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There is no Reason to Lie on Your Resume or LinkedIn profile…ever! follow this blog post

posted by on June 16, 2009

 

Unfortunately, faking an education or experience is more common than you might think.  With the economy the way it is, companies are downsizing and thus, more people are looking for jobs.  As a result, people are feeling pressure to 'fabricate' aspects of their resumes in order to stand out from the crowd.  We have seen resumes with fabricated educations, expansions of employment dates to remove gaps of unemployment or, even, to hide job experiences with a sour ending, just to avoid the reference check.   

Further, it is not just low-level candidates or young people forging their resumes; of course, everyone wants their resumes to look sharper and cleaner.  The line is crossed, however, when someone actually acts on the desire to appear as a better candidate.  I, once, had a 250k candidate that was getting a job offer for a consulting firm.  This person had the perfect experience and background the company desired: the only issue was the fact that the college degree was a fake.  When we ran two different background verifications and could not confirm education - the candidate was confronted about this.  The crazy thing is, the candidate used excuses like, "The systems have changed at my school...I have the documents in a family safe...in Montana."  Worse was next: the candidate faked having a life threatening disease.....to bow out of the process.  The worst part is that the company actually would have hired this candidate without the degree because of the outstanding experience and tenure the candidate had in these types of roles.  Of course, they withdrew their offer based on falsifying the application.  This was 2 years ago; the sad part is that this candidate is currently the SVP for another public company with that bogus degree actually listed on the website.  (=lesson not learned)

 

We all want to be the best candidate for our dream job, so we think of ways to improve the information and spin our experiences to make us appear 'perfect,' but reality is no one is perfect.  All of that is ok, but with background verifications improving, we are finding that more and more companies are cracking down on potential and current employees.  Here is an example of a chef fired from the Food Network Channel for embellishing about some of his 'clients' on his resume.

One would think that you are supposed to be on your best behavior while job searching or at least that is what my mother taught me.  Before you consider this, you must ask yourself...." what does lying tell an employer about who you are as a person and about your work ethic"?  The real question is how will you be when your back is up against the wall for the company; would you fold again and cheat?

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8 comments

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  • 1 point 3 months ago

    What many don't realize is that they could get the job by being truthful.  I had a situation recently where a candidate fabricated his education, the company did NOT do a background check other than references and they hired him.  2 months later it came to light that he did not have the degree he stated on his application (did not need it for the position) and he was fired.  He actually tried to convince me that he had the degree, I did my own check and he attended the university for 1 semester only.  He still said he had the degree and I told him when he provided me with official transcripts from U of IL that I would work with him again.  Haven't heard from him since.  I presume he is playing this game with others - be careful out there! 

    The other thing that we must be watchful of is the diploma mills - pay the money get a degree.  I have confronted numerous individuals about this and I never hear from them again.  I even tell them that I wil be happy to remove it from the resume and then contact my client - Nope!  They must actually believe it is worth the paper its written on.

    With many years of recruiting under my belt I can attest to one thing and that is the most truthful resumes are those from entry level college grads.  Once in the "real world" the troubles begin.

  • 1 point 3 months ago

    Jim -

    so sad, but often true as you say.  I am hoping to underscore your point that you may not need the "stamp" and being honest is the better course, but as you say many believe otherwise. 

    Thanks for sharing -

    Shannon

     

  • 1 point 3 months ago

    If you've recruited long enough, you will have been burned at least a few times by people who lie somewhere along the process, whether it's on a resume, a reference, or during the interview. This isn't going to change.  All we can do is ask the right questions and conduct the proper checks - and even then, there will be people who fall through the cracks...there are some who have built formidable careers on lies.

  • 1 point 3 months ago

    Marcelo -

    Absolutely! True- as unfortunate as it is.  I am hoping to scare a couple straight because those like us are going to catch them...and besides, didn't their mom teach them that? 

    Thanks for the comment -

    Shannon

  • 1 point 3 months ago

    Thank you for  your post. I suggest that comapanies should first do an employment background check or a background verification. With that issue of the person who faked his college degree you can avoid it by requesting them to submit a background verification and also companies should also double check it by background checking them.

    If companies emplement this for sure they will have those perfect candidates and trust worthy employees.

  • 0 points 3 months ago

    Salomea -

    you are absolutely right - that is how the candidate I mentioned was exposed - it is a standard for everyone we support and should be universal. 

    Shannon

  • 1 point 3 months ago

    Perhaps I am a little bored today, and I am truly NOT trying to bust Shannon's chops, but if Candidates can lie, get away with it, and actually do the job despite their lie, then they are going to be plenty of them that will lie. Plain and simple.
    So I am not very clear of the moral of this thread. Is it for candidates to never lie in the business world? Is it for employers to not trust all candidates.
    Ironically, in this story's very own example, the Candidate ended up lying at another interview, then got that job, and is currently making over 250K at that employer. As in $250, 000. As in, what was the moral of this story? LOL


    I write all this to get your attention:
    Here's the real point of my story: I am an IT recruiter with over 20 years experience. I am just coming off of a vacation. I am successful because I use very aggressive tactics raiding my client's competitors. If I were to never lie to receptionists, etc, then I would not be so successful.

    If you are looking for a very successful recruiter as a split partner that "does what it takes to find the hard to find candidates, then please PM me.


    "if a tree falls in the Forest, and no one hears it, then it definitely doesn't make any noise."

     

     

  • 1 point 3 months ago

     

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    I agree with Frank...not really teaching a lesson here by stating that the person was able to get hired while still lying.  He will get exposed very soon, and yes, the company will have to make a moral decision once he is exposed; shame on them for not doing their homework before hiring.  I do know a couple of people who were hired with out having their education and lied about it.  One was my boss, and he told me in confidence to never tell. He didn’t have enough money to finish his degree, and kept being overlooked when he needed a job. He worked for the company for 10 years and was so successful. He was trustworthy, and yes he lied 7 years before I met him.  I would have never dreamed he would have lied about something like that, but he did.  I know I have met many, many liars in my lifetime, and I have never met a completely honest person, but that doesn’t make them all bad people or bad employees.  I am sorry to shock; I live in reality. 

     

    The real issue is too many people are relying on resumes to make the hire, and not giving good people enough grace when they make a mistake. I don't care if someone doesn't put every job on their resume, as long as it isn’t a fake job, etc. It is none of my business if they worked part-time at a Burger King while they were looking for a job to feed their family in this day and time. Yes, executives do this too to survive if needed, and it would look horrible on someone’s resume if they were to list it while looking for a job in their industry. Not picking on Burger King, but I am trying to paint a picture here to put this in perspective.  I want them to tell the truth about their skills, experience, education, and references. 

     

    If your client only wants to hire people with their undergrad, then you would formulate questions around their degree to see how they answer.  Asking questions during the interview like, “how did you like going to Vanderbilt for your undergrad??” may give you a chance to get them to open up honestly to you. Typically when you let them speak, they will show signs of confidence or weakness when talking about their experiences.  You can press in deeper in the areas where the candidate showed signs of less confidence or weakness.  You may start to see warnings signs then and then you decide whether you want to move forward or not, but never take a piece of paper for face value.

     

    But here is my beef, companies / hiring managers should not rely so much on resumes.  I started in the business when we didn't send resumes; we sent people. It was more successful, because anal retentive people didn't get fixated on a tiny flaw in someone's resume such as missing a period in a resume (not calling anyone in this blog, using word only for fun)  The managers took time and looked at the overall presentation of someone, new that people in general were not going to be perfect, and saw the passion and potential in the candidates that I saw when I interviewed them.  There will never be a perfect employee who is free of not making mistakes or fudging the truth.  If there are people who believe this, they will spend a lot of money on recruiting fees, and I want to find out who those companies are!!! 

     

    When managers start making a connection with people again, and stop relying on a piece of paper, do their homework after the interview by checking employment information, education, references, etc, then good people wouldn’t have to figure out the special calculations of writing the best resume to just get an interview.  The truth will typically come out face to face, if the candidates trust the person.  Of course there will still be liars, but that is why we do background checks, etc before making a hire.   It takes time to hire the right person, not 30 seconds to scan Linkedin profiles and resumes. 

     

    I want to know the people, and my hiring officials trust me that I have done my homework and earned my fee!!  We are putting too much emphasis on resumes than the people as a whole, which may force more people to fudge. 

     

    Does this make sense to anyone or does anyone feel the same way?? I am sorry…but I got on a soap box!  Thanks for posting the blog Shannon, I enjoy your insight and articles.