Recruiter advised me to lie on my CV

I saw on LinkedIn that a recruiter I know was recruiting for a controller's position. I've seen the job description. I know I could do the job.

So I sent in my CV. I heard back from the recruiter the next day, telling me to change my CV so that my title at my last job would be controller instead of financial analyst. In reality I functioned more like a controller, that as an analyst, since I was the only accountant on staff, but my title was financial analyst. I did briefly consider it, but it didn't feel completely right.

So I decided to sleep on it. And today I wrote the recruiter back saying I wasn't willing to change my resume. the world's too small and interconnected, and I've worked too hard to build my on-line profile for me to risk a lie. Not to mention i like to see myself as an honest person.

Just mildly irks me that he would even suggest it, in the first place.

splitimage

do you think he is more interested in securing the job for you and therefore his commission, than your integrity?

This stuff is iffy, I think you made the right choice in protecting your reputation just in case. Maybe you could add to your resume that you have experience in the other job title's function, if it's not already on there. Do what you think is right.

I admire your honesty but how about you change it to financial analyst / controller or experience as a controller? That wouldn't be a lie IMO.

I don't know how your resume is written; if you use the words "job title" in there for each job but his change doesn't sound significant enough to me to worry over, either way. I'm sure you know the differences between a "financial analyst" and "controller" but I doubt most readers of your resume do, or care much, unless they've been told to look for "controller" or are so small as to scan for just that title, in which case I wouldn't want that job. Presumably you described your duties and an astute reader would realize it's all-but-in-name-controller!

I have adapted my professional title to cater to a job offer. I think your personal brand can be built more on your skills than your profession.