Honesty stressed through OCR

This recruiting season, two students participating in On-Campus Recruitment made “egregious” changes to their paperwork before sending it to employers, according to Career Services Director Pat Rose.

One student inflated his SAT scores by 250 points, Rose said. Another student made changes to an unofficial transcript.

While this is not the first year such cases have been reported, previous incidents were isolated.

“I can only recall once in the past when an unofficial transcript has been altered,” Rose said.

To confirm that students provide honest information to employers, Career Services does spot checking of resumes. Employers also bring unusual resumes and transcripts to the office’s attention, according to Rose.

Students found misrepresenting their information are sent to the Office of Student Conduct.

To address the issues of dishonesty, Career Services sent out an e-mail reminding students to be turthful.

“We do want to be very clear,” Rose said. “Lying is never a good idea.”

Rose added that students who misrepresent their information reflect poorly on themselves.

“Employers loathe to hire students who are not scrupulously honest,” she said.

Kelly Cleary, senior associate director at Career Services, noted that falsifying records can hurt more than help.

“I don’t think students realize what a small world it is,” she said. “When this happens even with one student, it reflects poorly on Penn, but more importantly on other Penn students.”

To avoid such incidents, Rose noted that the Career Services web site provides extensive information on how one should present oneself on a resume, including GPA information. Career Services staff also meet with students everyday to review resumes and answer questions about how to list experiences.

“We’re here to help students get this right,” Rose said.

Career Services Associate Director Claire Klieger said this year’s incidents reflect how stressful the OCR process is.

“Such drastic measures say how stressed out students are feeling,” she said. “We really should be doing something to speak to stress levels.”

Cleary said it is important students remember that while OCR is a great opportunity for students to land worthwhile internships, it is important for students to know that it isn’t the only way for them to get an internship.

“In the summer of 2008, for example, only 19 percent of rising seniors in the College heard about their summer jobs through OCR,” she said. “That means 81 percent found them through other ways.”

Students agree that being dishonest during the OCR process is not worth it.

“It’s not helping you, so why lie?” said Wharton junior Katie Palusci, who is participating in OCR.

Moreover, Engineering and Wharton senior Joy Xu, said the possibility of penalties from Career Services should be enough of a deterrant.

“Why would you jeopardize the one person rooting for you to get a job?” she said.

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