“Wrong Official Summary”! That was the headline in the Sports section of a popular newspaper a few years ago, when the then-manager of a major league baseball team was found to have inaccuracies in his biography. He was not an “American basketball player” and did not “play basketball at UCLA before signing with the Dodgers.” When questioned by the sportswriter, the manager admitted the statements were incorrect and said he should be judged by what he does on the pitch, not what is written about him.

Fast forward to 2005, where it was widely reported in the newspapers and on the Internet that a person planning to buy a football kit had to revise their data sheet because it contained numerous errors. He didn’t play in the NFL or the CFL, nor did he play in the Little League World Series when he was 11 years old. He has a degree in social work, not “a degree in business administration with an emphasis in finance,” as the original biography of him claimed.

Are these facts limited to sports? Nope! There have been incidents where people have been caught posing as doctors, lawyers or teachers. There was the man who practiced medicine in the US and Canada for 10 years before it was discovered he never earned a medical degree and the politician who had to resign from his caucus when it was revealed he never attended law school. , as stated in his abstract. .

Bullies aren’t always men, if you’re starting to wonder. In 1996, a former Alberta deputy health minister resigned from her position because she inflated her academic and professional credentials when she claimed to have been “working as a visiting professor at Princeton.” Why do people misrepresent themselves in their summaries? Is it because of increased competition, the desire to stand out, or the yearning for prestige?

A study by Infocheck, a reference checking firm in Toronto, found that 27% of applicants improved their educational background; 25% lacked job knowledge and 19% were fired or could not be rehired. The company randomly selected 1,000 job applicants for whom it had conducted reference checks and education verifications, and found that 35% of these applicants had “red flags.” These candidates were already successful in the interview process and their positions ranged from general offices to senior executives.

“Summary fraud takes the form of exaggerated skills or duties in a previous job or a covert termination,” said one of Infocheck’s co-founders. The company suggests that organizations “check before you hire” as a way to protect themselves from unexpected court costs, liability concerns and tarnished brand identity.

What’s the regular Harry Hardworker to do? Protect your brand identity too. In such a competitive market, it’s tempting to twist the facts, but think about the consequences when the truth is known. If he is currently pursuing a program at a college or university, don’t say that he already has a degree or diploma. If you worked on a project as part of a team, be clear about it. Don’t give the employer the impression that he did it all by himself. It’s okay to highlight, and sometimes brag about, your accomplishments because employers want to know what you’ve done with your talents, but exaggerating facts to gain an advantage over other candidates isn’t okay.

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