Lying on a resume – is it ever acceptable? Definitely not. If you get caught lying on a resume, you run the risk of being terminated from a job you may have spent months searching for. Experienced recruiters and hiring managers will know what information to look for on application or resume that may not be the truth.

Academic credentials – Many job seekers lie about their level of education, especially when a job may require a college degree. Unfortunately, women especially may think it’s harder to check because of a name change due to marriage. While many employers may not check academic credentials right away, don’t get caught in a lie and lose a job over something that can easily be verified. This is especially true if the degree is important to the job.

Certifications and awards – These are easy enough to check and if it’s important to the job, they will. Don’t assume that you will be able to earn the certification by the time they actually get around to checking. If you fail the test required to pass for a certification, you may be in a worse off situation.

Lateral moves versus promotions - This can be tricky and for some job seekers it’s a question of semantics. Was the change really a lateral move within the company with the same level of work required, or was it truly a promotion? Since you have to list your tasks and accomplishments, this is easy to detect. Don’t forget, employers will also check references. If your employer would call it a lateral move, make sure you call it the same thing.

Don’t try to cover up periods of unemployment whether short or extended. Applicants think they have this trick down pat – they try to cover up the dates by using just the years on their application instead of specific dates. Don’t get caught trying to cover up unemployment. Your best option is to have an accurate and plausible explanation for why you were unemployed. Don’t underestimate the hiring manager, it’s insulting to them and does not make you look too good either.

Work from the present backwards. If may be tempting to emphasize the jobs you held a while back in order to cover up a spotty current history, but employers probably don’t want to know what you did of little relevance in your early years. They want to know what you have done recently in keeping up with current trends.

Bottom line, while desperation for a job may be seeping in, getting caught lying on your resume may put you in an even worse position then where you were before you got the job.