Shauna Moerke is…

Sometimes on the drive in to work I listen to a local radio station. Such an antiquated concept I know, what in this age of iPods, Pandora, and Satellite Radio but hey I only live 4 miles away and it’s nice to try something different. Funny how something that used to be a primary form of entertainment has now been regulated to something novel and old school, but I digress.

The other morning I tuned in to hear the DJ’s trying to solicit feedback from listeners on tips for landing your dream job. Naturally, my ears perked up. Who doesn’t want to hear about people who found their dream job and how they got it? Don’t we all want that too? So imagine my surprise when one caller offered this piece of advice: Lie.

Yup, lie. Lie on your resume, set up fake references, lie in the interview. Lie, lie, lie. 10 years ago she lied about everything to get a job and it worked! She’s still in that job too and clearly doesn’t regret what she did at all. In fact, she said in these tough economic times it’s more important to do things like that.

Sigh. Look, I’m not some naive HR pro who thinks that people are 100% honest with me, all the time. Who is? And people often get away with and benefit from deceit, even on this magnitude. The world is unfair.

But in the last 10 years the world has also changed quite a bit. Background checks, Google, skills testing, and more are now commonplace parts of the recruiting process. The world is smaller, better connected, and more transparent. I’m not saying lying doesn’t still happen of course, but things aren’t as easy as they once were. And even if you get hired, what happens when they expect you to start doing all those things that you promised you could do? Lying on an application is grounds for immediate termination at most companies. Good luck explaining that to future employers, though I guess you could lie about that too.

And let’s not forget the morality of the situation. How questionable is her integrity that she thinks what she did was perfectly reasonable, much less be willing to brag about it on air? That is not the type of person I want working for me or any company I support. Haven’t we had enough examples recently of how this kind of attitude has brought down whole companies and even economies? It’s the same sort of thing.

I’ve been hit by this economy too. I’ve been laid off, suffered through months of unemployment, and could very easily end up in that situation again. Times are tough right now. But this kind of self-centered, anything-goes-as-long-as-I-get-what-I-want kind of behavior isn’t the solution. And if/when, it comes back to bite you in the ass it will be that much harder to recover from.

But in the end, you are ultimately the one who has to decide what is or is not acceptable. Is it only bad advice if you choose to take it?