Current Events > Have you ever known someone who lied on their resume and put a college degree

(+) Yeah! (+)

that they didn't have? You frequently hear about these in the news where it is later found out

This is extremely common and the only times where it becomes newsworthy is if someone gets exposed for lying about it while working in government, education or healthcare.

Do jobs usually ask proof for a college degree upfront? If not, how do they find out later?

CRON posted...

This is extremely common and the only times where it becomes newsworthy is if someone gets exposed for lying about it while working in government, education or healthcare.

yeah it must be extremely common. Maybe much more common than most people believe. The ones that make news are usually like upper upper positions or famous people.

CRON posted...

This is extremely common and the only times where it becomes newsworthy is if someone gets exposed for lying about it while working in government, education or healthcare.

do any of you even kinda sympathize with the people who do this? like society places too much importance on college degrees that you sometimes aren't using at your work?

GranTurismo posted...

do any of you even kinda sympathize with the people who do this? like society places too much importance on college degrees that you sometimes aren't using at your work?

lol no i don't sympathize with them at all. i use my 3 degrees everyday.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

do they check like college grades? How do they verify degrees, what process?

GranTurismo posted...

do any of you even kinda sympathize with the people who do this? like society places too much importance on college degrees that you sometimes aren't using at your work?

It depends on the field. If it's a job where an extensive education is objectively required and you're given a great deal of responsibility, you need the credentials. Lying about a medical degree and then becoming a surgeon is dangerous.

If you're working for generic business #10924 as Excel/Word user #38617 there's a 99% chance a college education is completely irrelevant to your job.

CRON posted...

It depends on the field. If it's a job where an extensive education is objectively required and you're given a great deal of responsibility, you need the credentials. Lying about a medical degree and then becoming a surgeon is dangerous.

If you're working for generic business #10924 as Excel/Word user #38617 there's a 99% chance a college education is completely irrelevant to your job.

yeah i agree. Esp. with the last part of your post. Many people disagree though.

I once lied about not having a degree because I was worried Id get denied for being overqualified. Which had happened to me once

TimeForAction posted...

I once lied about not having a degree because I was worried Id get denied for being overqualified. Which had happened to me once

you lied and said you did not when you did? was this like a lower kinda job, like retail?

GranTurismo posted...

yeah i agree. Esp. with the last part of your post. Many people disagree though.

My wife works as an analyst for Cigna and doesn't have a degree. Most of her co workers do. She worked her way up over the years and has become one of the strongest people in her team. Depends on the field for sure.

orangefire25 posted...

My wife works as an analyst for Cigna and doesn't have a degree. Most of her co workers do. She worked her way up over the years and has become one of the strongest people in her team. Depends on the field for sure.

do you think having a college degree is going up in importance mostly in the u.s.? college costs are going up, student debt in total is going up...etc...

GranTurismo posted...

yeah i agree. Esp. with the last part of your post. Many people disagree though.

Some of it comes from older people being out of touch and not being able to comprehend how easy and accessible it is to learn most skills via the internet. Other times it comes from people being resentful that simply going to college didn't immediately translate to them earning six figures.

I've been on multiple interviews where hiring managers couldn't understand that I have years of experience with certain software suites because to them, the only way you can learn these skills is by taking a college course.

CRON posted...

Some of it comes from older people being out of touch and not being able to comprehend how easy and accessible it is to learn most skills via the internet. Other times it comes from people being resentful that simply going to college didn't immediately translate to them earning six figures.

I've been on multiple interviews where hiring managers couldn't understand that I have years of experience with certain software suites because to them, the only way you can learn these skills is by taking a college course. Despite having a portfolio and some of my work making the news throughout the years I've been almost completely ignored because I don't have a degree.

yeah extremely sad, esp. being resentful they didn't earn six figure...super sad. Also the very last part of your post as well.

Depends on the job TC on if they will check.

I will say, I'd highly recommend not lying on a high profile job that will likely involve an actual background check. Like clearance level work.

Personally, I wouldn't lie to that degree on my resume ever. Maybe finesse my responsibilities and accomplishments, but fabricating an entire college degree is something I'm not bold enough to do. I feel my luck I'd get caught.

asdf8562 posted...

Depends on the job TC on if they will check.

I will say, I'd highly recommend not lying on a high profile job that will likely involve an actual background check. Like clearance level work.

Personally, I wouldn't lie to that degree on my resume ever. Maybe finesse my responsibilities and accomplishments, but fabricating an entire college degree is something I'm not bold enough to do. I feel my luck I'd get caught.

what do you mean clearance level work? yeah an extremely high percentage if they find out will get rid of you. LIke almost all esp. an upper level job. All the big ones in the news they got rid of them. Maybe degree importance is getting even more important in u.s. not less

I know somebody who had to leave a prestigious college and later finish at a much lesser one. Her resume implies that she graduated from the first one. We suspect that she is hesitant to change jobs for fear of being exposed.

TommyVercetti posted...

what do you mean clearance level work? yeah an extremely high percentage if they find out will get rid of you. LIke almost all esp. an upper level job. All the big ones in the news they got rid of them. Maybe degree importance is getting even more important in u.s. not less

A security clearance such as a TS or higher.

TS clearances usually involves an actual investigator who verifies all of your claims when you apply for one. Depending on the type of TS clearance you are even interrogated. If you are serious about a job that requires a TS clearance, I'd highly recommend not lying in one of those. As if the investigator catches it and determines it was intentional, there's a good chance you can kiss that clearance goodbye along with the job that likely needs you with a TS clearance.

asdf8562 posted...

I will say, I'd highly recommend not lying on a high profile job that will likely involve an actual background check. Like clearance level work.

"Lack of candor" is the #1 reason clearances are denied (excessive debt is #2), so lying is a very bad idea. Also, even you somehow sneak through, if you later want an upgrade, and fail the deeper check, you will also lose your lower-level clearance.

asdf8562 posted...

A security clearance such as a TS or higher.

TS clearances usually involves an actual investigator who verifies all of your claims when you apply for one. Depending on the type of TS clearance you are even interrogated. If you are serious about a job that requires a TS clearance, I'd highly recommend not lying in one of those. As if the investigator catches it and determines it was intentional, there's a good chance you can kiss that clearance goodbye along with the job that likely needs you with a TS clearance.

you mostly mean like airline jobs, tcs or whatever they call the security part of most airlines? forget the 3 letter shortening....

My Wife did it for her current Salesforce admin job. She has 2 associate degrees and she said she had a Bachelor's on her resume.

Then we found out they use a company in India to verify all college credentials. Somehow she passed and got the job.

no not really

TommyVercetti posted...

you mostly mean like airline jobs, tcs or whatever they call the security part of most airlines? forget the 3 letter shortening....

I mean any job that requires a security clearance. Whether it's from DoD or DHS, or etc.....at least as far as the USA goes. I can't speak for other countries. Especially a high security clearance.

Those things usually involves an investigator, and the higher the clearance the more they scrutinize and even interrogate you (literally and figuratively). As someone else touched on its possible to somehow slip through the cracks, but I definitely don't recommend it if you value the job you are shooting for or any future work either.

my work doesn't check them. it's just a checkbox for them, if they see you have one they get all giddy about it but they never really check. they definitely consider it when hiring though, which is silly. we're a nonprofit organization, none of the work here is really skilled beyond a select few roles and they don't actually care if your degree is relevant to what you're applying for, or if you have any practical skills. they just believe that having a degree shows you have determination/work ethic which, in my experience... is a 50/50 shot, so must not really be a good litmus test for that sort of thing.

meanwhile my family grew up poor, and we were always moving around so i missed tons of school. then i dropped out of HS to join the workforce so i could start trying to improve our lives, and have been working ever since. got my GED later. college was never an option for me. but i have pursued education on my own time, gained skills and knowledge in various fields and am currently seated in a role where a degree is "required" because i simply proved i was the most capable person to do it to all the right people, despite my lack of formal qualifications.

despite this, our hiring managers/HR are still frequently choosing candidates with degrees over candidates with relevant work experience. at the end of the day, it should mean very little for most positions, and yet the value placed on it is still very high, so lacking a degree is a significant disadvantage.

No