Liars Index®

Liars Index® Continues to Decline, Lyin' King Chosen

The rate of misrepresentation of education claims on resumes, calculated semi-annually as the Liars Index®, fell back again in the second half of 2012, declining to 14.00 percent, the lowest semi-annual calculation in four years. The rolling average for the last two years moderated to 20.75 percent, the lowest rate since mid-2011.

There have been noticeable press reports over the past year regarding misrepresentations of academic credentials. When attention is drawn to cases where candidates' education claims do not match up with the school record, seekers may be inclined to correct the record on their resumes. But when the CEO of a major public company fails to correct the firm's public announcement of education credentials, people will take notice and wonder what other career facts may need to be verified.

When an executive has a positive record of leadership over many years, it seems totally unnecessary to gild the lily, for results on the job rightly draws favorable attention. Many organizations' performance measures are difficult to fully attribute to a sole individual. Results over a career carry more weight with a hiring party than does campus history, whether on the court or in the classroom. But dates and degrees and majors are easily verifiable facts. Misstating them is a quick way to be taken out of the candidate pool.

When recruiting, a first step can be verifying education claims...any variances can be clarified before investing heavily in the screening and interviewing process.

Each year a Lyin' King is selected from the pool of people who were found to have misrepresented their academic credentials. For 2012, the Lyin' King comes from a decades-long Information Technology career path. He claimed a BS in Information Technology, reporting on his resume that he places "strong attention to detail" and said that he is admired for his "ability to get the job done". The university he listed on his resume has no record of his ever having enrolled in the school. Over the years, many successful people in the IT career path have been advanced based upon their solid computer software/systems abilities, often gained without their completing a college degree. There is no shame in lacking a degree, but one quick way to be eliminated as a candidate is to invent a college record off the top of one's head.

Jude M. Werra, LLC updates its "Liars Index®" on a semiannual basis. The firm is dedicated to bringing clarity to Directors and Officers executive assessment, search and selection across North America.

Here is our latest data: