Claiming degrees you dont have

[51daystoChristmas]

Hi, I have a colleague who is claiming to have degrees she doesnt have. She has two degrees on her email signature that don't match the ones on our company CVs that go out to third parties which is what led me to noticing. So I did a bit of checking and on LinkedIn she has a completely different degree listed, with the university name. So I emailed the university which is in Australia, that information is on public record there, and they confirmed that degree and date. She works on winning business for the company so I think any sort of fraud would be really bad for the company, she's worked here for 10 years though. She has recently been promoted, and is good at her job. I'm in a different team and it makes no difference to me, I was just wondering if I should let anyone know as they've just won a really public facing project. What do you think?

Now the ball is rolling if you don’t follow through and it blows up then it looks like the company knew and did nothing (assuming you emailed from your company email address).

You sound aggressively defensive here so it does come over in the thread that this wasn’t innocent curiosity on your part which is how I initially viewed the concern.

Also, how have you got access to their CV? Is file and document access logged?

I'm not sure what you think you've proved?
The uni confirmed that she had the degree from them that she says she has?

Surely she would have had to supply copies of her qualifications when she got the job.

OP. This.
why are you doing this?
CVs which go to clients to win work, tend to be tailored. Stuff gets missed off. Titles of courses get condensed.

you do not know all the facts. If you would like to know them why don’t you ask her to her face? You could legitimately say you were curious about the difference between her email signature and her client CV.

why would you go behind her back and speak to HR? So underhand and unnecessary . To quote you…. “No wonder this country is falling apart”. Very snowflake.

otherwise stay well out of it. No good can come of you stirring up trouble. Especially if it turns out you have got the wrong end of the stick.

and. Don’t go calling people’s universities to confirm their qualifications when you could have just asked them straight in the first place.

Your behaviour is very distasteful and morally wrong.

I think it depends.

If she is working with doctors and is claiming to have a medical degree to get them to go with your company, or if she is saying she has finance or accountancy qualifications in a regulated industry then yes it's obvioiusly a problem if she is falsely representing herself.

On the other hand, if it's job which you require a degree to get into (any degree) but it's more about your performance, the fact she only has a HND equivalent and not a full History degree as she claims is not affecting her performance. You could absolutely argue that going forward the employer should be verifying academics as something like a third of people exaggerate. You could also argue that her deception calls her integrity into question. But on the flip side, if it was going to be raised as problem, that ship sailed years ago.

Yes I 100% know so this is not up for debate. I have obviously slightly changed the wording and the characters in this for anonymity and sadly that is what seems to be getting all the pointless rubbish comments. Question is the same - someone is lying about their qualifications in public facing company documentation on a high profile multi million controversial project - if it is that easy for me to discover then any of our rivals can also easily discover this information.

and this is the work board not aibu
you can act unreasonable in a workplace, I just used the shorthand for that.

How do you know she didn’t get the degree’s later in life at a different university? I’d keep my nose out, if she is lying then that’s on her, if her not having the degrees doesn’t affect her job, who really cares? What’s going to HR going to do?

How can you know she doesn’t have something? Unless she said it was from a specific uni and you called them as well (or you asked to see her degree certificate), I don’t see how you’d prove the negative?

I think its shocking that you thought it okay to call a university to check somebodies qualifications to see if they are lying. You should flag your concerns with your manager and let them deal with it fairly and properly.

I'm surprised a uni gave you any information actually. And if you called my uni they wouldn't have a record of me, as I changed my name. I'm glad we don't work together.

It’s ok @angel191 ….@51daystoChristmas seems a pretty sad soul !!!

If you feel that only people in in employment, and with multiple degrees, are qualified to offer replies to your post, should you not have stipulated that?

Anyway, here you are saying you emailed the university BEFORE going to HR, so it rather sounds as if your mind is made up, and you are posting here to seek affirmation?

Given that I am not qualified to answer as per your specs, I would consider reversing your question, and ask yourself how you would feel if a colleague done this to you?

It could be for anything. An old social media post for example.

Just go to HR if you are concerned. I would be worried that you will be accused of meddling though, I guess it depends on the area that you work in.

Because I definitely know. Ive already said Ive changed this slightly for extra anonymity, I know.

OP you're risking your own workplace reputation for somebody who just isn't worth it.

If she's lied about something as big as this, she'll lie about other things and will trip up or get caught out eventually.

Steer clear of her. She'll be the architect of her own downfall. Same applies to your company'd useless HR person who hasn't checked this woman 's background before hiring her.

I didnt call anyone, I emailed them, its public record information, its not secret. read the post properly.

Well chances are your bosses have already figured it out. You say that her email signature doesn’t match the company CV that goes to third parties, but your bosses are presumably well aware of what that CV says, so … And then LinkedIn is not private information, it is likely visible to anyone who is logged in even if they’re not connected to her.

So, here is my practical advice for you:

1. It doesn’t sound like she’s actually doing any of this very secretly at all, so stop assuming that your bosses don’t know.
2. You may find that things backfire if you report that you went so far as to check with a university in Australia. You sound sneaky and underhanded. The better approach would have been to report your concerns, and let it be investigated through the proper channels.

I also suspect it’s not quite the big deal that you think it is. If someone was required to have a particular professional qualification for their role, then the company would have taken more steps to verify that they had it. Presumably in this case, the qualifications aren’t actually required.

Have you actually checked all of the degrees? And is it possible the other degrees exist or does the timeline make it not possible. I have multiple degrees, but often leave out qualifications on my CV etc when it’s not relevant - the timeline might also be different - I could not accurately tell you what date for every qualification without checking.

I think you might end up causing issues for yourself in this situation and personally I wouldn’t get involved.

So honesty and integrity doesnt matter in a workplace? When winning multi-million pound business? I'm just not getting these comments at all. I was interested from an HR perspective but clearly this is not a thing. I'm an honest person so it concerned me, and i care about our business. But if they react in the way everyone here has reacted then obviously there's no point in being honest.

You don't work in the HR department I assume?

You weren't interested 'from an HR perspective'. You are jealous of your colleague for some reason and are wanting to stir up trouble.

I honestly cannot see how you can categorically state that someone doesn't have a qualification - unless you have been contacting multiple education establishments. This really doesn't put you in a good light.

You need to tread carefully OP. Why not just ask her directly next time you see her, as people can have all sorts of qualifications you don't know about. Yes, you have confirmed as correct the one on her CV, but how do you definitely know she doesn't have the one on her email signature, or an acceptable derivation of it? Why not ask her "Oh, when did you do your XYZ qualification? Is it worth getting do you think?" She may be happy to tell you about it. It's a better step than running around with accusations.

Who needs enemies, eh?

Absolutely stunned you got in touch with her university. Not your place at all and you need to ask yourself when you feel so threatened by this lady that you are trying to bring her down.

If the degrees are not legally required (law, medicine) and she is good at her job why on earth have you been prying?

Is it wrong of me to hope that it turns out she does have these qualifications and OP is left with a huge amount of egg on her face. 🫣

That’s total nonsense and you know it.

You are trying to use faux moral superiority to justify harming an individual you don’t like.

Of course I don’t expect you to reveal why you don’t like her but you are kidding yourself if you think your actions are for the greater good rather than being fuelled by a vindictive motive.

so funny! thanks for your constructive comment.

The way you leap from this reply to an assumption of the poster’s employment status and education is quite startling.