How faked resumes can haunt you

Regardless of the details surrounding the resignation of David Edmondson as RadioShack's CEO, the controversy underscores the fact that resume lying has practically become an assumed practice in the public and private sector. (Remember FEMA's Michael Brown?)

Human resource managers say they are continually amazed at how many people think they can get away with faking their backgrounds, especially in this age of Web transparency. So common is the practice, in fact, that at least one professional actually recommends that candidates do fabricate portions of their resumes simply to give themselves a competitive chance.

The "Fake Resume Guide" offers tips on how to "tune up" your resume for this very purpose. "Once you realize the extent that people go to in fabricating their resumes you start to realize that those that don't lie on their resumes stand to lose jobs to those that do," said the guide's author, Derek Johnson, who is identified in a press release as a former executive recruiter.

Can false identities be that far off?

Blog community response:

"If a CEO can get away with lying on a resume for 11 years it's no wonder we have Sarbanes-Oxley in place in an attempt to try and keep our CEOs honest."
--Minnesota Public Relations Blog

"Lying on your resume can come back to haunt you--sometimes even many years down the road. Don't fall into that trap. Instead, reduce the issue from elephant-size to normal proportions and don't let it stall your search."
--Career Hub

"Personal ethics are subjective, however, I suspect that the question on the minds of those that do is whether they are going to get away with it. Unfortunately, once the lying starts, it's hard to make it stop."
--Heather's "Marketing at Microsoft" Blog