The Worst Job Candidate Ever
One question I am asked frequently is ‘What is the worst lie you have ever seen on a resume?’ I will relate a story about an individual that we were vetting for a large corporation for a c-level position.
Lie #1: Education
The prospect stated that he received an MBA from Harvard Business School. Not only did he not graduate from Harvard but he did not even receive a high school diploma, although he did receive a G.E.D.
Lie#2: Military Service
The prospect stated that he was in the U.S. Navy as a Fighter pilot. He never was a fighter pilot, but he was in the U.S. Navy! Unfortunately he received an administrative discharge in boot camp for sleepwalking.
Lie#3: Professional Experience
He claimed he spearheaded product development for a 1.6 billion dollar corporation. When we contacted the HR department of this company they had said he worked in the warehouse as a foreman. Hey, at least he had some leadership responsibilities. He also stated that he was employed for 4 years with this company, oops sorry we found out he was only employed for 2.
Lie#4: Personal References
This one might not be classified as a lie as much as it was a stupid move. He listed a person that he said he had worked with in one of his previous fabulous careers. When we contacted this person we found out that they were in jail together! At this point it kind of seemed ridiculous to continue with the investigation but our client wanted us to continue.
After finding out about his jail sentence we decide that we would dig a bit deeper into his criminal past. I will list the crimes we found below.
Crime#1: Theft
Subject was convicted of stealing portable air conditioner units from the windows of an apartment building. He was caught when one of the units fell on top of him and knocked him unconscious.
Crime#2: Indecent Exposure
He was arrested outside of a nightclub while urinating right next to a police car.
Crime#3: Driving While Intoxicated
Subject was arrested and convicted of DUI after he drove his vehicle through a fence and into a ravine. Wow this one seems almost normal for our guy.
There were some other problems with our prospect as well. His credit was shot, he had several names attached to his social security number which could indicate identity theft. One of his previous addresses returned to a hair salon and another to a Radio Shack. This is probably the worst candidate we have ever conducted a background check on. I sincerely hope that there is not a company around that would hire this clown. What is the worst candidate you have ever had? Leave a comment and let us know!
