All About Laughs
Landing the job of your dreams is a daunting task. Resumes, references, interviews and other candidates stand between you and the next step in your career. For one woman in Australia, that pressure became a bit too much, which resulted in her doing embellishing on her resume that landed her in jail.
The job market right now is in shambles thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Many are out of jobs. Some positions are just down right in possible to do without putting people at risk, with many companies and titles going under as a result. Understandably people are more desperate for work now than ever before.
36% of Americans in a new ResumeLab survey admitted to lying on their resumes. Most who were dishonest said they did so because they lacked experience or long-term employment. Of the 31% who were caught lying on their resumes, 65% were either not hired or fired. A CNBC article projected that number much higher, at 78%. Their survey included responses from 400 job seekers as well as 400 hiring managers, recruiters and other human resources professionals across the country.
One woman interviewed, Stacy Caprio, listed on her resume that she spoke mandarin. This was based on some mandarin that she learned why on a study abroad to Hong Kong. Caprio admits that while her knowledge of the language is not proficient, she still lists it on her resume to impress potential jobs, insuring that she tells the truth once hired. “If nothing else, it is a good conversation starter and often leads to a discussion of what I learned living and learning in Hong Kong for half a year,” Caprio says, “and it makes my profile more interesting.”
An Australian woman named Veronica Hilda Theriault, 46, took this concept a step too far when applying for jobs in 2017. The job in question, a role as chief information officer that came with an annual salary of 270,000 Australian dollars (US$185,000). Theriault took it a step further using a photo of Kate Upton for her LinkedIn Profile. She scored the position and worked in the position with South Australia’s Department of the Premier and Cabinet for a month, earning about 33,000 Australian dollars ($22,500) before being let go from the job.
She is now getting ready to serve a year in jail after being charged with deception, dishonesty, and abuse of public office on Tuesday. She pleaded guilty to all of the charges and received a 25 month sentence with a non-parole period of a year. Despite her defense attorney claiming that the embellished resume was the result of “unique set of circumstances that were unlikely to be repeated,” its been confirmed that she also lied on resumes in 2012 and 2014 to score similar jobs. Theriault says she’s “deeply ashamed and embarrassed.”