She used Kate Upton’s image on her LinkedIn profile. She lied about her qualifications and made up references, including one named “Ms. Best.” Her brother is even accused of presenting himself as a former supervisor from a company neither sibling had never worked at. She also produced a fake pay slip to negotiate a higher salary. And yet, she landed a job in the Australian government anyway.
This ruse, however elaborate, still only lasted a month, at which point Veronica Hilda Theriault, 45, was arrested. By then, in September 2017, she had earned $33,000 of her yearly salary and had granted her brother, an alleged accomplice, a $21,000 contract. This week, Theriault pleaded guilty to some very Australian charges of deception, dishonesty, and abuse of public office.
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For her misdeeds, Theriault has been sentenced to 25 months in jail, according to CNN and People. And lest you think the whole thing was just an HR bungle, the Australian government group that hired her told Washington Post that Theriault emerged as the final candidate after a “competitive selection process.”
Moral of the story: Don’t lie on your resume. Don’t impersonate people, real or fake. All this seems pretty basic, but allow me to point your attention to the misuse of Kate Upton’s likeness. I repeat, she landed a cushy job by using international supermodel Kate Upton’s picture and a fake person (whom she impersonated over the phone) named Ms. Best as a reference.
That’s the job-hunting equivalent of two ten-year-olds stacked under a trench coat to get into an R-rated movie. We’d be impressed if we weren’t so confused.
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