我们假设一位叫Mary的女士得到了在一所享有盛誉的大学里从事高层的学生服务的工作机会，她激动地接受了。但是两年以后，虽然Mary的工作表现受到了好评并且被誉为学校里一颗冉冉升起的新星，她还是被解雇了。为什么呢？因为她在简历中说谎，并且被发现了。
   
　　在一项人力资源工作中要求职工们提供大学时的成绩单，Mary谎称自己拥有硕士学位的事实被发现了。Mary丢掉工作并不是因为她缺少硕士学位，而是因为她不诚实。失去了工作，又没有推荐信，Mary展示了在简历中说谎的后果。
   
　　公司越来越知道如何利用聘用之前和之后的日趋复杂的综合背景调查来搜出简历骗子。为什么还要事后调查？在工作中的表现能够引发对员工过去经历的后续调查。如果被发现不诚实，通常可以构成终止雇佣合同并可能导致法律措施。
   
　　然而在简历中伪造信息的远不止Mary一个人。芝加哥大学的著名经济学教授、《畸形经济》一书的合著作者Steven D. Levitt引证的调查显示，百分之五十以上的人在简历中说谎。
   
　　有了Mary的情况作参考，你可能会问，为什么人们还会在最初试图侥幸逃脱在简历中说谎的后果？Levitt借用了一句W.C.领域的引文来作为他的解释：“任何值得赢取的东西都值得采用欺骗的手段。”
   
　　权力和痛苦——孕育诱惑
   
　　Peter定律提出，在公司内部的等级中，员工总是倾向于不断被提升，直至达到他们能力所及的最高水平，在某种程度上似乎是在扭曲Peter定律，Levitt假定“一个人在某个组织中升得越高，他或她就越容易说谎。”
   
　　他的观察当然是根据关于执行官们因为简历中的不诚实而辞职的新闻头条消息。常见的简历谎言包括虚构在校成绩、掩盖工作阶段之间的待业时期、夸大职位名称、修饰工作职责和成就，把小组的努力全部归功于自己、甚至虚构雇主。
   
　　小谎言的大后果
   
　　“最好的谎言是那些反映事实的。” Levitt说，“百分之五十的简历谎言都是在这里或那里说一点小谎，例如，掩盖他们有六个月的时间没有工作的事实。”
   
　　也许把这些欺骗看作无害的谎言或市场运作而在简历中说谎的人们可能会造成比他们所能意识得到的更严重的损害结果，无论是对他们还是对其他人。
   
　　Levitt说：“当有人欺骗的时候，诚实的人们受到了伤害。”某些人通过捏造或夸大的事实获得了不正当的优势，而把诚实的求职者挤出了竞争之列。
   
　　骗子们给自己造成了什么损害呢？Levitt警告说：“即使你从未被抓到过，你还是会生活在持续的恐惧中，担心自己将来有一天会被抓住并受到惩罚，并且生活在自己做了错事的罪恶感中。”
   
　　获得成功的诚实策略
   
　　无论说谎有着什么样的原因或理由，只要你的简历不是完全真实的，那么记住这一点：你并不是非要靠欺骗来获得一份工作的。这里有一些正当的策略供你参考，以处理那些跳槽、失业、缺少工作经验、没有或是不够的大学学位、被解雇和有犯罪记录的情况。
   
　　Levitt的研究结果和那些在简历中说谎被抓的求职者的故事足以告诫劳动大军中的每一个人：你在为过去说谎的时候就危害到了你的将来。
   

   
When a woman we'll call Mary was offered a high-level student-services position at a prestigious college, she was thrilled to accept. But two years later, Mary was fired despite strong performance reviews and a reputation as a rising star at the college. The reason? She lied on her resume -- and got caught.
   
An HR initiative requiring employees to furnish college transcripts revealed Mary lied about having a master's degree. It wasn't lack of a degree that cost Mary her job; it was her dishonesty. Unemployed and with a blown reference to boot, Mary demonstrates what can happen when you lie on your resume.
   
Companies are growing increasingly savvy in ferreting out resume cheaters through more comprehensive background checks conducted both pre- and post-hire. Why the latter? Subpar job performance can prompt a follow-up investigation into an employee's past. If dishonesty is discovered, it is often grounds for termination and possibly legal action.
   
Yet Mary is hardly alone in falsifying information on a resume. Steven D. Levitt, coauthor of Freakonomics and a renowned economics professor at the University of Chicago, cites research suggesting that more than 50 percent of people lie on their resumes.
   
Given such repercussions as Mary's fate, you might wonder why anyone would attempt to get away with lying on a resume in the first place. Levitt refers to a W.C. Fields quote in his explanation: "Anything worth winning is worth cheating for."
   
Power -- and Misery -- Foster Temptation
   
In a kind of twist on the Peter Principle, which suggests that within corporate hierarchies, employees tend to be promoted until they reach their ultimate levels of incompetence, Levitt postulates that "the higher up in the organization a person rises, the more likely it is that he or she will cheat."
   
His observation is certainly borne out by news headlines about executives resigning in the face of resume dishonesty. Common resume lies include falsifying academic credentials, padding dates to mask employment gaps, exaggerating job titles, embellishing job responsibilities and achievements, claiming sole responsibility for team efforts and even making up fictitious employers.
   
Levitt also found a correlation between mood and the temptation to cheat. The desperation felt when weeks of unemployment stretch into months, or the low morale experienced by someone employed but truly miserable in a job, appear to increase the incentive to lie.
   
The Big Consequences of Little Lies
   
"The best lies will be those that mirror reality," Levitt says. "My hunch is that the reputed 50 percent of resume cheaters are mostly making little cheats here and there, for instance, to cover up times when they were out of the labor force for six months."
   
Perhaps viewing these mistruths as harmless white lies or marketing spin, people who lie on a resume may end up doing more damage --to themselves and others -- than they realize.
   
"When someone else cheats, it hurts the honest people," Levitt says. Honest job seekers can be edged out of competition by individuals who give themselves an unfair advantage by fabricating or exaggerating credentials.
   
And what about the damage cheaters do to themselves? "Even if you are never caught, you will have to live in constant fear that someday you will be caught and punished and with the guilt of knowing what you did was wrong," Levitt warns.
   
Honest Strategies for Getting Ahead
   
No matter what the reason or justification for lying, if your resume isn't entirely truthful, know this: You don't have to resort to lying to win a job. There are ethical resume strategies you can use to address issues like job-hopping, time off from the workforce, minimal work experience, lack of or incomplete college degrees , being fired and having a criminal record.
   
Levitt's research findings and the stories of job seekers who got caught lying on their resumes are cautionary tales to anyone in the workforce: You jeopardize your future when you lie about your past.