Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Lying to get a job?




We are all about to go into the career world looking for our first job. However, does that mean we are going to have to lie on our resumes before anyone hires us?

It has become more and more common to lie on your resume. Human resource surveys show consistently that more than a third of people have lied on their resume or "enhanced" it in some way in order to get the job http://jobs.aol.com/article/_a/resume-indiscretions-remain-widespread/20070430123309990001?ncid=AOLCOMMjobsDYNLprim0001.

Even though it is unethical, some companies need to take the blame as well. If the background checks they were doing were thorough, then some of these people would get caught and the rates might decrease. In 2004 a report by the Government Accountability Office found that 463 government workers had lied on their resumes and were not caught. This makes me a little nervous that our own government can not do a thorough background check.

Lying on a resume is not something new. We have seen many CEO's, football coaches, government officials and the dean of admissions for MIT all get caught for lying, or embellishing, their resume and losing their jobs. It can be a message to all of us: DON'T LIE.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's one thing to try to position yourself in the best possible light in your resume...and another to lie about your experience. I don't care how many surveys say people are doing it, "Don't go there."

Anonymous said...

Luckily these lies don't stand up quite as much as they used to. With the internet age there is so much information about individuals online. Employers are now starting to scour perspective employees Social Networking sites such as Facebook, and MySpace to see what they are up to in their own time. Let alone their political views. Cheers.