Following the recent discussions about legislation to deal with essay mills a petition has been created by the excellent Iain Mansfield which would compel the Government to examine the issue if 10,000 signatures are obtained.
I’ve signed on the dotted line. Take a moment to lend your support by following this link.
There’s an excellent article for students over on Push on why you shouldn’t cheat, which goes beyond the obvious morality argument. Food for thought.
Melissa Howard – a Republican Party candidate for the Florida House of Representatives was incensed when a news outlet claimed that she did not hold the degree she claimed on her candidate biography. Howard’s campaign maintained that the story was nothing more than an attempt to ‘hurt Melissa or her reputation within the community’ orchestrated by her opponent in the primary.
So incensed was Howard that she flew to Ohio to pose with photographs of her degree certificate from Miami University and posted them on Twitter and Facebook.
Unfortunately, along with her friends and supporters, officials from Miami University were also looking at the photographs, and in particular at the diploma, which appeared to have some inaccuracies.
Oops.
It appears that having been caught out in a lie about her qualifications*, Howard chose to compound it with a fake certificate, which she flaunted on social media.
Her campaign claims this is ‘Fake News’.
We agree – quite literally.
*Things could get worse for Howard. Under Florida law this is a criminal offence.
Florida statute 817.566 states, “Any person who, with intent to defraud, misrepresents his or her association with, or academic standing or other progress at, any postsecondary educational institution by falsely making, altering, simulating, or forging a document, degree, certificate, diploma, award, record, letter, transcript, form, or other paper; or any person who causes or procures such a misrepresentation; or any person who utters and publishes or otherwise represents such a document, degree, certificate, diploma, award, record, letter, transcript, form, or other paper as true, knowing it to be false, is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.”
We’re not the only ones checking up on job applicants. Samsung recently surveyed 2,000 working British adults on their current roles and their career plans for 2015, and came up with a list of the ten most common lies found on CVs in the UK.
Former Apprentice mentor Nick Hewer, who is an ambassador for Samsung says: “I am not surprised that so many people admit to lying on the CVs – we see the same thing on The Apprentice year in, year out – however it is worth noting that we nearly always find the lies!
I have to say it astounds me that candidates lie in that situation. Surely they must know someone will go digging around? The media surely will, even if the producers don’t. Nevertheless, it’s encouraging words from Nick.
So what makes their top ten? No surprises on the number one slot, although I don’t fancy the chances of Apprentice contestants getting away with number nine.
Top Ten Lies on CVs
1. Exaggerated education grades (31%)
2. Beefing up day-to-day responsibilities (26%)
3. Job title (22%)
4. Personal achievements and rewards (22%)
5. Having a sporty hobby to appear outgoing and ‘rounded’ e.g. sky diving, off road racing (19%)
6. Companies you have worked for (17%)
7. References (using friends who were colleagues and not your manager) (15%)
8. Speaking a language (14%)
9. Covering up being fired from a previous position (10%)
10. Using industry jargon to impress – using industry terms/phrases without fully knowing what they mean (9%)
