Don’t lie on your résumé for any reason - Second Military Careers - Military Times

Don’t lie on your résumé for any reason

By now you may have heard about the dean of admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who admitted that she had cooked up her educational credentials in 1979, claiming to have degrees from three institutions she never received.

But you may never have heard of the thousands of others who fudge their credentials.

Take the frantic person who wrote me just last month begging for advice. He explained that he had been a contract worker for a company and then became an employee. During the hiring process, he submitted his résumé and application on which, he says, “I lied about my education.”

He just learned that they are now conducting a background check and is “very nervous about what to do if they found out I lied. I know it was wrong. I thought if I put that I graduated with a degree that I would qualify for a higher salary. I was scared they may not hire me. It was out of desperation that I embellished my education. What do I do if they find out? Is there any way to support my poor decision to lie? Is there a way to explain my actions with dignity? Will my reputation forever be tainted?”

Out of nearly 500,000 reference verifications that ADP Screening and Selection Services did last year, 41 percent showed some type of discrepancy between employment, education or credentials provided by the application and what the source said, according to Newsweek. That’s a lot of potential lying.

And where does it get you if you’re caught? The Wall Street Journal cited several high-profile professionals who, after being found out, got kicked off boards, resigned or suspended. These included David Edmondson, who resigned last year as chief executive of RadioShack after lying about having a college degree, and motivational speaker Denis Waitley, who was forced off the board of Usana Health Sciences after it was discovered he hadn’t received a degree he had claimed.

But most of all, no matter how great you are at your job, it can kill your reputation. As the WSJ article stated, MIT’s Chancellor Phillip Clay said, “We take integrity very seriously. ... We dismissed her even though she has done a great job.”

To answer the desperate liar who wrote me and is now more desperate since more is at stake, here are your choices: Tell them you lied. You can explain why you made this poor decision. But just know that you may get fired for doing so. Odds are good that they’ll find out you lied. By admitting it, you take the high road and can regain some of your integrity by being true to yourself.

If you choose not to say anything and see if they find out, you potentially lose more: your job and your self-worth by not having the guts to admit what you had done. You also don’t want to end up years later like the MIT dean, who gained great respect and credibility, then lost it all because of a decision she made 28 years earlier.

Learn from others and take to heart the words she posted on MIT’s Web site last week: “... I did not have the courage to correct my résumé when I applied for my current job or at any time since. I am deeply sorry for this and for disappointing so many in the MIT community and beyond who supported me, believed in me, and who have given me extraordinary opportunities.”

And from this point on, take your integrity as seriously as others do.

(Andrea Kay is the author of “Life’s a Bitch and Then You Change Careers: 9 Steps to Get Out of Your Funk and On To Your Future.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Road, No. 133, Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com. E-mail: andrea@andreakay.com.)