I'm looking for advice from fellow professionals. I'll make a long story short.
I recently started applying for a new job in my industry. I'm a graphic designer, and quite good at what I do. I was put through a rigorous interview process that took a few weeks. Passed everything with flying colors and got an offer.
Rewind a month prior. I rebuilt my resume with a buddy of mine who is a copywriter at an ad agency. I designed a beautiful template, gave him my information, and allowed him to work his magic on the writing portion of the resume. I attended a college for a few years, but didn't actually complete a B.S., but he included that in my education (assuming that my few years there meant that I had a degree). I was instructed to always add that I at least attended school for some time on my resume – just put the attendance dates. I removed the “B.S.” portion from my education and saved the file.
Turns out that when I submitted the resume to the company that's given me an offer, I gave them the wrong resume file… It claims I have a B.S. in my field. I do not. I signed onboarding documentation and a background check. I'm assuming that's in the works now.
Now I'm in a very serious ethical dilemma. The way I see it, I have two options:
- Keep my mouth shut and hope nothing comes of it. The interview process paid virtually no attention to my education background. I went to school for something unrelated to the position. I sold them on my portfolio of work, experience, and interviews.
- Call up HR and explain the situation. I made an honest, but serious mistake during the hiring process. Basically, hope to god they can overlook this error and appreciate my honesty, etc. etc.
This job would be a dream for me, so I'm hesitant to sabatoge my chances, but I believe integrity is very important and I'd hate for this to come back on me in the future.
Anyways, thanks for reading. What would you guys do in this situation?