We all heard about the former South Australian public servant who legit went to jail this month for faking her resume, right? Suddenly seems like a few white lies are a bigger deal than a lot of us thought.
Look, to be fair, the 45-year-old Adelaide bureaucrat did more than make up some cafe job. According to the ABC, she made up her education and work history, as well as getting her brother to pretend to be her fake reference.
For this, as well as a few more made up official docs during her time in the government role, she was sentenced to 25 months in jail with a non-parole period of 12 months.
So what do you need to know as a takeaway for you own resume?
Well firstly, lying on it is a criminal offence. Sure, it’s not a legal document, but you’re using it to advertise yourself so anything fake is considered fraud. If you sign any sort of legal document (ie. contract) that confirms these false claims, that’s another count of fraud.
If you’re found out, that’s at least a firing. With the Australian Government starting to crack down on resume fraud, however, that could be a hefty fine or, as we saw above, jail time.
If you’re sitting there thinking getting fired is nbd, then consider how much harder getting a job is going to be when your most recent work experience can only tell future employers your were fired for lying on your resume.
So basically, don’t do it. I know it can be tricky getting into the workforce sometimes, particularly if you’re new to it – but just don’t, it’s not worth it.
Instead, aggressively click on the below to work out how to boost a light-on resume in completely legal ways.
