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Is It Illegal To Lie On A Resume

Your Alma Mater Cant Confirm You Graduated

Is it okay to lie on job applications?

Claiming to be a Harvard graduate when you really have a degree from a no-name state school is one of the;worst things you can lie about;on your resume, according to hiring managers surveyed by;Hloom. And while some employers will take you at your word when you say you went to a fancy school, others will check on your educational background by calling the school directly or using a service, such as the;National Student Clearinghouse.

Sometimes, its interested third parties who clue an employer into a lie, such as the;student journalists;at a Kansas high school who discovered their new principal had inflated her educational credentials.

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The Negative Impacts Of Lying On Your Resume

For starters, any trust you had built up with your employer is likely gone. And, if for some reason you werent caught for a while, the goodwill and possible references you may have had at that job are also gone.

Because you never know who knows whom, you may have also damaged your chances to build future networking connections. People may be more hesitant to connect with you or offer you assistance going forward.

Finally, consider that people will wonder about your ethics. Work aside, integrity matters and so does your reputation. Youve worked hard to get to where you are, so dont put things like this on the line.

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Do Weigh Your Options Carefully

When it comes to light that an employee lied on their resume, the employer basically has two choices:;

  • Fire the employee;
  • Dont fire the employee.;
  • Depending on the scope of the deception and the employee’s performance/potential, retention and not termination might make sense. If the employee accidentally lied on their resume;or lying on their resume about work experience amounts to little more than creative exaggeration than outright falsehood, then the situation may be salvageable. On the other hand, lying on a resume about a degree or fabricating work experience constitutes a serious breach of trust and ethics. In such cases, termination might be the only wise option.;

    The point is, a careful weighing of the facts is needed before moving forward. While it can be frustrating to learn that someone who lied on a resume got the job, its important to follow a transparent and legally defensible process . Knee-jerk reactions are not recommended.

    Your New Employee Lied On His Resume: Now What

    Is It Illegal to Lie on Your Resume?

    Theres no way to hire right without putting in the time, effort, and money. The task often requires coordination , organization, and perseverance. Although many job seekers secure positions through the hidden job market, highly qualified candidates dont just fall out of the sky.

    So you put in the work, went through a thorough selection process, and your shiny new employee joined the team last month. Great news, right? Unfortunately, your good feelings of accomplishment were short-lived, because you just found out that this person lied on their resume.

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    Stretching The Truth To Land The Job

    Stacy Caprio, a 28-year-old from Boston, spent a college semester abroad in Hong Kong and took a level 1 Mandarin class while there. Afterward, she added an “elementary proficiency” in Mandarin to the accomplishments section of her LinkedIn profile.

    “Several times during job interviews or other situations, people have seen that and asked if I can speak Mandarin,” Caprio tells CNBC Make It. “I always reply no, not at all I simply took one semester while studying abroad in Hong Kong.”

    Caprio, who works as an online marketer, recognizes that including the foreign language may give the impression that she knows more Mandarin than she does. But, when asked about it in-person, even being honest about her limited proficiency has had its advantages.

    “If nothing else, it is a good conversation starter and often leads to a discussion of what I learned living and learning in Hong Kong for half a year,” Caprio says, “and it makes my profile more interesting.”

    Not all job candidates are as honest in-person. When surveyed about their willingness to lie during an interview, just under half say they did or would consider significantly inflating their role on a key project while discussing their work history with an interviewer. Other common lies at the interview stage include candidates saying they left a previous job when they were actually fired, making up relevant experience and saying they earned a higher salary than they actually did.

    Can I Leave The Country If Im A Felon

    If youre a convicted felon and none of the above exceptions apply, you should not have any problem obtaining a U.S. passport. As long as youve completed your sentence and no court has barred you from traveling abroad, you should be able to travel overseas. However, some countries do not let convicted felons in.

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    Damage To Your Reputation

    You can pretty much kiss your employment references goodbye if you’re found to have provided false information on your resume. Even if your employer doesn’t terminate the employment relationship for the fraudulent information, you’ll still have to suffer the embarrassment of having your employer know you lied. Additionally, our digital-age lives make it easier and easier for us to network with other professionals in similar industries. In fields that are small or specialized, word can travel pretty quickly. If someone lost a job due to dishonesty, there’s a good chance the word will get out. Some recruiters have even been known to flag candidates who have been found to have fraudulent information on their resumes. A simple lie could have career-long consequences.

    How Long Should My Resume Be?

    Reason #: You Could Besued

    What happens if you LIE on your resume?

    Aside fromfiring or fining an employee, a company can also sue an employee who misledthem if they can demonstrate that it hurt their business.

    Forexample, if an employee isnt legally permitted to perform certain duties and acustomer is physically or emotionally harmed as a result, the customer can suethe company for negligence and the company can hold the employee accountable,which may lead to the company suing the employee.

    Someprofessionals, like doctors and lawyers, require a license from a statelicensing board to practice their work. If a company determines a doctor orlawyer has lied about having the appropriate license and has practiced medicineor law without it, then this is a serious offense the professional can be sued for.In some cases, they may even face jail time.

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    One Lie Kills All The Trust:

    Take for example the story laid above; that lie in his resume was what actually drove him out of the job.

    The prospective boss immediately lost all faith in him and assumed for a fact that if he could lie once, he would do it another hundred times?

    And may be when there is actually a crisis in the department, the fellow may just disappear prematurely.

    Can A Company Fire You For Lying On Your Resume

    If youre caught lying before youre hired, you wont get a job offer. If the organization discovers you lied after youve been put on the payroll, you can be fired. Lying on your resume can also impact your future employment. Maybe you just got a call to schedule an interview for a perfect job.

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    Your Employment Or Education Dates Do Not Add Up

    No matter how tempted you are to fill the gaps in your work or education history by fudging the dates, dont do it!

    A single call to your latest employer or your University is all that it takes for someone to check and find out the real period of your employment and education.

    The result?

    You will end up losing the desired position and any dignity.

    There is a proven way to make your resume stand out even if you lack work experience.

    In our detailed guide, we show you how to create a resume without work experience with more than 6 sections where you can demonstrate impact.

    Most Common Resume Lies

    Is lying on your #Resume considered #illegal and a #Crime ...

    If you have lied, you have a lot of company. A CareerBuilder survey reports that 75% of employers have caught a lie on a resume.; Some of their respondents reported resume lies that were pretty outlandishfor example, the applicant who claimed that they studied under Nietzsche or the candidate who said they worked for the CIA . ;

    Most resume lies are more mundane. An earlier CareerBuilder survey reported on what job seekers tried to get away with most often:

    • Embellished skill sets: 57%

    Whether creative or commonplace, resume lies can have the same negative effect on your career.

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    The Consequences Of Lying On Your Cv

    Including false information in a job application is considered fraud. Lying on your CV could cost you the job in the long run, either when the employer realizes you are unable to carry out the role sufficiently, or when they find out the truth about your supposed qualifications. In severe cases, where a qualification is required to legally carry out a job, legal action could also be taken against you.

    While more often than not, lying on your CV is unlikely to end in a court case, it can damage your reputation as a future employee if other companies find out.

    You Dont Have A Degree

    Many times a job description states that a bachelors degree or higher is required for the role. Ingledue-Lopez reminds job seekers that job postings are a wish list and you dont have to meet every requirement.

    So while you may not have the right degree, you can still apply for the job by pointing out the other relevant experiences and skills that make you an excellent candidate for the role.

    Work says that there are two ways to approach your situation. If youve taken some coursework toward a degree but didnt finish, you could say Coursework taken toward bachelors degree, to show that youve taken some classes. If you havent taken any courses but have a lot of related work experience, you could say Extensive work experience in lieu of bachelors degree.

    In both of these instances, youre being honest about your degree status while highlighting your relevant coursework or experience, which helps position you as a qualified candidate.

    Recommended Reading: What Happens If You Lie About Your Gpa On A Resume

    What To Tell Employer Why You Are Leaving

    A short explanation of why you are resigning When explaining why you are quitting your job, its OK to keep things general and say something like, I am leaving to accept a position at another company. You dont have to go into more detail than you are comfortable with, even if your manager presses you for

    So Can You Lie On A Resume

    Common Resume Mistakes to Avoid

    As you can see, lying on a resume is a sure way to a destroyed career. So, next time you want to add a few falsehoods, ask yourself if its worth it. Besides, there is no need to lie even if your skills are poor. There are a lot of helpful websites and applications that you can use to prepare a compelling resume.

    One of such web sites is ours. At our service, we provide job seekers with professional consultations on how to develop a job-winning resume and offer qualified assistance with writing. Thus, if you want to prepare a well-formatted resume that catches the reader’s eye, feel free to contact our experts. We promise to deliver top-notch results at the most affordable price.

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    The Truth About Lying On Your Resume

    As an HR person I would always get depressed when we had extended a job offer to someone and their background check came back funky. Most of the time, the problem was falsification of educational credentials. In other words, a job-seeker would tell us that they graduated from a college, but the college registrar’s office told us they’d never heard of the person.

    Those situations depressed me because I couldn’t believe someone would be that stupid. Don’t they know we’re going to check on the educational background they reported? It’s right there on the job application — “Here’s my permission for you guys to verify what I told you.” We didn’t verify past salaries.

    I think it’s horrendous to pry into someone’s personal finances. Are we, on the other side of the desk, going to pull out our financial statements and share them with job applicants?

    Most of the resume lies I’ve seen have to do with education, but sometimes people would lie;about their work history, too. People forget dates, and I never cared if someone was a few months off on their starting date or ending date at a particular job. Who cares?

    It’s when people invent companies that they supposedly worked for, and they said that they worked there for years, but there’s no record of the company ever having existed, not in the Secretary of State’s database or in the local business listings or anywhere.

    It’s yours. Who cares who approved it? You did it! If you can tell the story, put it on the resume, like this:

    Is It Illegal To Lie On Your Resume

    If you decide to lie on your resume, you can potentially face serious consequences from your employer. Read more to find out what can happen if you lie on your resume.

    Its normal for any job seeker to want to improve their image to a potential employer. However, if you lie on your resume, it can land you in some hot water.

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    How To Improve Your Cv Without Lying

    Take the time to thoroughly research the company, by looking at their site, reading through the job description and finding out more about the employees that already work there.

    Use this information to figure out the most relevant skills or qualifications you possess, and emphasize these as much as possible in your CV. Make sure that you position relevant expertise at the top of your application, to catch the attention of the employer and boost your chances of being invited to an interview.

    Also, bring your hobbies and interests into the mix. Find ways to relate them to the company culture in order to show you are an ideal fit for the business. Make sure these come immediately after your qualifications and experience on your CV, and also include them in your cover letter, so the employer can see how your interests are relevant to the role.

    Cv Lies: Is It Illegal To Lie On Your Cv Conclusion

    Is lying on your #Resume considered #illegal and a #Crime ...

    Essentially, lying on your CV is not worth the hassle.;

    The implications of getting caught are far-reaching, ranging from embarrassing situations to losing out on jobs, to losing your job, to prison sentences and huge fines.

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    For Some Workers Lying Leads To Firing

    Indeed, for candidates who don’t get caught in a lie during the hiring process, there’s always the potential for the truth to come out at a later time.

    In November 2019, an NBC News investigation found that Mina Chang, the deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stability Operations, embellished her resume and made misleading claims about her professional background, including by creating a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it. She resigned a week later.

    While Chang’s case is an extreme example, lying on a resume can have serious consequences.

    Gail Tolstoi-Miller, CEO of staffing firm Consultnetworx in New Jersey, previously consulted for a pharmaceutical company that conducted an audit of its employees’ credentials. During the process, one worker’s lie resulted in his termination.

    “What they found out was he put down in his background that he had a college degree, when in fact he did not,” Tolstoi-Miller says of the experienced professional who had spent several years with the company. “We’re talking about very highly specialized work, research and development. He got fired for lying, so it can catch up with you.”

    For other areas of misrepresentation, such as workers saying they have skills they don’t, Tolstoi-Miller suggests job seekers use online resources such as Coursera and Udemy to brush up these skills rather than lie about them.

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