By Maria Hanson, LiveCareer
Move over Pinocchio. Experts say 10 to 30 percent of job applicants lie or shade
the truth on their resumes.
Some claim that the number of applicants who lie to get a job is even higher --
up to 50 percent.
Recruiters are adamant that lying never pays and that most liars will eventually
get caught. "The reason employers get so upset about a candidate lying isn't about
the lie itself," says Elizabeth Lions, a former recruiter and author of Recession
Proof Yourself. "It points to a much deeper issue - a character flaw. It's
an integrity issue."
Some lies are bigger than others. We bring you six real-life whoppers. (None of
the candidates got the jobs.)
The lying "nun"
When Renata Rafferty decided to verify the former employment of a new employee who
was acting odd, she made some discoveries. She was not, indeed, the former nun or
IT executive for IBM in China she had claimed to be.
When Rafferty confronted her, the woman said she was in a federal witness protection
program. The truth? "She was a very well-educated nut job," says Rafferty.
A matter of degrees
A lot of job seekers lie about
degrees. Revi Goldwasser, founder of Wall Street Personnel, had one candidate
who took it even further. Goldwasser asked for verification of her college degree.
"She sent me a copy of her picture on graduation day (which was really her high
school graduation, not college) and her diploma and transcripts. They were fake."
Imitation is the sincerest form of plagiarism
Angela Sinickas interviewed a woman for a
communications consultant position. During the interview the candidate showed
her a handbook she claimed to have written and designed. "It was an absolute, complete
rip-off of an award winning handbook I had done...When I quietly pulled out a copy
of my original handbook, she turned pale and said 'I guess I don't get the job.'
"
Flying high
Jake Robertson, of Primerica Financial Services, met with a job seeker to discuss
working together. "He showed up in an airline pilot's uniform, and placed his flight
cap prominently on the table." Impressive? At first. But it turns out he was kicked
out of the airline business 15 years earlier." This was just the beginning of a
long series of lies and odd behavior. "Last time I heard from him, he was in prison,"
says Robertson.
It's a living
A candidate once told Lauren Moreau, of Treeline, Inc., that her W2 amount showed
her
annual salary for the previous year as $400,000. After running a W2 check,
it turned out she earned only $80,000. When confronted, "she claimed the other $320K
was made under the table."
A very secret service
Public relations guru Richard Laermer fielded a candidate who claimed to have worked
for the secret service. Further checking revealed this to be a lie. "He said, 'Well
it was like the secret service.' We later found out that every job on his resume
was a lie."