Lie On Your Résumé? One Job-Seeker's Moment Of Truth

Getting asked by a recruiter about where I went to school made me remember the day I had to choose whether to lie on my résumé.

When I got my first job in Silicon Valley, it was through serendipity on my part and desperation on the part of my first employer. I really didn't have much of a résumé: four years in the Air Force building a scram system for a nuclear reactor and a startup in Ann Arbor, Mich., but not much else.

It was at my second startup in Silicon Valley that my life and career took an interesting turn. A recruiter found me while I was working in product marketing and wanted to introduce me to a hot startup making something called a workstation. "This is a technology-driven company, and your background sounds great. Why don't you send me a résumé and I'll pass it on." A few days later, I got a call back from the recruiter. "Steve, you left off your education. Where did you go to school?"

"I never finished college," I said.

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