Everybody has stretched the truth a little on their rsums at one time or another, right?" That's the question that people who are about to give their own rsums a little boost ask themselves as a way of dealing with the twinge of guilt they are probably feeling as they adjust their job title or make that six months of unemployment magically disappear by claiming a consulting project. In the harsh light of day, rsum inflation is not only unethical, but if you transfer those untruths onto a job application form, which is a legal document, then the act also becomes illegal. Consider the outcomes for these former occupants of high-ranking (and high-paying) positions:

George O'Leary resigned just five days after being hired as Notre Dame's football coach in 2001 when it was revealed that he did not hold a master's degree in education from "NYU-Stony Brook" (a nonexistent institution), nor had he lettered three times as a football player for the University of New Hampshire (both of which he had claimed on his rsum). O'Leary retired in October 2015 after 12 seasons as the coach of the University of Central Florida Knights. He is contracted to remain as a "special liaison" to UCF through 2020 at a reported salary of $200,000 a year.

Scott Thompson, the former president of PayPal, was hired as CEO of Yahoo in January 2012. Activist investor Daniel Loeb notified Yahoo's board of directors in May 2012 that Thompson's claim of a degree in accounting and computer science from Stonehill College was an embellishment, and that Thompson's degree was only in accounting. Yahoo initially stood by Thompson, but when further investigation revealed that the same claim had been made on legal statements for PayPal and eBay (PayPal's parent company), Thompson claimed that the search firm that placed him was to blame for the error. He resigned two weeks later and became CEO of online shopping service ShopRunner.

Ronald Zarrella, former CEO of Bausch & Lomb, the eye care company, was required to give up $1.1 million of a planned $1.65 million bonus when it was discovered that although he had attended New York University's Stern School of Business, he had never earned the MBA that he claimed to have on his rsum. Interestingly, the board of directors of Bausch & Lomb, a company recognized by Standard & Poor's as an example of good corporate governance, chose not to fire Zarrella, claiming that he brought too much value to the company and its shareholders to dismiss him.

Steve Masiello is the men's basketball head coach at Manhattan College in New York. In the Spring of 2014, he was being considered for the head coaching position at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. He had solid basketball credentials, including playing for renowned coach Rick Pitino at Kentucky and serving as an assistant coach for him at Louisville. Masiello made it as far as an agreement in principle for the head coach job, subject to a reference and background check. A rudimentary check on his rsum revealed that his statement of graduation from the University of Kentucky was inaccurate. Masiello attended for all four years, but never graduated. The coaching position required a minimum of a bachelor's degree, which explains why he is still coaching at Manhattan today.

If the risks are so high, why do people continue to embellish the details on a document that is supposed to accurately reflect their skills and work experience? Pressure! Getting hired by a company is a competitive process, and you need to make the best sales pitch you can to attract the attention of the HR person assigned to screen the applications for a particular position (or, at least, the applications that make it through the software program that screens rsums for keywords related to the open position). In such a pressured environment, justifying an action on the basis of an assumption that everyone else is probably doing it starts to make sense. So changing dates, job titles, responsibilities, certifications, and/or academic degrees can now be classified as "little white lies," but as you can see from our three examples in this case, those little white lies can come back to haunt you.

3.What steps should companies take during the hiring process to ensure that such bad hires do not happen?

4.Can you polish your rsum without resorting to little white lies? Provide some examples of how you might do that.