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Have you ever tried this in your Resume?

For instance if you graduated from Oxford brook, Sheffield hallam, Nottingham treant.. etc.

You list your institution name as:

Oxford school of architecture instead of University of Oxford Brookes

Sheffield Business School instead of University of Sheffield Hallam


To make your resume OR cover letter look a little better.. to catch the HR attention when they filter through employee application (if you know what i am saying :rolleyes:) Just so you could get an interview..


I mean, it is not wrong or anything as oxford brookes does uses the name (or called themself) "Oxford school of architecture" for the architecture department.

Since if they could call you up for an interview, the rest is pretty much about how you perform during the interview and i doubt the university name would matter anymore if they find that you performed well in the interview.

It's like giving you a small edge to lend yourself a chance to score a job based on your capability instead of university name.

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Reply 1
It is not a good idea to fudge where you studied. If a HR person is caught out by your name fudge, they may assume that other parts of your CV are not correct. Some will attempt to contact the institution to verify that you studied where you said you did, again any difficulty in contacting your university is a negative.

If a computer is screening your CV and the name of your university is not recognised, your CV may be filtered out of contention.

With regards to the fudges you are suggesting, you may find that there are some less than stellar private colleges who use similar sounding names to enhance their status. You may inadvertently associate yourself with a lesser not higher institution.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 2
That would look utterly stupid. Even more stupid if one of your referees happens to be a lecturer at your university (in which case their contact details will give away the institution).
Reply 3
Original post by edjunkie
It is not a good idea to fudge where you studied. If a HR person is caught out by your name fudge, they may assume that other parts of your CV are not correct. Some will attempt to contact the institution to verify that you studied where you said you did, again any difficulty in contacting your university is a negative.

If a computer is screening your CV and the name of your university is not recognised, your CV may be filtered out of contention.

With regards to the fudges you are suggesting, you may find that there are some less than stellar private colleges who use similar sounding names to enhance their status. You may inadvertently associate yourself with a lesser not higher institution.


But you aren't fudging your institution name. For example, the name "Sheffield Business School" is indeed used by Sheffield Hallam. Even if you google "sheffield business school", it will link to Sheffield hallam and not univeristy of sheffield.

I've seen transcript from Sheffield hallam university before, and on the top left corner, they refer them self as "Sheffield Business School".

I know maybe in the UK, employer might be more aware of the differences but maybe it would work if you are from other part of EU or from the states.

And again, if they contact Sheffield hallam univeristy, they can't deny that you are not from "Sheffield Business school" because their business school department is indeed called "Sheffield Business School"

Same goes for Oxford brookes "Oxford school of xxxx" etc.
Original post by DKDarkKnight
But you aren't fudging your institution name. For example, the name "Sheffield Business School" is indeed used by Sheffield Hallam. Even if you google "sheffield business school", it will link to Sheffield hallam and not univeristy of sheffield.

I've seen transcript from Sheffield hallam university before, and on the top left corner, they refer them self as "Sheffield Business School".

I know maybe in the UK, employer might be more aware of the differences but maybe it would work if you are from other part of EU or from the states.

And again, if they contact Sheffield hallam univeristy, they can't deny that you are not from "Sheffield Business school" because their business school department is indeed called "Sheffield Business School"

Same goes for Oxford brookes "Oxford school of xxxx" etc.


Isn't that just like cheating yourself though really?
Reply 5
I guess it's a very useless idea to trick the employer, you will lose your real chance


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Reply 6
Wouldn't 'Sheffield Business School' just be the faculty name? It's not the university.

It would be like putting 'Class B12' because you studied in that classroom, even though the actual college was called something else entirely.
Reply 7
Original post by TheProdigy2k9
Isn't that just like cheating yourself though really?



Uhm, does it matter if i am cheating myself?

What's more important? Self conscious or your career?
Reply 8
At one point we were told to put "Leeds Business School, Leeds Metropolitan University" but there is little point really, and my degree at my university is well appreciated in its industry so why bother.
Reply 9
Checking where and what someone studied is one the basic checks. The CEO of Yahoo lost his job this year because he fudged the degree that he did, not even where he studied. His relevant job experience, former President of Paypal was not enough to save him. It wasn't even Yahoo that spotted the "error", but it made them look bad and despite apologising he went, reputation in tatters over something that 20 years experience wasn't enough overcome. His fudge was claiming an Accounting and Computer science degree, when officially it was only an Accounting degree. He may even have done computing modules, but not enough to be an official minor and not a degree that university officially offered at the time he graduated. So educational establishment checked out, graduated checked out, degree title fail, job lost.

Even if you manage to secure the job, what happens when they ask you to produce your certificates and it does not match up with your CV. If you are lucky, they will accept your explanation, if not, it could be a very short lived job.

The justification that it is a designation that a university currently uses for a department, falls apart if they change the name. Which happens quite often, will you update your CV or LinkedIn profile to continue the fudge?
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 10
Original post by SillyEddy
Wouldn't 'Sheffield Business School' just be the faculty name? It's not the university.

It would be like putting 'Class B12' because you studied in that classroom, even though the actual college was called something else entirely.



Well, it is common to hear people say "I graduated from Harvard Business School" or "I graduated from Aston Business School".

Have you heard anyone saying "I graduated from class B12" before?
you should learn to be proud of your Alma mater and put it openly on your resume or you wont be going anywhere

OR
make a video resume like this ..........:tongue:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xe1wgj_barney-stinson-full-resume_music

ur bound to get the HR's attention
Reply 12
Original post by edjunkie
Checking where and what someone studied is one the basic checks. The CEO of Yahoo lost his job this year because he fudged the degree that he did, not even where he studied. His relevant job experience, running Paypal was not enough to save him. It wasn't even Yahoo that spotted the "error", but it made them look bad and despite apologising he went, reputation in tatters over something that 20 years experience wasn't enough overcome.

Do not assume that an overseas company will not try to ring up and check you went where you said you did. Only they are more likely to google the name you give and end up contacting the wrong place. That place will more than likely deny you studied there.

Even if you manage to secure the job, what happens when they ask you to produce your certificates and it does not match up with your CV. If you are lucky, they will accept your explanation, if not, it could be a very short lived job.

The justification that it is a designation that a university currently uses for a department, falls apart if they change the name. Which happens quite often, will you update your CV or LinkedIn profile to continue the fudge?


Like i said, even if they rang up sheffield hallem, the university is not going to deny that you are not from "Sheffield Business School" cause that is what they called their faculty in the first place.

Even their transcript mentioned "Sheffield Business School" on the top instead of "Sheffield Hallem university"

And bringing up Yahoo CEO as an example is ridiculous. Yahoo CEO got fired because of false statement that he is majored in accounting and computer science while he is actually an accounting major only.

If they changed the faculty name, what happens to the previous alumni certs and transcript then?
Reply 13
I don't understand that why are you insisting to use the department name & can't use the main complete name of the institute? Is there any particular reason or is it because these two institutes are lower ranked?


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Reply 14
You give the qualification name and institution on your certificate. You may further explain that the name has change to X or formerly known as X.

You assume that the fact checker will not contact the wrong institution. I spent some time observing someone who was screening CVs and they routinely binned any with what they considered contained any educational errors. They assumed if you didn't use the well known university name that you were hiding something. This policy came about after they hired someone, who was found to fudged his academic background. They selected this person after an extensive interview and over and above better qualified applicants. That person did not actually get to start the job, the irony being that they did not care about his qualifications, they just objected to being mislead.


Either you are proud of your qualification or you are not. Trying to make the name of your university more attractive than it is, suggests you are not.

Anyway, if makes you feel better to "improve" the name of where you studied, when long term it is your experience that will count, go ahead.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 15
Original post by math1234
I don't understand that why are you insisting to use the department name & can't use the main complete name of the institute? Is there any particular reason or is it because these two institutes are lower ranked?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App



I'm actually more concerned for Oxford brooks, not so much for Sheffield/Sheffield hallam cause in my country, Aside from Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard (those university with big names) all other universities are pretty much equal.


So i was wondering, if anyone from oxford brooks ever tried using their faculty name in the cover letter just to catch the HR attention. Like saying "I am a graduate from Oxford school of architecture" just so you stand a better chance in getting the interview.

I'm not saying it is a good idea, I'm just saying maybe it might give you a little advantage in getting interviews and work your way up from there.
Reply 16
Original post by edjunkie
You give the qualification name and institution on your certificate. You may further explain that the name has change to X or formerly known as X.

You assume that the fact checker will not contact the wrong institution. I spent some time observing someone who was screening CVs and they routinely binned any with what they considered contained any educational errors. They assumed if you didn't use the well known university name that you were hiding something. This policy came about after they hired someone, who was found to fudged his academic background. They selected this person after an extensive interview and over and above better qualified applicants. That person did not actually get to start the job, the irony being that they did not care about his qualifications, they just objected to being mislead.


Either you are proud of your qualification or you are not. Trying to make the name of your university more attractive than it is, suggests you are not.

Anyway, if makes you feel better to "improve" the name of where you studied, when long term it is your experience that will count, go ahead.


I see...
Reply 17
People used to do that Oxford fudge when Oxford Brookes was Oxford Polytechnic. It wasn't smart then and made for awkward interviews.

Interviewer "So which Oxford college did you attend?"
Interviewee "Er, Oxford Brookes"

Now unknown to you, the Interviewer as an alumni of Oxford had a load of probing questions to ask you, specific to Oxford university. Try and recover your credibility after that.
Original post by DKDarkKnight
I'm actually more concerned for Oxford brooks, not so much for Sheffield/Sheffield hallam cause in my country, Aside from Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard (those university with big names) all other universities are pretty much equal.


So i was wondering, if anyone from oxford brooks ever tried using their faculty name in the cover letter just to catch the HR attention. Like saying "I am a graduate from Oxford school of architecture" just so you stand a better chance in getting the interview.

I'm not saying it is a good idea, I'm just saying maybe it might give you a little advantage in getting interviews and work your way up from there.


You would have to be incredibly lucky to get through all the interviews and several years at the job without it coming up (like zero chance - Oxford is so famous people will be interested you 'went there'). When they do find out, they WILL see it as dishonest (they are not stupid - nobody is going to believe you genuinely didn't think it was misleading), and they won't want to employ a dishonest person.

Oxford Brookes is fine, but if you want 'better' qualifications, there are plenty of other, honest, things you can try. You have much more chance of getting the job as an enthusiastic recent graduate than a liar from a university you have just forced them to compare with one of the best in the country.

Sorry to be harsh, but it's the truth. Good luck with your job search though :smile:
What you should write is your full university and then the school so, mine would be 'University of Southampton, School of Ocean and Earth Science.' That way you cover all of it up.

Anyway, best not to piss off the people by trying to sneak through their filters. Just man up and accept the fact that you didn't go to the top uni in that city. I'm sure your degree is fine - some of the second universities in the city are still ranked better than other universities which are the first in their city.

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