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Stress on credentials drives officials to fake CVs
By Ni Tao |
August 3, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
WHEN people write resumes for job applications, they are often advised to avoid exaggerated and fictitious information.
If the interviewers find that information to be incorrect, chances are the applicant will be passed over for dishonesty.
The principle of integrity in writing CVs hasn't sunk in for some of China's audacious officials, who lie about their career history, education and even age to get ahead.
Recently there has been a string of reports about officials who doctored their CVs, got successive promotions and eventually had their covers blown.
In June, Xue Xinmin was fired as the chief of the bureau of housing and urban-rural development in Hejin City, Shanxi Province. He was exposed to have falsified personal information about his education and age to secure promotions for which he was not eligible.
He never attended college but claimed to hold a university diploma, and he reportedly changed his date of birth 11 times on various documents.
Since officials' records are usually filed and kept in an archive, Xue could not have committed fraud without the complicity of others. Four officials who helped Xue with the falsifications were disciplined following his sacking. Xue's case is far from the most egregious of officials' resume frauds. What makes it eyebrow-raising is that he had been informed against several times before.
Protection of patronage
Tales of his scams were verified by ombudsmen as early as 2010. All he received, however, was an internal warning. In February he was promoted to the position of bureau chief.
How could someone with a serious blot on his integrity move upward while he actually should have been disgraced?
One possible answer is that Xue had the protection of patronage. And in most cases of patronage, bosses responsible for promoting proteges apparently don't want to own up to their misjudgment.
Even if people like Xue were punished earlier, for instance, banished from the center of power, it is likely that they would soon return to power, as is the case with many sacked cadres who are quietly reinstated to jobs of similar rank, or even higher, despite their lapses.
Worse, Xinhua opined on Tuesday that some localities don't take officials' fake resumes seriously. Were it not for consistent public scrutiny, Xue could still be on his way up.
According to China's code of conduct for civil servants, officials who provide false facts about themselves face maximum punishment of the loss of a job.
This penalty is too mild, said Zhu Lijia, professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance. Instead, deceptive officials should be prosecuted, he added.
Since gains far outweigh risks and costs in lying one's way to success, the number of official resume frauds is growing.
Shiny career
The biggest of such scandals involves Wang Yali, ex-deputy secretary of Shijiazhuang (Hebei Province) Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League. She was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2011 for corruption.
It took authorities about 20 years to discover in 2009 that Wang had repeatedly forged her credentials. Prior to a shiny career in politics, she was an ordinary farmer.
The spike in cases of officials' fake identities results partly from the lack of adequate deterrent. But it also stems from misguided notions of meritocracy.
Our desire to groom young, well-educated cadres has - sometimes unexpectedly - encouraged the tendency to fake identities.
With rigid requirements for promotion, like possession of a master's degree, many officials now lie about their education, or turn to diploma mills.
A friend in public service once told me that her superiors all obtained master's degrees conferred by little-known universities thousands of kilometers away, which they visited only twice a year.
In the past, cadres were judged less on erudition than close ties to the people. Indeed, too much knowledge was considered a bad thing. In a modern economy, we do need capable officials, but they cannot be assessed solely on quantitative measures including good education and their contribution to GDP growth.
These are not necessary components of what it takes to be a good, caring official. And the fact that the most brazen got rewarded is a sign they don't always work.
If the interviewers find that information to be incorrect, chances are the applicant will be passed over for dishonesty.
The principle of integrity in writing CVs hasn't sunk in for some of China's audacious officials, who lie about their career history, education and even age to get ahead.
Recently there has been a string of reports about officials who doctored their CVs, got successive promotions and eventually had their covers blown.
In June, Xue Xinmin was fired as the chief of the bureau of housing and urban-rural development in Hejin City, Shanxi Province. He was exposed to have falsified personal information about his education and age to secure promotions for which he was not eligible.
He never attended college but claimed to hold a university diploma, and he reportedly changed his date of birth 11 times on various documents.
Since officials' records are usually filed and kept in an archive, Xue could not have committed fraud without the complicity of others. Four officials who helped Xue with the falsifications were disciplined following his sacking. Xue's case is far from the most egregious of officials' resume frauds. What makes it eyebrow-raising is that he had been informed against several times before.
Protection of patronage
Tales of his scams were verified by ombudsmen as early as 2010. All he received, however, was an internal warning. In February he was promoted to the position of bureau chief.
How could someone with a serious blot on his integrity move upward while he actually should have been disgraced?
One possible answer is that Xue had the protection of patronage. And in most cases of patronage, bosses responsible for promoting proteges apparently don't want to own up to their misjudgment.
Even if people like Xue were punished earlier, for instance, banished from the center of power, it is likely that they would soon return to power, as is the case with many sacked cadres who are quietly reinstated to jobs of similar rank, or even higher, despite their lapses.
Worse, Xinhua opined on Tuesday that some localities don't take officials' fake resumes seriously. Were it not for consistent public scrutiny, Xue could still be on his way up.
According to China's code of conduct for civil servants, officials who provide false facts about themselves face maximum punishment of the loss of a job.
This penalty is too mild, said Zhu Lijia, professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance. Instead, deceptive officials should be prosecuted, he added.
Since gains far outweigh risks and costs in lying one's way to success, the number of official resume frauds is growing.
Shiny career
The biggest of such scandals involves Wang Yali, ex-deputy secretary of Shijiazhuang (Hebei Province) Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League. She was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2011 for corruption.
It took authorities about 20 years to discover in 2009 that Wang had repeatedly forged her credentials. Prior to a shiny career in politics, she was an ordinary farmer.
The spike in cases of officials' fake identities results partly from the lack of adequate deterrent. But it also stems from misguided notions of meritocracy.
Our desire to groom young, well-educated cadres has - sometimes unexpectedly - encouraged the tendency to fake identities.
With rigid requirements for promotion, like possession of a master's degree, many officials now lie about their education, or turn to diploma mills.
A friend in public service once told me that her superiors all obtained master's degrees conferred by little-known universities thousands of kilometers away, which they visited only twice a year.
In the past, cadres were judged less on erudition than close ties to the people. Indeed, too much knowledge was considered a bad thing. In a modern economy, we do need capable officials, but they cannot be assessed solely on quantitative measures including good education and their contribution to GDP growth.
These are not necessary components of what it takes to be a good, caring official. And the fact that the most brazen got rewarded is a sign they don't always work.
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