Dalziel v Gilmore

At 1 am yesterday, Lianne Dalziel blogged a pretty direct attack on her opponent Aaron Gilmore:

was why I thought I would look at Aaron's cv and play with the internet – just to see if the story I had been told was worth investigating further:

  • Senior Associate, Australasian Financial Services Association – No such organisation that I could find
  • Member, Chartered Financial Analyst Institute   – Website does not show him as a current member
  • Member, Associate Chartered Accounting College   – No such organisation that I could find

These anomolies need to be addressed.  The following two are not really examples of inaccuracies in his cv but they gild the lily so to speak.  He says on his cv under qualifications: Postgraduate Diploma (Accounting), Massey University (75% complete) – I don't know about you, but I don't think you can include something under the definition of a qualification if it is not completed – but I suppose it proves he is an optimist – “75% done” sounds better than “25% shy of the qualification”.   And under Awards he has included Finalist, 2007 South Island NZIM Young Executive of the Year – there were 7 finalists that year – only one woman, and she was the one won the award.  But good on him for getting that far.

A commenter responded on the issue of a 75% done degree being on a CV:

Hi Lianne

I saw that Darien Fenton was seeking nomination for the Te Atatu seat and since I don't know much about her looked at her CV on the parliamentary website.

I noticed that she had a BA from Victoria (incomplete). I immediately thought of you and hopes that the information helps for this latest crusade of yours to bring greater honesty to MP CVs.

Heh.

The Herald has picked up on the story and reports:

list MP Aaron Gilmore has claimed a high-level finance industry qualification he does not have in a CV published on Parliament's website.

The Chartered Financial Analyst Institute yesterday told the Herald Mr Gilmore was not a member, although he listed membership as part of his list of educational and professional qualifications on his parliamentary web page. …

A spokeswoman for the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute said yesterday Mr Gilmore was neither a member of the institute nor of the CFA Society in New Zealand. He was a CFA programme candidate, meaning he is registered as studying towards the CFA qualification which would give him membership.

So he is studying towards a qualification which would give him membership. Now if the Herald is correct, this is an exaggeration, which is not a good look for an MPs – and could even be an offence. Yes many people exaggerate somewhat on their CVs, but if you are in public ife I think it is a wise idea to be very conservative with what you put on your CV.

Because after all, if one day you are exaggerating on your CV, then the next day you may end being a Minister who lies blatantly to the media and gets sacked by the Prime Minister for it.

For those interested, the CV is here.

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