Lie About Degree on Resume?

[grandgnu]

I have an Associates in Business Administration, but never went on to complete a Bachelors program, instead just going straight into the workforce.

I have noticed that a lot of positions mention they "require" a Bachelors degree. The positions I've been interested in I have anywhere from 5-10 years of experience, but I'm worried that if I use an automated application method on a site like Monster, that my lack of a Bachelors degree will get my resume screened out by an automated process.

Unfortunately, not all of the positions provide anything but an automated method to apply, which makes it difficult to get around any filters for Bachelors degrees.

I've never had an employer attempt to verify my degree in the past, so I'm thinking I could "get away" with adding a fake degree to my resume.

I feel I'm more than qualified for a lot of the positions I've seen, but the lack of a Bachelors degree holds me back.

All advice welcome, thanks!

[gamblore99]

if you wont even get in the door without it, you have nothing to lose by lying.

[theben]

Do NOT lie about your degree on your application. This is one of the things you cannot lie about. Your future employer will do a background screen and this lie will be exposed and you will then have your offer of employment rescinded.

if you are an ex-pro hire w/ 10+ yrs, then you need not worry about your AA degree.

most companies allow for the online submission of a resume and/or cover letter(sometimes word upload, sometimes ascii upload). this wont get your screened out.

if you run into a site that only had some checkbox for bach/mast degree, etc try to find a way around it. look for HR contacts and try to send in a regular resume

[donkeylove]

You might get caught now. You will probably get caught in the future. It is against the law in a few states now also. I know Nevada is one. Verification services are growing quickly and will probably be commonplace in the future. If you get a job and excel they may overlook it and keep you. They may fire you regardless of your job performance and you will have wasted years on a job you can't even list on your resume. If you do it, I would look at a small privately owned company, work on finishing my degree, and then look for another job once you have completed it.

[Boris]

If you think you are qualified for the job lie on the online resume app. If you get an interview you must reveal the lie immediately and explain why you did it.

[theben]

[ QUOTE ]
If you think you are qualified for the job lie on the online resume app. If you get an interview you must reveal the lie immediately and explain why you did it.

[/ QUOTE ]

that works too but i would only do it if you run into some type of drop down menu that forces you to fill in AA, BA, BS, MA, MS, etc that may auto-preclude you from employment consideration

if you lie on the resume and then try to explain to an interviewer why you lied on your app, it looks bad any way you spin it.

if you are just doing an online submission of resume and cv letter and you have excellent experience in an 'experienced-professional' class hire, nobody is going to be looking at the college AA junk

[grandgnu]

Thanks to everyone for chiming in, your advice is appreciated.

[TripSearching]

In my job, I work for HR quite alot. Any reputable company will do a background check, so while you may get hired if they find out you lied on the application they make you fill out you will get fired like two weeks later. You will not get away with lying if the company is a good company. What type of work do you do?

[tuq]

Since I pretty much disagree or dispute every point you made below, I've got to respond.

[ QUOTE ]
Do NOT lie about your degree on your application. This is one of the things you cannot lie about. Your future employer will do a background screen and this lie will be exposed and you will then have your offer of employment rescinded.

[/ QUOTE ]
OP may be able to find this out, particularly if he's working with a recruiter or knows someone in the company. I know a ton of companies that still hire without background screening or drug tests, partucularly if they are consultants on-site at that company.

[ QUOTE ]
if you are an ex-pro hire w/ 10+ yrs, then you need not worry about your AA degree.

[/ QUOTE ]
Not true. I know a ton of good folks who are way qualified with great personalities and job histories who get DQ'ed right out of the gate because of the lack of degree.

I'd like to point out that I think HR departments that are expected to participate in the hiring process are strongly in favor of degrees and probably push for them being mandatory as a way of thinning the available candidate pool - i.e. doing the work for them - which is incredibly short-sighted.

[ QUOTE ]
most companies allow for the online submission of a resume and/or cover letter(sometimes word upload, sometimes ascii upload). this wont get your screened out.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, but Betty in H.R., who is going through the stack and paring down to a few people to send to the hiring manager, is going to almost immediately scroll to the "Education" portion and react accordingly.

[ QUOTE ]
if you run into a site that only had some checkbox for bach/mast degree, etc try to find a way around it. look for HR contacts and try to send in a regular resume

[/ QUOTE ]
This isn't bad, but the best thing he can do is follow up EVERY resume submission with a phone call or e-mail. Persistence is way, way more successful than "submit and hope".

I also want to point out that my frustration with this degree thing is that in the fields in which I've recruited I've found it a totally ridiculous, bogus qualification (including for management-level spots). I think we've all met a ton of people with college degrees who can barely function in life, and also plenty without who lead very successful lives. I'm not trying to open a can of worms here, but I get very annoyed when great people otherwise qualified don't get considered solely based on this criteria.

[Thremp]

You can get fired on the spot for this, whenever they find out.