Imagine yourself in this situation: You're an experienced professional in your late 50s whose background includes high-level managerial positions over the last 10 years. One day, you find yourself laid off. You begin to look for another job, but you can't seem to land an interview in spite of your best efforts. They just don't want someone with your extensive experience.
So, you realize you may need to take a step or two down the career ladder. And, with less than a decade to retirement, maybe you don't even want another top-level position.
Then, you wonder if you're not getting anywhere because you're "overqualified." So, do you downplay your high-level experience? Maybe rewrite your resume by changing those "Manager" titles to "Supervisor" and eliminating words like "Senior" or "Executive." "Ahhh!" you think. "This can improve my chances!"
Or can it?
The practice is called dumbing down your resume. Since a resume is all about marketing your skills and experience to land a job interview, dumbing down the extensive experience in your resume might help you over that important hurdle. But at the same time, it could expose you to accusations of not being honest and forthright about your work history.
Let's look at how someone might dumb down a resume:
ORIGINAL VERSION
ABC Company; Anywhere, USA 2006-2009
Senior Accounting Manager
- Oversaw day-to-day accounting operations of $500 million consumer products goods manufacturer
- Supervised team of accountants that grew from 8 to 12
- Led process re-engineering effort that resulted in 35% faster cash-to-bank, 20% faster time-to-bill, and 15% improvement in revenue collection
- Established daily cash balance monitoring to ensure adequate cash flow for operating and capital expenses
DUMBED-DOWN VERSION
ABC Company; Anywhere, USA 2006-2009
Accounting Supervisor
- Supervised accounting function for $500 million consumer products goods manufacturer
- Collaborated in process re-engineering effort that resulted in 35% faster cash-to-bank, 20% faster time-to-bill, and 15% improvement in revenue collection
- Established daily cash balance monitoring to ensure adequate cash flow
You're not being dishonest in the second example. In fact, you're telling the truth, just not the whole truth. By editing the parts of the job description that are not relevant to the position you're seeking, you're marketing yourself better for a job at a company that might be scared by the word "senior" or "manager" in your job title. If you really need a job as quickly as possible, you might be compelled to take this approach.
The question is: Should you?
There are many views on this topic in the blogosphere, both pro and con. But let's hear your views on the issue. Leave a comment below, and please take our poll that's attached with this post.
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RELATED LINKS
Resume Writing Basics: Building Blocks of a Good Resume
Thoughts on Truth, Truthiness, and Lying on a Resume
No Bites on Your Resume? Check These 5 Things
In these tight economic times it might not benefit you to to be a fastidious job seeker who is trying to land the perfect "dream" job. You might have to settle for a position in the meantime which you are overqualified for, which offers less in the way of compensation and fringe benefits than what you are worth, and you may have to pass up living in your favorite exotic city for now. If you are going to humble yourself, however, it might not be a bad idea to consider these two important things first:
a.) an interview should be a chance for a perspective employee to get to know the employers he or she wants to work for and not just vice versa. When you are meeting a potential new work team, you must ask yourself how you feel about these people and if you would truly feel comfortable in the company's work setting. As a highly qualified perspective new hire, you should consider for instance how you would feel if you were to face a backlash from your future work associates because they perceived you were flaunting your knowledge or were trying to make them look bad by acting like a big shot. There is nothing worse than having to endure reverse-snobbery at a job while being underpaid and under-appreciated at the same time (believe me, I know this from firsthand experience).
b.) Is the job going to become a black hole? I.e., is it going to suck you in leaving you no escape? If the position fails to pay a salary commensurate with your skills and previous experience, you have to consider the possibility of becoming a slave to the employer. This dilemma could also be compounded if the company requires you to relocate to an economically depressed city or region. You don't want to lose all of your bargaining chips with the employer. If you are clinging to an unsatisfying and unfullfilling job and have no choice but to keep working so the bills get paid, the job essentially becomes a bribe which the employer can use against you in infinite ways. Try to think how you would feel asking for a raise without being able to bribe your boss with the threat of taking your talent elsewhere? Also consider how it would feel if the boss turned the tables on you and used their advantage to make you do more work for the same pay.
Hi Tim!
Very thoughtful and noteworthy comments! I agree that if you're going to take a step back, be sure you would be working in a collegial environment that can allow you to feel good about the job. That can be more important than any pay cut or backward step.
Best, ~ Rick