Q. My question is pretty simple. Is it wrong to put a false address of a city where I’m applying for a job to make my resume more attractive to an employer?
Since I finished undergrad in 2008, I’ve applied to countless jobs — reporting, copywriting, ad copy, Web desk work, publishing, editing, you name it. I live in the Cleveland area, where media jobs are scant (or any kind of full-time gig, for that matter).
I have friends who, from Cleveland, too, have put addresses of friends’ apartments or family that live in or near cities where they apply for jobs. A friend recently applied for a job in Chicago while living in Cleveland, but put her friend’s Chicago address on her resume so that HR wouldn’t have to worry about dealing with an out-of-towner. She got the call, gave herself a few days to set up an interview, went to Chicago and got the job. She stayed at her friends temporarily until she found her own place.
Over half the jobs I apply for now are all over the country. Portland, Chicago, Austin, Boston, New York, Los Angeles and the Twin Cities. It has worked for other people I know, too, and they swear by it. I can imagine myself in the shoes of an editor in, say, Phoenix, looking at a resume from Ohio, and writing it off immediately. I’ve had little-to-no callbacks from a lot of gigs across the U.S., even ones in small rural towns where I imagine journalists in my shoes wouldn’t bother applying.
I don’t want to be deceptive to a potential employer or human resources director, but it’s 2010, and I feel like I gotta do what I gotta do, even if it means lying about where I live.
Is this considered ethical? What kind of advice would you offer?
Thanks in advance,
Nick
A. For real?
We have no way of knowing whether friends were hired because they tricked people into thinking they were local, but even if that worked, it is wrong.
The job market is cruel, but it shouldn’t turn us into liars. A deceptive address can lead to a lie on the job application — which can get you fired — as well as lies in the interview and in casual conversations. Don’t go down that road.
Tell the truth, as journalists do. Pour your energies into persuading editors that it is worth hiring you and that you can easily get to the workplace and learn your new city. You want to show that every word you write will be as true as everything you put on your resume.
What do you think: Am I being unrealistic? Submit your feedback.
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Coming Friday: Her husband is about to move overseas, forcing her to leave her job at a 100,000-circulation newspaper. How can she make sure her career stays on track?
