A client presented herself as having left a Fortune 500 company, a company where she had a great career for more than 10 years as a Senior Administrative Assistant, when her division relocated. Right after that, she completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and wanted to leverage her new degree.
I saw some room for improvement in the resume; it had a strange structure and did not highlight all of her financial experience. She also did not highlight her recent degree; instead it was on the bottom of the resume.
Her degree came from a school I had not heard of, Greenwood University. In many cases, I look up schools to be sure they are not a scam. If a school is listed in the http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/ or http://www.chea.org/search/default.asp databases, it is legitimate. But my research showed that Greenwood University is a diploma mill. That type of degree is illegal in some states and using a diploma mill degree to get a job is actually a felony in New Jersey.
Even after I let the client know how using the phony degree was affecting her job search and the possible consequences on her career (and life), she insisted she wanted to keep it on her resume. I do not want to perpetuate fraud, and I gave back her deposit, refusing to write her resume.
This is the first person who has insisted on using their phony degree on their resume once I tell them about the consequences. I have explained this more than a dozen times to potential clients, and they all have been extremely grateful. Some have become return clients and have gone on to earn real degrees.
If you are considering a diploma mill as a quick source for a degree, please think again. You might believe it is not the resume writer’s responsibility to check degrees but it is certainly the job of a recruiter or a hiring manager. What if someone gets a job with a fake degree and later does harm? In this example, it would have been fiduciary harm with companies that have large legal staffs. You can be sure the company would prosecute. And if I can detect a diploma mill, so can recruiters and employers!
I know how to write resumes that win jobs without breaking the law. Contact me today and let me help.