Stylistic analysis of the article “Lie on your resume and get away with it”
The given article “Lie on your resume and get away with it” written by Claire
Millard comes from the 2016, August 15 for the website oriented on job seekers
deals with the issue of the tips on how to create a resume. It is an example of a media
discourse style, thus reforming three basic functions – informative (it provides the
statistics of lies in the resume and informs how it is permissible to lie in the resume
so that it does not harm you), pragmatic (the author analyzes the role of lie in a
resume, shows its pros and cons) and sociological (the author underlines the attitude
of the employer and society towards lying, demonstrates the involvement of society
in lying in the resume).
The introductory paragraph reveals the topic of this article. The author begins
his article with the statistics of lies in the resume. He further notes that one of the
reasons for such an act is that people hope that the employer will not find out from
the lie, since usually the staff does not check the details of the resume. However,
there are certain areas where employees usually lie, and therefore these lies are easy
to spot. Also, your longtime colleague from an old job can ruin your plan and tell
everyone the truth. Further, the author advises those who are going to lie on the
resume to adhere to three steps. First, you need to write a lie that is similar to the
truth, for example, about your hobby. Secondly, you need to be a professional in
your field and then no one will pay attention to your lies. Thirdly, you cannot lie
about health, convictions, problems with the law, as it will be easily exposed. At the
end of the article, the author emphasizes that lying on a resume is a bad idea that can
end in dismissal or shame.
The headline of the article “Lie on your resume and get away with it” is written
in bold. It is a complete imperative sentence. The headline reflects the essence of the
article. It has an irony which shows the author`s advice not to do it. There are three
headings in the article. They logically divide the article and make the paragraphs
coherent. They are like the instructions which author gives to the readers.
The whole article is filled with vocabulary related to the topic “creating a
resume, pros and cons on lies on it” (Human Resource Managers, CV, HR, job,
work, job seekers, recruiters, ’hobbies’ section, high profile cases). The author uses
formal (expect, references, multiple, required, caution, confidence, gross
misconduct) and informal (get away, fall between the cracks, work out, come
unstuck, pull off, see through, laugh off) vocabulary. The presented statistics (53%
of people, 70% of graduates), names of organizations (Canadian Society of Human
Resource Managers, Bausch & Lomb, Microsemi Corporation, Pacific Century
Cyberworks) and famous people (Ronald Zarrella, James Peterson, Joe Biden Jr,
Richard Li), initial abbreviations (CV, HR, CEO) prove that this article is
trustworthy and make it more believable.
It is worth emphasizing that the majority of the sentences are declarative (It is
a course to follow…), but there are also exclamatory (wishful thinking! ha ha!) and
imperative (Be Good at Your Job…) sentences. In terms of structure, some of the
sentences are quite short, while others are complex and complex-compound. The
paragraphs are short, there are not many linking words (so, however, also).
Among the lexical devices the following can be distinguished: a
phraseological unit (fall between the cracks), a metaphorical epithet (hard pressed
teams), irony and oxymoron (famous liars), metaphors (here is some food for
thought, massaging your resume, be turned into selling points) and epithets (high
profile, multiple, whopping, bare, crucial). As for syntactical stylistic devices, there
is a lexical repetition (really really wanted), anaphoric repetitions (Some people do
it… some get caught out; Some, recruiting managers … some less so), an attachment
(some get caught out and are named and shamed. Not to mention being sacked.), a
parallel construction (be realistic… be good), an assonance and idioma (named and
shamed) and detached constructions (- and in our hyper connected world it is all the
more likely, - meaning you have to expect questioning; some less so, - like Ronald
Zarrella of Bausch & Lomb, and James Peterson of Microsemi Corporation -).
In conclusion, it should be noted that we see the author`s negative attitude to
this topic implicitly. So, he shows his opinion absolutely clear, but does not impose
it on us. The author highlights the severity of the problem because he is very
concerned about it. The aim of the article to inform the readers and instruct them is successfully achieved.