Every day the news cycle announces more lies uncovered. A few recent examples include:
- Rachel Dolezal, an alleged white woman who has been working for the NAACP in Spokane and in the Africana Education Department at Eastern Washington University
- Former US House Speaker Dennis Hastert, accused in an indictment of paying $3.5 million to keep past misconduct secret
In the workplace businesses exist which help perpetuate lies. You can purchase fake diplomas, fake transcripts, fake resumes and false references to assist in your job search. These actually work – hundreds (maybe thousands) of people are placed in jobs regularly as a result of using them.
Hiring managers and talent acquisition professionals beware. Countless additional job seekers lie in other ways on their resumes:
- About past employers
- Lies of omission
- Half-truths
- Embellishments
The biggest problem with these lies is that eventually they trap you. The truth will finally find you, one way or another. In this age of social media, your past will catch up to you. You DON’T want to be trending on Twitter for this reason.
A number of years ago, I personally saw a very senior executive, and her assistant, lose their jobs over expense report fraud. (NOTE: Expense reports DO get audited.)
You want to be a person of integrity. You want to be someone your co-workers can trust. You want to be the person your manager, and her manager can rely upon, even in difficult circumstances.
It takes years to build credibility, but you can lose it instantly. Your reputation follows you.
Don’t learn that lesson the hard way.
Betsy Winkler is a Partner at PeopleResults. She can be reached on Twitter @BetsyWinkler1 or on email at bwinkler@people-results.com. Sign up to receive her and her colleagues’ blog at Current.
