We’ve heard it ad infinitum, but it really is quality advice: don’t lie on your resume!

From the Financial Post:

Wal-Mart spokesman resigns over fake resume claim that he has a university degree

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s chief spokesman resigned after the company discovered an almost two- decade-old falsehood in his official biography, a person familiar with the situation said.

David Tovar, who announced last week that he was leaving the job as vice president of communications, has previously said he earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Delaware in 1996. Wal-Mart discovered he never received the degree while he was being evaluated for a promotion to senior vice president, which had prompted due-diligence screening, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Tovar, 40, joined Wal-Mart in 2006 after working for the tobacco and snack-food company Altria Group Inc.

An academic-records official from the University of Delaware confirmed to Bloomberg News that Tovar never got the diploma.

“He was discontinued on May 25, 1996,” said Janice Wiley, the academic-records assistant. That means Tovar didn’t register to finish his required coursework, she said. Before then, Tovar had been enrolled in the school’s College of Arts & Sciences, where he’d pursued a degree in art.

Dan Bartlett, executive vice president of corporate affairs for Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, referred questions to Tovar.

“I’ll let him speak to anything about his background,” Bartlett, who is Tovar’s boss, said yesterday. Tovar didn’t respond to questions about his academic record.