According to a 2017 study, 85% of people lie on their resume.
Some small lies may never be discovered, like how my boss still thinks I can speak 42 languages.
Others, however, are willing to go a little further, and usually pay the price for it.
Former NUS Student Charged for Using Fake Degree to Secure a Higher Paying Job
A 30-year-old Singaporean PR has been fined $4,000 for forging a degree certificate to get himself a job as a part-time teacher.
On Friday (11 Dec), Xie Xin, a Singapore permanent resident from China, pleaded guilty to one count of fraudulently using a forged document as a genuine one.
He has to serve four weeks’ imprisonment if he doesn’t pay the fine.
According to TODAY, Xie had been a computer engineering student at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
He withdrew from his university course in 2016 before completing the necessary requirements, meaning he left without a degree.
At this point, the 30-year-old had two options:
a) Apply to be reinstated as an NUS student
b) Forge a computer engineering degree certificate
For some unknown reason, Xie did both.Â
He was successfully reinstated as an NUS student in 2017, but was academically dismissed later that year for failing to meet examination regulations.
In 2018, Xie applied for a part-time teaching position at Ascencia International School.
When he was interviewed for the job, instead of explaining to them that he had been dismissed from NUS, he submitted the certificate he forged in 2016 to an academic supervisor.
Xie was hired, but things all went downhill from there.
Asked to Use A-level Cert Instead of Fake DegreeÂ
In February 2019, a HR manager from the company asked Xie to sign a “lecturer declaration form and verification of certificate authenticity”.
He couldn’t do this, of course, as his degree was as inauthentic as that “Goochi” bag you bought on the street.
So, he asked if he could use his A-Level certificate instead of the one from NUS.
Then, a few days later, the 30-year-old came clean, and told his company he hadn’t completed his university course.
He claimed he was given another year by NUS to complete it but his family felt it was not the right time to continue.
He also claimed he was given five years to be reinstated as a student and would finish his studies when he was ready.
The problem with such claims is that they are easily verifiable.Â
The HR manager did a check with NUS, and found that Xie was not in their graduate records.
The manager then made a police report, and Xie was interviewed.
Instead of admitting wrongdoing, Xie lied to police, saying the forged certificate was a photo of his original certificate that an NUS staff member had shown him.
He only confessed a month later.
Might Have Gotten the Job With A-level Cert
The truth can be painful sometimes.
Investigations later revealed that the company may still have hired Xie even if he only submitted his A-Level certificate.Â
He would have commanded a lower salary, but he still may have gotten the job.
In his defence, Xie’s lawyer said his client forged the NUS certificate just to deceive his own parents.
In the end, no one was deceived, and Xie is $4,000 poorer.
Featured Image: Arpan on Shutterstock / Shutterstock.com
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