What Happens if You Lie on Your Resume?
In most jobs nowadays, if you lie about your qualifications to get the job, and it's found out, you'll be fired. There are two cases where that's not true. One, if you own the company. Two, if it's in politics. Recently elected Rep. George Santos seems to have lied his ass off about his background when running for Congress.
Here's a list of things Santos lied about that have been revealed in the past week or so by investigative journalism.
I agree that most people likely tell little lies on their resumes. They embellish. They "round up" a college GPA from 3.3 to 3.5, or add the word "senior" to a job title. But these lies, as you can see, are not merely embellishments. They are wholesale fabrications. The people of New York's 3rd Congressional district elected a person who lied about nearly all of his salient qualifications for the job. And now they're probably stuck with him, at least until the 2024 election comes around.
Here's a list of things Santos lied about that have been revealed in the past week or so by investigative journalism.
- High school. Santos told dramatic stories on the campaign trail about attending a prestigious private school and struggling with tuition. The school says he was never enrolled there.
- College. Santos said he attended Baruch College and earned a bachelor's degree in economics and finance. He furthermore said he was a top-1% honors student, with a 3.89 GPA, and an athletic star. He didn't attend that school at all.
- Graduate school. Santos claimed that after graduating from Baruch College he earned an MBA from New York University. NYU also has no record of him earning a degree.
- Work experience. Santos claims to have worked at major Wall Street firms Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, managing teams and portfolios. Both companies say they have no record of him working there. In addition he's claimed, "I’ve developed many companies. I’ve opened my own business." There's no record of these companies.
- Personal & family history. Santos claimed to be Jewish and the grandchild of people who fled persecution by Nazi Germany. Not only is there nobody identifiably Jewish in his family, his grandparents weren't within 5000 of miles of Nazi Germany. Records show they were in Brazil, having been born there.
I agree that most people likely tell little lies on their resumes. They embellish. They "round up" a college GPA from 3.3 to 3.5, or add the word "senior" to a job title. But these lies, as you can see, are not merely embellishments. They are wholesale fabrications. The people of New York's 3rd Congressional district elected a person who lied about nearly all of his salient qualifications for the job. And now they're probably stuck with him, at least until the 2024 election comes around.