Resume Integrity - Diploma Mills and Life Experience Degrees

I worked on a resume consulting project a couple of years ago for a supervisor of quality assurance and safety inspections with a large North American industrial services firm. George (name changed) had been in his current position for a number of years, and needed an up-to-date résumé to apply for opportunities in the Middle East. As I do with all my clients, I conducted internet research on George’s current and former employers, his industry, and his academic credentials (part of strategic résumé development includes knowing what a potential employer will uncover when they do the same). Within the first three minutes, I discovered that the MBA and Masters of Engineering degrees listed in George’s credentials had been obtained through unaccredited institutes that issue “life experience” diplomas.

What was particularly troubling about this discovery was that George’s current employer was embroiled in several high profile safety incidents that were under federal investigation. I can’t help wondering if the safety issues were related, at least in part, to the company’s poor due diligence and credential verification during staff recruitment.

Our firm explained to George that, as a matter of professional ethics and business policy, we would not knowingly include false or misleading information on a client’s résumé, and “life experience” credentials most definitely fall into the category of false & misleading. He was less than pleased to hear this, and there was a considerable amount of high-volume vocalization on his part. Not only was George affronted that we called his credentials into question, but he was genuinely surprised to learned that his “bought and paid for” degrees were not legitimate.

After talking him down from the ceiling, we explained that our company’s policy was not merely self-serving, but designed to protect the interests of our clients. Diploma mills who issue “life experience” credentials are illegal in most jurisdictions in North America and Europe. They first came to general public attention during the late 70’s and early ‘80’s when the FBI’s Operation DIP SCAM led to more than 20 criminal convictions. But with the power of the internet, Diploma Mills are proliferating once again, and today they represent a billion dollar e-crime spree.

As with any résumé falsification, listing “life experience” degrees under your academic qualifications will result in your immediate removal from the candidate pool, regardless of how many other legitimate qualifications and experience you bring to the table. If the falsifiction is discovered after you have already been hired, it can be grounds for instant termination with cause. Worse, it can lead to criminal and civil lawsuits against the employee who made false claims, and against the company who failed to do the necessary due diligence if it has a material impact on a client’s business, public safety, or shareholder value.

Think you’ve escaped the firing line because you have already been with your current company for a number of years and provided exemplary service? Think again. The investigative litigation firm Marquet International Ltd. has assembled a rogue’s gallery of executives and managers whose résumé falsifications were discovered long after they had been hired. The vast majority of members of the Résumé Liars Club are people who overstated or completely misstated their academic credentials. The list includes the well publicized case of Marilee Jones, long-time Dean of Admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who stepped down in 2007 after admitting to falsifying her academic credentials when she first applied to MIT, in 1979! And this was despite the fact that she was now a critically acclaimed author and one of America’s leading experts on navigating the college admission process.

While Jones’ case didn’t involve diploma mill fraud, the case of Laura Callahan did. Callahan, a former senior director at the United States Department of Homeland Security, was forced to resign after a federal investigation uncovered that she, along with several other federal employees in senior-level positions, had listed “diploma mill” accreditations on their résumés.

Résumé falsification has become endemic. So much so that an entire industry has sprung up specifically to conduct background checks and credential verifications on behalf of employers and recruiters. Even if your target employer doesn’t subscribe to these services, the internet makes it incredibly easy to uncover misrepresentations of fact, and today’s employers are making full use of these resources to screen their candidates. So if you are tempted to dress up your résumé with “iffy” credentials so that you can compete in today’s job market, know that it can be career suicide - not only now, but twenty years down the road.