On a regular basis you will hear about politicians who exaggerate or even lie about their background and experience. Various years ago the President of a local college in Reading was caught lying on his resume which he used to apply for the job. A few years ago there was an article in the newspaper in Reading of a man who applied for a position with the county and the HR department found out he had lied on his application. In some cases, some of the people are spared their jobs if the lie is found after the fact, yet others are let go immediately. Where these considered lies or merely an exaggeration of the truth? This is called embellishment.
A Knowledge@Wharton article states that "embellishment is part of human nature, experts say, and almost everyone is guilty of it of at one time or another." The article continues to say that "left unchecked, however, exaggerations that seemed innocuous at first could result in serious, potentially career-ending consequences. It also points out that even though it may not end your career, if "you are caught in deception, even if it's a common deception, people won't trust you. And once the bond of trust is lost, it's terribly hard to recover."
Today more than ever, with all of the technology and immediate access to information, it's harder to cover exaggerations or lies. Human resource professional have more access to more information than even before to check out employees backgrounds and make sure the information they providing is true. Does your company verify the information on resumes or applications? Have you had any situations were you have had to deal with misrepresented information from and applicant? Don't worry, I am not going to ask if you misrepresented information to get your job!
I suggest you read the full article, it is very interesting.
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Its interesting that you bring up lying on a resume. When I started with my current company there was a new employee based in Seattle who was moving to LA to take an opening there. His background seemed excellent. He was hired and 1 month later was fired. It came out later that he had lied about his background and experience. While employed with the company he charged over $1000 on the company credit card. I still do not know how he got through the system without a reference or background check. I am sure this kind of thing happens all the time.
ReplyDeleteInteresting article, and timely for me. Just this past week I was interviewing candidates for a new position in our department. One of our candidates looked excellent on paper. Yet when we interviewed this person, it turned out that the candidate really did not have the experience that was stated in the resume. This was a case more of puffery than of outright lying; still the responses we got to our questions made it apparent this person did not have the experience we needed. If someone is really intent on lying to get a position, they'll tell you anything, but I don't understand how some of these people got as far as they did if diligent evaluations had been done.
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