Résumé Fraud: Jealousy of Peers is a Factor

"Interviewing and hiring new employees is a difficult enough process, but the reality of résumé fraud makes it even worse. With candidates embellishing, padding or downright fabricating key parts of their backgrounds, employers may struggle to know what is real and what is fake. It 's critical to try and understand the motivation behind falsifying one 's credentials in order to get better at detecting this type of fraud. A recent article from Purdue University examines a study with an interesting finding: Résumé fraud is linked to job search envy. In other words, ""unemployed job-seekers can be motivated to embellish their resumes when they are envious of peers,"" according to the article. The study suggests a deeper psychological influence beyond simply trying to win a particular position. The study shows this can also have a positive influence: ""We propose the envious reactions of job-seekers can be negative in the form of resume fraud, but can also be positive in the form of greater job search effort."""