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212 SNAKES IN SUITS
those in the recruitment business indicate that about one third of
résumés for managerial positions contained lies, that 15 percent
of top executives lied about their education (degrees, dates), that
friends often were passed off as former “bosses,” and that education,
responsibilities, and compensation were exaggerated. No
surprises here, but a few simple checks and verifications would
have caught most of these fabrications.
In some cases, it is only the hiring company that suffers from
fraudulent applicants. But in other cases, the applicant is a psychopath
who, once hired, puts lives at risk. There are scores of
such examples—think of the many movies that “star” an impostor
as medical doctor. Or consider the ease with which Seymour
Schlager managed to become a top executive scientist at
the largest medical device company in the United States. His résumé
was impressive, listing his degrees and experience as a
doctor, lawyer, Ph.D.-level microbiologist, and AIDS researcher.
What he didn’t indicate, though, was that he had been convicted
of the attempted murder of his wife and that his medical license
had been lifted. Much of his work experience was made up to
cover over his time in prison. On at least one résumé sent to
prospective employers, he listed as his return address the prison
in which he was housed. Even the most cursory check would have
disclosed this and other damaging information about who he really
was. But such a check was not made.
Many applicants will tailor their résumés for a specific company
to better reflect a match between their own knowledge, skills, and
abilities and those described in the company’s advertisement. This is
actually a reasonable approach to take, as it highlights what is important
to the hiring company and makes one’s résumé stand out among
the many others. However, doing this assumes that one truly has the
qualifications and experience cited. Psychopaths, notorious liars, often
will cross the line between good marketing and outright lying. In
our work with psychopaths, we have seen résumés that contain jobs
the applicant never held, companies that never existed, promotions