Kate Wendleton of the Five O’Clock Club, a career-counseling network in New York, offers ex-employees of scandalized firms such as Marc Dreier’s and Bernie Madoff’s some excellent advice for getting a new job in today’s Wall Street Journal: Just lie!
Said employees “should describe rather than identify” the offending workplaces on their résumés, Wendleton says, so as to avoid uncomfortable questions about, say, how they managed to miss the massive Ponzi scheme that was going on right under their noses.
And when the hiring managers (who, naturally, have called you in for an interview on the strength of said description, despite the fact that you haven’t listed the name of your employer on your résumé and thus appear to lack basic sense) do outright inquire about the name of your former employer, Wendleton suggests you “talk about yourself first.” “Briefly summarize your accomplishments,” she says. And then “you can reveal the name of the organization.”
Right? Because that wouldn’t be weird at all. And after that kind of performance, who could possibly think you’re anything but honest?
