I love Freakonomics, and I immediately thought of it when this topic popped up.
My diplomas are pinned to the wall in my studio with push pins. Along with my athletic letter and other detritus from high school and college days.
Fake diploma, no, not to my knowledge.
Deliberately misleading info on LinkedIn, yes.
Not too long after college at my first corporate job after working a few startups, we had a colleague who was hired and fired within a matter of a few days because it was revealed he never even attended college, much less obtained a Computer Science degree from one of the IITs.
It was also apparent he had no clue about how to navigate himself through the windows OS when I went into his office to inquire about something he was supposed to get ready for the rest of us further down in the pipeline. My offhanded remark about his seeming navigation troubles in windows along with those of a few other colleagues to our supervisor prompted an investigation which got him booted a couple of days afterwards.
Keep in mind this was during the dotcom boom so many employers were concerned about grabbing the best talent quickly before other employers hired them out of the market.
As for diplomas being required for job interviews, that seems to be the norm outside the US. My parents and older relatives recalled having to bring copies or even the actual diploma to job interviews in their country of origin. Some found it strange it wasn’t required of their kids.
Not requiring diplomas in interviews makes sense to me…diplomas are too easy to fake whereas transcripts sent from the registrar’s office or other forms of verification are harder …though not impossible to fake as a case of a certain Harvard student who managed to break into his prior school’s registrar’s office to doctor up the official transcript proved.
After she was offered her present job, my D called and said the company wanted to see her undergrad diploma(She has a grad degree). I frantically looked for it as I haven’t seen it in 10 years. Fortunately, I found it in a bookcase, still in its original cardboard mailer. I took a phone pic and sent it over to her.
If it had worked, there would be a smarmy expose featuring John Stossel or maybe John Quinones talking about how background check firms SAY they can bust liars but what happens when an undercover reporter puts them to the test? Find out on Friday 9 pm / 8 central!
I know a case of a professor at a community college type institution who was doing fine, teaching away for years, with a master degree. The she paid $25 or whatever for an online PhD diploma, and started calling herself Dr., changing her office name plate, name cards, and so on. Her colleagues were offended and tried to stop her, but even with administration support there was nothing they could do. There was nothing in the institutional regulations that defined what an acceptable PhD was…
@sorghum You’d think someone in HR would look back at the employment agreements and see if there is a “character” clause – what she did is bringing serious disrepute to the community college.
I would think it would be “PhD from an accredited institution”
For hiring or promotion, sure, but not for passing yourself with a title.
I had a job once where my supervisor’s boss interviewed me and hired me. At the final interview he offered me the job and asked that I bring in my original diploma and have his secretary make a copy for my file. He said it was so when it came time for promotions they already had verification of education and it made it easier to decide on finalists for the promotion. The education required was a BA in anything, the major nor the grades mattered, just the earning of the BA/BS.
I had to verify to the Patent Office that I was admitted to a bar, for them to issue my registration as “Patent Attorney” instead of “Patent Agent.”
I presume my firm contact my law school to confirm I graduated, and/or my state bar to confirm I was in good standing. But all they probably really needed to do for this work was to check the PTO list of active registered attorneys and agents for my registration #.
Pretty interesting. I googled a top university and “diploma” and searched “images” and discovered in the first line a quite questionable link to a CV claiming to be a grad and phD holder from two very impressive schools. I looked at the commencement programs from both schools, and can’t find the name either place, and the CV containing what I think to be dissemblement about using two different names.
I do think that its a bad sign for people to be producing photos of their diplomas. The schools are quite competent at verifying attendance and graduation.
I worked with a guy for 3 years more than 20 years ago who professed to have a Ph.D. The owner of the company was a bit of an education snob, and she loved to introduce him to new clients as “Dr. so and so”. Well, he’s on Linkedin now, and there’s no mention of a Ph.D. I wonder if she ever found out. He always told tall tales (had been a personal friend with Elvis, got in the IPO for Netscape when it was big, etc.), so I wasn’t surprised at all to learn he doesn’t have a Ph.D.
I’ve never once in 30+ years been asked for my diploma or even proof of graduation. The last diploma I saw displayed on a wall (outside of a Dr. or lawyers office) was a kid I hired straight from college 20+ years ago. He kept his up in our mutual office for a couple of years and eventually took it down.
I’ve also never seen a fake diploma but I once checked on a potential employee who said they had a degree only to find out they had taken a couple of online courses.
I also had a coworker who claimed to be a grad of a prestigious U. He applied to a few companies in a town and got a job. Another firm who was vetting him found out he had lied about graduating and told his new bosses. He was let go immediately.
I was a work-study student in college and worked in the alumni records office. It was routine during that era to verify to a potential employer that someone graduated with a specific degree. Nowadays, most universities won’t even confirm or deny if someone attended, steering inquiries to the National Clearinghouse:
http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/
My own degree still sits in the envelope it was handed to me in after turning in my cap and gown following commencement, and I occasionally stumble across it when sorting through various “important papers.” Who frames a bachelor’s degree?
Ultimately, it’s a sealed transcript sent directly from your alma mater’s registrar that a graduate program (or some employers) will require to verify you received a degree. But the graduate usually has to request it, not the potential employer.
I had to provide a transcript from my uni when I applied for my first nursing job.
I’ve never been asked for that since, but of course all medical entities will verify that you have an active license. And they are usually even more on top of your renewal even before you begin to think about it (you have to renew your license every two years and be prepared to prove you have taken your required CE hours). They must have some kind of program which alerts them to when your license comes up for renewal.
Personal friend of Elvis? That’s impressively disingenuous. And less verifiable than a diploma.
Significant number of Korean celebrities have fake diploma, or just lie that they have diplomas at XXX colleges, and shamefully, the colleges don’t care because such acts increase their values
I’m in academia. We never look at diplomas. We ask for unofficial transcripts (photocopies or scans) as part of the application. Official transcripts must be presented as a condition of employment. The document itself could easily be faked, but someone in the department is likely to know the professors you studied with. You couldn’t fake it for long.
Mine’s framed, although its in a storage box, and never hung anywhere but our study. If one grew up in a blue collar family a while back and graduated from a top school (or probably any school, for that matter), there’s a decent chance the diploma is framed.
My guess is that the diploma framing business is alive and well. 