Following on from the recent sacking of Yahoo CEO for misrepresentation of qualifications, as well as the comments made by Ian “Dicko” Dickson on Mix 101.1 which resulted in a number of individuals proudly confessing that they accepted employment through falsifying qualifications and experience on their resume, we felt it timely to contribute a blog about this issue.
In Australia although the resume is not a legal document; misrepresenting yourself on your resume and lying can lead to both criminal and civil proceedings. There are many applications available to organisations and recruiters to confirm the accuracy of data provided on an application; which is becoming more and more common as part of the initial assessment.
Unfortunately with the increase of unemployment, it seems more and more people feel the need to lie on their resume; they feel this is the only way of successfully applying for roles. This is actually not true and a well formatted resume that is factual will result in a successful application and will eliminate risk of dismissal or legal proceedings.
We would like to include an article taken from the Sunday Age some time back on this issue. This article highlights a specific case in Australia and a couple of other examples. We do not condone lying on a resume. We understand not everyone can afford a professional resume service; however our new book will support you in understanding how to write a resume if you wish to give this a go yourself.
There is no excuse for lying.
Executive sacked for faking CV
Mark Russell
A senior Federal Government executive has been sacked after being accused of using fake qualifications to get a job with the very department that warns employers to be wary of fraudulent degrees.
Bobby Singh had been recruited to a senior position within the former Department of Employment and Workplace Relations before his credentials were scrutinised. Checks revealed he had included on his curriculum vitae allegedly fake degrees from Harrington University and the Trinity College and University, in the United States. The two universities have been described as “degree mills,” which sell degrees over the internet and require no educational assessment.
The Sunday Age has obtained copies of the degrees that state Mr Singh has been awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy and a Masters of Science, both with a major in information systems, from Trinity, and a Masters of Business Administration from Harrington.
A spokesman for the federal Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Department — which carries warnings about fake degrees on its website — said Mr Singh was employed as an executive level 2, with a salary of between $79,691 and $98,900 in 2005 after a merit selection process. He was sacked in December 2006.
His case was due to go before the Federal Magistrates Court, but was settled out of court last year. Hundreds of thousands of Australians are thought to have overstated their educational achievements on their CVs.
A PricewaterhouseCoopers forensic investigation of the CVs of staff at a large financial institution in 2003 found 40% contained “serious mis-statements”, including fake qualifications.
New anti-money laundering legislation has forced employers to become more vigilant, but a fake qualifications expert, Dr George Brown, says most employers accept background documentation at face value. “That’s the problem,” he told The Sunday Age. “How many people check? What skills and knowledge do they have to verify the authenticity of an academic qualification?” Dr Brown said that in today’s “credential-conscious” society, “academic qualifications are items of value that are being falsified by people wanting to move ahead in society”.
Faking it
■JANUARY 2008 Former Qantas engineer Timothy McCormack will stand trial in the NSW District Court for forging a maintenance engineer’s licence. McCormack had been responsible for safety checks on the airline’s fleet of Boeing 747s.
■2006 Former Federal Court judge Marcus Einfeld was revealed to have a PhD from Pacific Western University, which has been debunked as a diploma mill for handing out doctorates for the flat fee of $US2595 ($A2800).
■2003 Glen Oakley was sacked from his $1.2 million role as general manager of Sydney’s Randwick Council after faking academic qualifications, including an MBA from Harvard University.







