Robert Irvine, the star chef of Dinner Impossible has acknowledged fabricating parts of his resume that got him the position as host on The Food Network. It seems he just added a few impressive details like cooking for Britain’s Royal Family and several U.S. presidents. The Food Network said the chef has “challenged the trust of our viewers” and his contract will not be renewed.
It turns out the B.S. in his “B.S. in Food and Nutrition” stands for something other than Bachelor of Science. I know that in today’s competitive workplace you need to stand out and I am the first to say that a resume is a place to brag on and embellish accomplishments. However, we are seeing a blurring of embellishment and downright misrepresentation. The rule of thumb seems to be – exaggerate and confuse.
Rather than reporting being a greeter at WalMart, the new information is “customer service coordinator for Fortune 500 company.” The grease monkey at Jiffy Lube becomes a “petroleum distribution specialist.” Yesterday’s taxi cab driver appears on the resume as a “transportation logistics manager.” The 18-yr-old McDonald’s worker suddenly becomes an “Engineer for meat inspection and preparation”.
Keep in mind that today’s “VP of Personnel” was a likely a struggling college student herself a few years ago. She probably knows the tricks of the trade, having presented herself as a “human resource specialist” rather than a babysitter.
The bottom line is this: the purpose of a resume is to help you get an interview. But it plays only one small part in the hiring process. Be prepared to present yourself with confidence and to discuss your ability to contribute.
Incidentally, I suspect that Robert Irvine would have gotten the opportunity even without the misrepresentation. Now instead of riding high, he is the butt of talk show jokes, rasing the money for his partially completed restaurant in St. Petersburg, FL is in jeopardy, and his reputation is forever tarnished. As always, it would have been a whole lot simpler to just tell the truth.
Hey did I ever mention that I spent some time with Jake and Elwood of the Blues Brothers? They had all the time in the world for me — never seemed distracted and appeared genuinely interested in my story
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Dan Miller's Blog 
March 18, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I had a friend from high school that put “served on a committee to reform school documentation standards” on his college application and resume. He was actually caught selling fake report cards and forced the school to purchase expensive watermark letterhead for their printing.