A new study says people are less likely to lie about big things on resumes they post on the professional network LinkedIn compared with traditional resumes.
But the study, from researchers at Cornell University, say people are actually more deceptive about their interests and hobbies — things that are more difficult to verify.
The study says that websites such as LinkedIn can lead to greater honesty when it comes to resume claims such as experience and responsibilities. That's because claims are more easily verified in a public, online setting, so liars are more likely to get caught.
Overall, lies were common no matter what resume format people used. On average, the study's participants, all college students, lied nearly three times in their profile. About 92 percent of the participants lied at least once and the highest number of lies they told was eight.
The study was published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking this week. The researchers followed 119 college students aged 18 to 22. Each was randomly assigned to create a traditional resume, a private LinkedIn resume or a public one.
