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| Public Sector
August 14 2018

Candidate who posed with fake diploma admits CV lie

A Republican polititian running for the House of Representatives claimed on her candidate biography that she held a BSc in Marketing from Miami University.

Melissa Howard, a Republican running for Florida House of Representatives District 73 – a congressional district - stated on her candidate bio that she holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing degree from Miami University.  However, Miami University told CNN and other news outlets in the states that they have no record of Howard graduating there.

Howard’s campaign previously refuted such claims as “fake news” and an opponent trying to “hurt Melissa or her reputation with the community,” and so, she uploaded a framed diploma briefly on social media.  The university then pointed out several inaccuracies within the image.

Howard came clean about her error on Monday, saying in a statement: "It was not my intent to deceive or mislead anyone.  "I made a mistake in saying that I completed my degree. What I did was wrong and set a bad example for someone seeking public service.  I am staying in the race and intend to win and lead by example from now on."

Although Howard’s position is likely to garner media scrutiny, the case resembles a common problem for recruiters – CV lies.  According to research from CV-Library, a staggering 92.5% of Brits admit to telling a fib to better their chances at landing employment.