I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.
Friedrich Nietzsche
A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.
Baltasar Gracian
Sometime in the last month, I was contacted by a recruiter who wanted to put my resume forward for a medical writing position. Hooray! It’s a field I am eager to break into and I was excited by the contact. I have no doubt I can do the work. I do not have direct experience in medical writing, but my science background and professional experiences have me well prepared. Will there be a learning curve? Of course. Can I do it? I have no doubt.
The recruiter looked at my resume and suggested I make some changes. That is standard with recruiters, in my experience, as they try to help applicants highlight how perfect they are for the position in question.
The recruiter then sent me some examples of experiences I should add to my resume. In short, I was asked to lie about my experience in order to land the interview.
I added some presentations and writing experiences from graduate school but did not add anything factually incorrect. That is a hard line I will not cross. I hope I am never desperate enough for a job that I am tempted to do so. Right now, I am employed full time in a position where I am surrounded by awesome people. Resisting the temptation to lie is easy. For others, it may not be because they are facing evictions, bankruptcy, or other financial challenges I cannot imagine. It’s been a hard year for so many and the temptation to cut ethical corners is real.
Lying serves no one. If the recruiter is discovered, they will lose clients. If the employer learns about the lie, they may be forced to explain to their own customers that they were misled. The validity of the projects may be questioned, leading to project delays and the loss of future contracts. The employee who lied may lose their job and their reputation, hindering their ability to acquire new employment. The lie would be costly for everyone involved.
There are a great many things in my life I have no control over. I cannot even control what others think of me. What I can do is hold myself to an ethical standard of telling the truth. In the short term, that can seem painful if life circumstances have you feeling desperate. In the end, I want to be known as a person who can be trustworthy and honest. The only way to cultivate that reputation is to be that person. I will keep your secrets. (If someone’s life is endangered by that secret, I’ll tell you why I am breaking that trust.) I will tell the truth, even when you may not want to hear it. I will be trustworthy because I want you to trust me. I hope you will do the same.
