Over half of job applicants fraudulently claimed expertise in a nonexistent device
Evidence
The human capacity for cognitive reconstrual of transgressive conduct as minor or even worthy knows no bounds. Research on résumé fraudsters sheds some light on the type of cognitive construal processes by which anyone can turn a moral issue into a lesser infraction. To demonstrate the pervasiveness of résumé fraud, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey ran a phony ad for electricians with expertise in the Sontag connector (McGarvey, 1993). The Port Authority received résumés from 170 applicants who claimed familiarity with this apparatus. Over half of them claimed they were licensed Sontag experts with over 10 years of experience. Some even listed projects in which they used the Sontag connector. However, this seemingly masterly set of applicants outwitted themselves: There is no Sontag connector. This is a surprisingly high level of fraud with applicants claiming proficiency on a contrivance that does not exist! — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1433
Categorization
Category: Factual Claims
- CANDY: A perfect water-cooler fact: 170 applicants claimed expertise in the Sontag connector, which doesn’t exist — and over half claimed 10+ years of experience with it.
- SEED: The Sontag connector sting is a ready-made opening anecdote for an essay on how credential inflation and résumé fraud have changed (or not) in the age of LinkedIn and AI-generated CVs.
- SHARE: The Sontag connector experiment would delight a friend in hiring or HR — a canonical empirical demonstration that applicants fabricate credentials freely.