Just a silly child’s taunt, but what happens to those who out-and-out lie about their credentials in resumes.  Television investigative programs along with newspapers and magazines have a field day when a person on the national or international scene is discovered to have fabricated education and other credentials.  But, what happens to the average person who “puffs-up” their resume in the belief that they need to in order to be competitive for a job. 

Before entering the Human Resources field I saw examples of the consequences that an inflated resume had on co-workers when discovered.  In one particular case (many years ago, and in a different state) an otherwise decent family person believe they needed to list a graduate degree to get the level of job they wanted. The person had credits towards a Master’s degree, but had not completed the program. 

Transcripts were not required to be submitted with (in this case) an application form, and there were some privacy road blocks built into the University’s release of information about students.  Once working for the agency the person thought they were undetectable.  But, that was not to be the case when questions of professional competency came up in the course of their probationary period.  Granted the government agency’s candidate screening was a simple police background check, but a good administrator would have delved further into a person’s stated qualifications, before making a final employment offer. 

Even today, when you would think government agencies turn job candidates inside and out before employing them, people do slip between the cracks.  This is partially because the focus of many employers is on screening for drug use, rather than honesty and credentials.  If the subterfuge is buried far back in one’s career, and the company or supervisors are no longer reachable for reference, people today may claim experience they do not have.  (As a side note, employers are usually only concerned with positions you have held in the past 10 years, beyond that there is no reason to have a rosier employment history than you actually have.)

Let me tell you it is just not worth it to get a job under false pretenses.  Seek out the employer who sees the potential in you, start at the bottom if you have to, rather than trying to bedazzle a prospective employer with false information that may come back to bite you latter.  You don’t want to have your family uprooted, and you income cease because of a stupid falsehood that seemed perfectly reasonable at the time. 

In the last decade and a half I have read literally thousands of applications and resumes, and can recognized the ways in which people try to cast a better light on themselves, and how that effects mine and other HR professional’s judgment of their true qualifications, even though we take a persons resume information at face value as being truthful.  The scrutiny of course comes along later as does the personal misfortunes, like the ones I have witnessed. 

Boy, this blog entry really turned out morose, but then some would say that it is a subject that has to be discussed.  Me, I just say I needed a blog entry subject, and hear about national and world figures getting caught in a lie about their qualifications all the time.  Many people I am afraid don’t take this subject seriously either and believe, “Everyone lies on their resume!”  

When new hires are processed by the County they are required to testify by their signature that the information they provided is true and correct.  How embarrassing to do if you have been less than perfectly honest in your resume.  A new hire also signs a document giving the County authorization to check any of the information provided as a candidate for a position.  Following that, there is a County policy against employees giving false information to obtain a position, or to promote to a higher position.

To rap this thing up, my closing quip for this entry (and your critical judgment) is... “Did ya hear?  They took the word gullible out of the dictionary!”  Not the best universal blog closing, but it seemed to fit this occasion.