The Edge Perspective:Ethics
People lie on the resume for several reasons. Firstly they lie to show work experience. This is
because they do not have adequate work experience to fulfill the requirement of a certain job or
graduate school. Secondly people lie about a fraudulent degree. Often time’s people do not have
a degree and write on their resume that they have graduated even when they have just been to
that particular university for a certain time period. This however, enables the particular person to
initially find a job but later that person will not be able to survive if he/she does not have the
academic qualification. That person will never be able to perform well on his/her job. Thirdly, in
order to look better a person can often times elaborate and lie about your job description. They
can say good things about themselves and say that they are good at doing a certain job. They can
say they have certain skills or technical skills to do a job but actually they are unable to. This will
again cause problems for both the job applicant and the employer. Lying on a resume can be
misleading and can jeopardizing one’s future.
During the past four years of my college career, I have made one ethically complex decision. I
was given various opportunities to start working with companies that required one year work
experience. I was tempted to state on my resume that I have one year work experience with a
company that I had only interned for two months. I know that it is wrong to lie on a resume,
whether it is about a fraudulent degree or work experience. I decided to make my resume
truthfully.
Whatever the reason may be there are consequences of lying on resumes. Many factors were
involved in my decision making. Firstly I know that it is wrong to lie on a resume. Lying on my
resume will initially lead me to get where I want to be and also get me the particular job. But I
would not have the skill to perform the job. I also knew that if I lied on my resume I would lose
trust and leave a wrong impression on the employer. I also know that I would jeopardize my
future. This would make it difficult for me to get hired somewhere else.
Companies are nowadays growing careful in catching resume cheaters which is done through
background check which is conducted before and after hiring. If at any point dishonesty is
discovered, there is a possibility of legal action taking place or grounds for termination. Anyone
who lies about their past on their resume jeopardizes their future. It may look very impressive on
resume, but the truth is that all that glitters is not gold. People can say a lot of things on their
resume like they went to a certain school or that they graduated in a certain year but the truth is
that If anyone lies on their resume they should be prepared to get caught. Companies have a lot
of option to choose from nowadays. For this reason it is becoming a common practice for people
to conduct background checks prior to offering employment.
I think one should not lie on their resume to win a job. This is because they would not be
comfortable performing the job they are hired for. If somebody lies about the skills they would
not have the particular skills to perform. I think I made the right decision because when people
are caught for lying on their resume they are terminated from their job or a legal action is taken.
This can have a negative effect on somebody’s career and it is possible that, that particular
person cannot be hired anywhere else. A background check is conducted by the Human
Resources before hiring a particular candidate. I further think being truthful about my resume has
made me an eligible candidate for any position. I am now gaining good education and this will
be helpful for me to secure a job in the industry. Going to an undergraduate school has prepared
me to go to graduate school as I have improved my GPA and have also learnt how to approach a
new way of learning.