Don’t “Help” Your Clients Destroy Your Business

“Deliver what you promise. Do not fabricate or conceal facts. Coach clients to present accurate, evidence-based achievements and explain risks of mis-representation.”

— PARWCC Code of Business Ethics

“About 93% of job seekers admit to embellishing or lying during the hiring process.”

– Forbes, April 2026

There are lies. 

Then, there are “white lies.” 

Then, there are résumés. 

I suspect you associate that cynical philosophy with uninformed job seekers or jaded hiring decision makers. However, I’ve seen the meaning of these words offered—and accepted—as good advice between professional résumé writers and career coaches. 

This article will explain how that situation could occur, where you will find evidence of its existence, who’s responsible when it does happen, and how to guard your own practice from its toxic influences.

Some professionals slide into this transgression for the very best of reasons: they are doing all they can to “help” their clients. Paradoxically, it’s our drive to produce the best possible résumé, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile to give our clients the best possible advantage in the interviews which lead us astray. The greater the challenges our clients bring us, the more we want to help. Perhaps a real life example will illustrate the potential pitfall.

A client seeks out a résumé writer. He says he had a continuous work history for a considerable time before he came into a large inheritance. He used that money to travel the world. But now it’s time to return to the workforce. The writer knows, and his client may suspect, that such a long break in employment may be a “red flag” to an employer. 

At this critical point, the writer may get too close to the guardrail. They should be thinking about which skills the client had demonstrated that could be useful in another career field or with another company. Instead, this question creeps to the fore: How can I “spin” this break in employment? And, seeking to reach out to the client, he begins to discuss this idea with her. And the client is impressed.

However, the thoughtful client will be impressed in the wrong way. She’s put off by the idea that she has to “sell herself,” that résumés are documents that stretch the truth. Beyond that, such a résumé sets her up to continue the deception in the interviews. No wonder she’s upset; the entire process is demeaning. And now the writer has just confirmed those repugnant thoughts. The relationship the writer wants to have with this client is undermined. And so is the client’s view of the writer and our entire industry.

That view—that résumés and people who write them—are somehow dishonest goes back a long way. Decades ago, the primary source of advertising, The Yellow Pages, placed résumé writers in the same category as “massage parlors” and “escort services.” Back then, they considered them “rackets” and wouldn’t accept ads for them, even if those high standards cost them profitable customers. Thanks to PARWCC’s efforts our industry is now accepted as fully professional. We want to do everything we can to continue that perception.

Keeping high standards starts with us. Specifically, it begins when we qualify potential clients. Each of us should be able to answer this question: “Which clients will we not accept because we know we cannot help them?” Set aside the obvious answers for the moment: We might not be able to help a person with a very specialized background about which we know too little. We might not be able to meet a client’s very tight deadline. So how do we proceed? We often refer such clients to colleagues who have the background or resources we lack.

To return to the issue at hand, let’s think a bit deeper. Perhaps the following questions should guide us: Does this person have unrealistic expectations? Has this job seeker been slacking off for years and so has no performance that would meet an employer’s needs? Does he or she lack the minimum qualifications for the job? You may want to offer some general advice (without charge) just so this applicant hasn’t been left completely empty handed. But these are not—and never can be—a professional résumé writer’s clients.

One category remains: the special circumstances client. Consider the example I wrote about above, someone with several years’ break in employment. In cases like this, honesty (never “spin”) is the only policy. You are a talented enough writer to anticipate this concern in the cover letter. Perhaps these thoughts would be useful (if it reflects the truth as to what the client has been doing during his break):

“My résumé shows some time away from the work-a-day world. That period allowed me to reflect upon my own professional development. Now that I’ve had time to polish my skills dealing with other cultures and reflecting on which contributions I could make that would be most valuable to companies like yours, I am refreshed and ready to put all my energy and talent at your disposal.”

Honesty is the underlying value here. From a purely practical standpoint, it’s the only policy that makes sense. The alternative requires you and your client to lie…and to remember which story you told to which person. Just because the past cannot be changed, doesn’t limit the future for you or your clients.

I want to close by offering some concrete suggestions to keep us all on the straight and narrow (and profitable) path. Please consider these criteria for your clients to use as they judge the résumés and cover letters you write. First, did you (inadvertently) give them too little or too much credit for their accomplishments? Second, did they think of another example that illustrates the transferable skills that appeal to employers? Third, does your choice of words, your portrayal of their philosophy (particularly in the cover letter), “sound” like them?

We sell our clients confidence to manage their careers. We do it well by working very hard to build and maintain their trust, one client, one referral, at a time. So, let us rededicate ourselves to that mission and our code of ethics by instinctively knowing what really helps our clients, our practices, and our industry.