Is there an opening for Royal Vizier?

This post has been a long time in the works, so it is basically two posts badly forced into being one post. However, both concern my as yet unsuccessful attempt to get a job.

I have been seeing a lot of articles about lying and embellishing the truth lately, mostly because of Richard Blumenthal. The article that scared me most was the one in the Sunday Times titled "Resumes Made for Fibbing." I was particularly frightened for two reasons. First, I am trying to get a job and have serious doubts about how I can compete with some of my colleagues. Second, I have been tempted to embellish a thing here or there on my resume, hoping it would get me through the screening process.

I would really like to get a government job, but they have a very frustrating application process. The self-evaluation questionnaire is especially troubling to me. It basically asks you to rate yourself on a scale of one to five in terms of experience dealing with several different categories. There is then an open space for you to write something that will hopefully back up the claim you just made. I don't want to exaggerate my experience, but I am never sure if I can credibly call myself an expert. Compared to 95% of the population I am definitely an expert, but compared to people who have an MPP from an elite university I may be only knowledgeable.

My fear with lying is that it is the same as admitting I am not good enough. I find it repulsive to suggest I am something I am not, because it devalues what I am. I can try to rationalize embellishing the truth by saying I am just trying to get my foot in the door so I can get an interview, and they can decide if I would be a good fit. In the end I find it too depressing to lie. I think what gets me so sad about rejections is that I take it as evidence that I am lacking. I shall keep plugging along, comfortable in the knowledge that at least I have my integrity intact.

Maybe all of this concern over my qualifications is driven by the increasing cost of higher education (This is where I try to seamlessly fit in the second post. It is magic Jafar would be jealous of!). It seems to me the increasing cost of higher education is going to increase the quality of employees in government positions and at non-profits. I think currently the general of impression of government employees is that they are like Flounder in Animal House: fat, drunk, and stupid! Okay, so maybe fat is a little rough, but I am fairly certain most people feel government employees are lazy, unproductive, and immune from firing because of civil service laws. Yet, I think that impression is quickly coming to an end. The government has a program to forgive outstanding student loans after ten years of payments for those working in government positions and non-profits. The program is only useful for those who accumulate enough debt that they need more than ten years to pay it off and cannot find a job in the private sector that pays enough to offset the potential reward of debt forgiveness. However, with the increasing cost of higher education, especially master's degrees at prestigious private universities, I think more and more of the nations intellectual elite are falling into that category. This is somewhat disheartening in that it is much more difficult for me to get a federal position, but it is incredibly encouraging to think that the government is attracting so many quality people. I am just wondering if Agrabah has a similar program.