Sunday, September 11, 2005
Resume Inflation
I am not usually one to pile on or to kick a man while he is down, but I have to comment on the story surround Michael Brown and his inflated Resume.
I have never put anything on my resume that wasn't true. I have put things on my resume that were 'stretching' reality a bit but never to the extent that I overstated my abilities or experience. I have stated that I had experience in State and Local Taxation which was true, and I have stated that I had experience in the preparation of Multi-State Income/Franchise tax returns, which was also true. The place where the experience was stretching what in the area of how it appeared on my resume. I had worked for a company for 5 years, but only had the above experience in the Income/Franchise area for about 18 months. The state and local was 100% true as most of my time at the job in question was spent working on Sales and Use Tax Returns.
Michael Brown's resume contained what I would call both stretching and out right lying. He claims that he was far more experienced at working with emergency management for a city in Oklahoma, which was stretching, but he also claimed he was a professor at Central State University which was blatantly false.
The real blame for anything to do with Michael Brown's failures rests solely on the person who appointed him. President Bush took a person who was completely unqualified for a very important Federal position and nominated him for it. This seems to be a recurrant issue with this administration which doesn't always seem to think through all the ramifications of actions it takes. Appointing an incompetent like Michael Brown may, and likely did, cost people there lives by FEMA not succesfully reacting to Katrina. This is the type of problem that these types of bad nominations result in.
As FEMA was a cabinet level post, I believe that congress has some responsibility for this error in judgement as well by not properly vetting this nomination.
Time.com Article
I have never put anything on my resume that wasn't true. I have put things on my resume that were 'stretching' reality a bit but never to the extent that I overstated my abilities or experience. I have stated that I had experience in State and Local Taxation which was true, and I have stated that I had experience in the preparation of Multi-State Income/Franchise tax returns, which was also true. The place where the experience was stretching what in the area of how it appeared on my resume. I had worked for a company for 5 years, but only had the above experience in the Income/Franchise area for about 18 months. The state and local was 100% true as most of my time at the job in question was spent working on Sales and Use Tax Returns.
Michael Brown's resume contained what I would call both stretching and out right lying. He claims that he was far more experienced at working with emergency management for a city in Oklahoma, which was stretching, but he also claimed he was a professor at Central State University which was blatantly false.
The real blame for anything to do with Michael Brown's failures rests solely on the person who appointed him. President Bush took a person who was completely unqualified for a very important Federal position and nominated him for it. This seems to be a recurrant issue with this administration which doesn't always seem to think through all the ramifications of actions it takes. Appointing an incompetent like Michael Brown may, and likely did, cost people there lives by FEMA not succesfully reacting to Katrina. This is the type of problem that these types of bad nominations result in.
As FEMA was a cabinet level post, I believe that congress has some responsibility for this error in judgement as well by not properly vetting this nomination.
Time.com Article
// posted by Little Wolf @ Sunday, September 11, 2005 
