: Questions like these—so why is there a gap in your resume? What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? Scott Ventrella: Why did you leave your last kind of job, right? Audra Lowe: Eventually, yes. Scott Ventrella: And so what you don’t want to do is have that kind of awkward moment where you might say something like, well I was bored or whatever the reason might be. So my recommendation is anticipate the tricky questions and there’s a list maybe a short list three to five. Anticipate the tricky questions and spend some time to write it down, rehearse it all. Audra Lowe: How you’re going to answer it? Scott Ventrella: But how you’re going to answer it truthfully though. So for instance, why did you leave your last job? There are sometimes are multiple reasons, stick with the positive reason. Well, maybe I felt that I had greater challenges and maybe a different kind of an environment and I’m ready to breakout. Audra Lowe: Got it. Scott Ventrella: That’s why I’m looking for this incredible opportunity. Audra Lowe: It makes sense and negotiating themes, shall I say. You know the future boss might ask few things like are you willing to relocate? Are you okay working long hours? And typically people say yes, yes, yes I’m fine. Scott Ventrella: Well, that’s right because again you’re getting close so the resume, you’ve done the interviews when you’re in negotiation that means they’re very interested in you and you really want to land this job. Audra Lowe: Yes. Scott Ventrella: I would strongly recommend again before you go into that, when you get into that kind of intense negotiation be very clear going in I refer through this as your platinum standard. In other words that is something that’s really sacred to you. Something you will not negotiate. So if you really will not do international travel 90% overtime and that’s going to be a deal stuff, don’t carry on leading them to believe, well if I get in there I can change things. I think you really just want to be very genuine with them. On the other hand, understand what you are willing to do and sometimes you wanted to just gather a little bit more information. So what do you mean by extensive travel? Because maybe it’s not so bad, maybe it’s more local or maybe you can do more work from home and maybe some creative ways to work around let’s say again one of those tough negotiating points. Audra Lowe: There’s always a way to do it too. Now I see why you are a professor; great information. Thank you so much for joining us. Scott Ventrella: You’re very welcome.