Have you Tried Benign Embellishment?
In my world, Benign Embellishment is a highly professional form of what some of us have come to understand as BS or for the sake of my professional identity; CP (Cow Poop).
We both know it’s never okay to lie. Even a little white lie (as my mom used to call it) will come back to bite you! However, when it comes to job hunting the very use of our resume and adherence to HR hiring protocols puts us at an immediate disadvantage. If the employer is unable to accurately interpret our successes, work history, gaps in work history, times, dates et cetera our résumé will most likely end up on the wrong side of the grass!
What is Benign Embellishment (BE)?
BE is an honest and forthright way of presenting your credentials to a potential employer in the very best and most comprehensible form. BE is your weapon in opposition to the actuality that we have all failed in our jobs from time to time. i.e., you are over 50 and in some cases over 40, or maybe too young, or have a gap in your work history, and/or any of the hundreds of screening mechanisms that will land your résumé in bucket 86.
Examples of Benign Embellishment (BE)
You run in a race with 5 people and you finish 5th. Did you finish dead last or in the top 5? Did you graduate college in 1969 or did you just happen to leave the graduation date off your resume? Did you open your first lemonade stand in 1950 or is it possible that nobody cares what you did prior to the moon walk. In light of graduation season, here’s a couple for your kids: Are you entry level with no experience or are you a recent college graduate who has spent the last 16 years of his/her life studying, learning and experiencing what your peers will do to bring your employer into the next generation? Is your cumulative grade point average under 3.0? If so, throw out the philosophy and/or thermo dynamics courses you flunked as a freshman, recalculate your GPA using just coursework from your major and state as follows: Cumulative Major Grade Point Average 3.2. Go now and get yourself some CP for that damn résumé.!
