More employers today conduct background checks for both newly hired and newly promoted staffers. In certain cases, they delve deeply into an individual's past--and unearth the truth via the Internet. That's why job-seeking people should be truthful when constructing their resume.
Peter D. Crist, chief executive of recruiters Crist Associates in Hinsdale, IL, says, "At some point in time, you will be found out if you don't come clean. It doesn't matter if it was two days ago or 20 years ago."
The dean of admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was forced to resign recently after the school confirmed an anonymous tip that she had lied about graduating from college herself.
Ms. Marilee Jones had embellished her own credentials. She attended college for one year, as a part-time student at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1974, but never received the bachelor's or master's degrees that she claimed from RPI. Nor did she receive a degree she claimed from Albany Medical College, MIT found.
"It's amazing that she only spent that much time in college. She's really smart," said Michael Behnke, the admissions dean at the University of Chicago and Ms. Jones's predecessor at MIT. "She's really been a leader in the profession. She was a leader when she worked for me. Very creative. Obviously, too creative," he said.
If you find yourself in the same boat as Marilee Jones, should you keep quiet or come clean?
Either way, experts say, you risk career suicide.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, April 27, 2007