Fake Diploma for a Job Application? The Honest Answer

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JAN

Fake Diploma for a Job Application? The Honest Answer

Can you use a fake diploma for a job application? No. A novelty diploma is a replica made for display, gifts and props; it is not in any school's records, and that is exactly what an employer's education check looks at. This page explains how those checks work, what a novelty diploma is actually for, and the honest routes if the document you need is a real one. The replica on this site, the Perfect Match Diploma, is sold on that basis: the maker does not make documents intended for misrepresentation.

Why a novelty diploma does not work on a job application

Employers check records, not paper

Education verification does not involve looking at your diploma. Background-check providers and HR departments confirm a degree through the institution's records office or through the National Student Clearinghouse, which holds enrollment and degree records for the large majority of US colleges. A printed diploma is never the thing being checked, so a replica — however well it matches the school's design — has nothing to be checked against. The Clearinghouse page in the Sources below describes the process.

What it would cost you

Misrepresenting a qualification on an application is grounds for withdrawal of an offer or dismissal later, and in licensed fields it can be an offense. The Federal Trade Commission's guidance on degree scams, also in the Sources, is written for people who were sold a “degree” as if it were real; the same page is worth reading before you believe any seller who says a document will pass a check.

What a novelty diploma is for

A replica is a display document. It is built from the school's real design — exact wording, fonts, spacing, leading and kerning, with your details embedded — so that it looks right in a frame: on the wall while a lost original is being reissued, as a graduation gift, as a prop for film and stage, or as a second copy for a second office. The seal is color, gold-foil or embossed, the signatures are made-up in-house signatures or left blank, and the whole thing is proofed before printing. Ethical uses of novelty diplomas sets out where the line sits.

If you earned the degree and only lack the document

This is the usual situation behind the question. The school's records office reissues a lost diploma to a graduate; the request needs the name you graduated under, the graduation year and an ID, and the office works through it on its own schedule. Employers do not need the paper in the meantime — they verify through the records — so a replica for the wall and a reissue in the post cover both needs. Lost diploma replacement options lists the routes.

If you did not finish

Then the honest routes are the ones that put you in the records: completing the program, an adult high school or GED or HiSET credential at secondary level, or listing the education you do have accurately. None of these can be bought from a diploma maker or anyone else.

What this maker will and will not do

The maker is not affiliated with any institution and does not make documents intended for misrepresentation; medical, aviation and maritime degrees are not made at all, some schools are excluded at their request, and some places are not shipped to — the list is on Things We Can't Do. If a seller tells you its diploma will “pass verification,” that is the claim to walk away from.

For the visible differences between a replica and the school's own document, fake vs real diplomas: 7 differences you can check is the short list, and why people order novelty degrees covers the reasons behind the orders that are actually placed.