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The dangers of embellishment

Being boastful of your achievements on your resume is great, and pretty much expected except for the most humble of us out there.

Lying on your resume to inflate your background is a faux pas that can come back to haunt you years after you think you've gotten away with it.

Just ask Yahoo's now ex-CEO, Scott Thompson, who was out after barely 4 months at the helm. Thompson's office chair at Yahoo was barely warm before he was removed by the company for embellishing his college degree - stating that he received a bachelor's degree in Accounting and Computer Science, when in fact his degree was only for Accounting.

An embellishment of this kind may normally earn a rebuke or censure if the person is years into their career, but Thompson's mistake was putting his false credential in Yahoo's annual report, which is a legal document filed with the SEC that the CEO must swear as being completely truthful.

Thompson's error in judgment also cost the job of the director who lead Yahoo's CEO search committee. Moral of the story? Toot your own horn, but don't lip-sync.

Full story: http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/13/technology/yahoo-ceo-out/index.htm


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