Lying On A Job Application

Nurses Professionalism Nursing Q/A

I am applying for jobs and struggling because I graduated from a non-accredited nursing school. A fellow classmate has an EXCELLENT job at a huge hospital. The problem is that she put on her application that she DID graduate from an accredited nursing school. I'm upset because I can not be hired at this hospital due to my not lying on my application. What could happen to her if her employers find out about her school?

11 Answers

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

What could happen to her isn't really something you should be concerning yourself about. However, if she is found to be lying on an application, she could face discipline in accordance with the facility employee handbook.

This scenario is exactly why prospective nursing students need to research each and every school they consider. Unaccredited programs not only can affect admission to graduate school, but as you have found out, can also affect employment.

You don't mention what degree you obtained. If it isn't a BSN, have you considered completing an RN-to-BSN program? If you did so at an accredited school, you would then be able to say you graduated from an accredited school.

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Is your school applying for accreditation? If so, I would add that fact to your application. When a new program is accredited, it is often made retro-active. A hospital might take that into consideration if the school was on track to receive accreditation soon.

Specializes in Hospice.

Your classmate is playing with fire. If someone finds out she lied, she could be fired.

However, my question is, why are you so worried about her? She followed an action, the consequences will be what they will be.

Are you possibly wondering if you could get away with the same thing? Or, the way you worded your question, are you thinking of letting HR know (anonymously, of course) that she lied?

So, to answer your question, the nurse can be fired and can be blackballed in the community if it is discovered that she lied about which school she attended.

Same thing if she didn't lie about the school but instead lied about accreditation.

This scenario is just weird to me. Firstly, HR checks school attendance. So they would know if she was lying about the school itself. Secondly, they know which schools are accredited. Thirdly, people rarely put the accreditation on their resume, they just put the school, so she would have had to go out of her way to lie. Recruiters would have noticed the weirdness of having accreditation on the resume, and probably would have investigated.

If your "friend" was hired in spite of all of those things, then that hospital has a really slack HR department.

Then the fault is on you for enrolling in a program that was not accredited, regardless of what they said.

Every school started out being unaccredited. The ACEN and CCNE require that the school have graduated a few classes, so they can see what the NCLEX pass rates are, before the school is eligible for accreditation. Lots of us would hesitate to be "guinea pigs" for a new program but, at the same time, if no one were willing to attend an new, unaccredited program (with the reasonable expectation that the school is going to get accredited), there would never be any more nursing programs than there are right now (or, more accurately, there would never be any more nursing programs than there were a long time ago, when there were a lot fewer nursing programs).

The hosiptal is supposed to do a background check. Most employment application will state that lying on the application can lead to employment termination.

I thought that most states will not allow issuance of an RN license to someone who graduated from an unaccredited school. So which state is this school in?

I graduated with an associates degree. Further education is the next step at this point. The program I graduated from is new. Only 3 years old at this point. Accreditation is supposed to happen next year. Thank you for your comment!

They have applied. The nurse recruiter from the hospital told me that they wold keep my application and revisit it as soon as the school has received accreditation. In the mean time, the search continues.

Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.

I just don't understand why you would lie to a future employer. Because when they find out, which they will, it will make you look untrustworthy. Then it will paint a target on your back. For so many reasons, just no.

You've received your answer, although I'm not sure why you're so concerned about her actions. She will have to live with the consequences.

Like I said before, I would continue applying and wait for the accreditation process to be complete. And you did say that a facility would hold your application until your program is accredited, correct?

I hope that everything works out. I'm guessing you are fairly young, but, for future reference, do thorough research on everything! Jobs, schools, cars, homes.... It will save you a headache in the long run.

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