Over the course of the last several years, an unfortunate trend has come to light. That is the number of high-profile individuals (the working professionals) who are caught with lies on their resume. According to a survey conducted by Careerbuilder, 5% of workers admit to inflating their resume in one way or another, while 57% of hiring managers say that they have caught a lie on someone’s resume. The majority of those hiring managers did not hire the candidate because of the lie.

Why do candidates lie on their resume? Some say it is to get their resume noticed from the 100’s that come in for one job opening. Others do it as an ego-boost. Still others say that while they didn’t hold the job title that they listed, they did the same job duties and felt that they should have been promoted to the position.

It also isn’t just the average worker lying on their resume. Some hi-profile resume lies that have come to light are: Ronald Zarella, Bausch & Lomb Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Zarella falsely claimed an MBA degree when in fact he attended the program but never earned the MBA. Then there is George O’Leary, the ex-Notre Dame Football Coach who lied about his academic accomplishments and his athletic background. Mr. O’Leary worked for 5 days for Notre Dame before resigning when his embellishments came to light. There is also Dave Edmondson, the Chief Executive of RadioShack who claimed 2 degrees, one from a legitimate school and one from a school that is unaccredited.

These are just some of the names in the spotlight, but the point is that if these people feel it is necessary to “pad” their resume, what is to stop the average worker from doing the same thing? All candidates should have their background checked, from the line worker to the company management.