Creative Fiction

A rampage of resume fraud

The candidate for an $80,000-a-year financial job in Chicago sheepishly admitted that he has been listing nonexistent bachelor's and graduate degrees on his resume for 20 years. A man seeking a position with a Texas-based airline was caught inflating his previous position and salary with another airline and neglecting to mention that his current employer had given him two weeks to find a new job.

Unusual cases? Hardly. Employers report that fraudulent resumes have become widespread in U.S. business. Says William Lewis, president of Career Blazers, one of New York's largest employment agencies: "Up to 40% of all resumes do not accurately portray what an individual has achieved."

An eye-catching summary of educational and professional experience is often a ticket to career advancement. Says Corporate Recruiter William Bo wen, head of Bowen and Berndt in Lexington, Mass.: "The person who falsifies information stands a better chance of getting job interviews and potentially getting the job."

Only a few companies check job seekers with anything like the thoroughness of the FBI. One is Coca-Cola, which may spend up to six months examining all the college and occupational data submitted by an applicant. Most other firms use more informal, and often inadequate, methods. They depend primarily on the savvy of executives doing job interviews, or the corporate personnel department, to catch cheaters. Polaroid verifies college claims only for recent graduates. A personnel director, Donald Fronzaglia, insists that few people can bluff their way into the company's high-technology jobs.

Oddly, the discovery of a faked resume does not always hurt an applicant.

A Texas electronics firm recently hired a Georgia executive who falsely claimed degrees from Georgia Tech and the Harvard Business School. Asks John Kelly, personnel director of Tenneco, a Houston-based oil company: "What do you do when someone is doing a good job and you've found a fabrication? If he is finding oil, do you fire him?"

Raymond Matzker, the $42,000-a-year director of a Wisconsin mental health institute, was not so fortunate. He lost his job last January after it was discovered that he had taken the name, Social Security number and educational background of a college acquaintance. One job candidate got in trouble because of the bad judgment used by an executive placement firm he hired. A cover letter that accompanied the resume of Dennis C. Revell claimed that he "is a litigator who makes an excellent presentation and is engaged to be married to President Reagan's daughter Maureen." Although the marriage took place as promised last month, the cover letter failed to mention that Revell had not passed one part of his California bar exam and is not licensed to practice law. Revell has dismissed the Keith Management Co., which prepared the letter. Said Preston Keith, the agency president: "I do what is appropriate to get the individual an interview." Keith added that such practices are now commonplace.

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