According to an email article from Information Week about 12.5% of the executive resumes pad their education claims. Here's some quotes. "A recent survey of 7,000 executive resumes involved in 500 random executive searches conducted this year by recruitment firm Christian & Timber found that about 23% of executive candidates misrepresent themselves on their resumes. And many of the offenders are seeking IT executive posts, such as CIO and chief technology officer, says Bill Trau, a VP at Christian & Timbers." "Offending execs aren't exactly picky about what they'll embellish, either. Of those who tinker with the truth, about 71% of them misrepresent the number of years they've spent in a job, 64% exaggerate their accomplishments, 60% exaggerate the size of the organizations they've managed, 52% claim their partial degrees are full degrees, 48% exaggerate their compensation, 44% exaggerate the number of jobs they've held, and 41% omit jobs they don't want people to know about." "The good news for IT recruiters is that technology execs tend to pad their resumes slightly less frequently than some other executives, mainly because it's more difficult for IT folks to fabricate certain achievements, such as education and degrees [...]" Now what was for me the only good news in the article. "But when Trau discovers a fabrication related to education, he'll drop the candidate from consideration. - Marianne Kolbasuk McGee" I also note that of the 23% that "misrepresent themselves", they (not surprising) typically tell more than one "misrepresentation".
Good story, Bill. I wonder how many people pad their resumes when they apply for those free Information Week subscriptions? Maybe that's where the habit starts. Heh.
