You tell the truth.

"Completed 23 hours toward a master's degree in international relations at Georgetown University."

And have a ready answer when the recruiter asks "So why didn't you finish?"

20 year ago I did lie. I said that I graduated, but I actually didn't. I had 5 credits left and because of my affair with the Director of Admissions I had to leave school. Those were the days before sexual harassment was a term.

I never lied about it again, but back then it was not easy to check.

Don't do it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, don't do the "class of 1995" thing onyour resume if you dropped out and didn't graduate, but that was the year you should have graduated.

Particularly when you should have graduated 18 years ago.

Not my issue, but how would you address dropping out?

Anonymous wrote:Also, don't do the "class of 1995" thing onyour resume if you dropped out and didn't graduate, but that was the year you should have graduated.

Particularly when you should have graduated 18 years ago.

Also, don't do the "class of 1995" thing onyour resume if you dropped out and didn't graduate, but that was the year you should have graduated.

Mary Tyler Moore episode.

Anonymous wrote:No. I fired a guy who I inherited as an employee when I found out he'd lied about being on a varsity football team. Don't lie to me.

WHA? Why on earth would that be something to add to your resume?

Anonymous wrote:This is among the dumbest things to lie about on your resume. Salary? Unlikely to be verified. Skills? Who knows.

But where you went to school and for what degree is an easily-verified fact which can be confirmed with a 5-minute phone call.

Exactly. If you are going to fudge the truth in certain areas - and while I have never done this, I know A LOT of people do - don't be stupid about it. Do it on "facts" that are private and not easily verifiable, inflate your experience somewhat. It has to be subtle.

No. I fired a guy who I inherited as an employee when I found out he'd lied about being on a varsity football team. Don't lie to me.

Depending on the job, I change the wording about my degree slightly. It's in political science, but my concentration was in international relations. I don't mention the concentration unless I'm looking at a job that's IR specific.

I would not lie and say I got a degree I didn't get.

This is among the dumbest things to lie about on your resume. Salary? Unlikely to be verified. Skills? Who knows.

But where you went to school and for what degree is an easily-verified fact which can be confirmed with a 5-minute phone call.

Absolutely not! That is ridiculously dishonest. Not a white lie issue at all.

No. Don't do this. It is wrong and could get you fired.

My boss was removed from a 300k a yr job because of a lie on his resume from 13 years prior. He had marked that he graduated with an MBA when in fact he had only completed about half of the program at the time of his hire. He finished the program about 6 years later but still it was an outright lie. One of his grad teachers was hired by our company as an outside consultant and he was outed somehow, not sure exactly how.

For example, have you told a prospective employer you already have a Masters degree because it was required for the job, but in reality, you're in your last semester of grad school. If so, did you get the job?