Reference for coworker for Grad School 3

[DirtSmuggler]

Have a coworker who I manage. He's going to grad school for PMP. He asked me to be a reference for him for his grad school application. He drafted one up using ChatGPT (with spelling errors too) and gave it to me to sign. He extremely glorified his experience at the company and isn't an accurate representation of his experience or the work he accomplished. In fact, he's not a very intelligent person and often dishonest. I'm surprised he graduated an engineering college given his lack of knowledge of engineering, math, and physics. My direct boss saw the reference letter and told me if I was to sign it, do not sign it as an employee of the company but instead to sign it as a personal reference. I feel very comfortable about the whole thing. I also don't want to ruin my relationship with the person and come across an A-hole. I would try to draft my own letter for him, but honestly, I don't have anything positive to say. He's a terrible employee. Any suggestion how I should handle it?

 

[TigerGuy]

This individual's history of honesty, or the lack thereof, makes one wonder about all the details provided on this graduate program.

 

[CWB1]

I wouldnt threaten if the employee legitimately qualifies. Asking an employer to forge qualifications tho is fraud and jeopardizes the reputation and livelihood of the employees and company, zero-tolerance is best IMHO.

Its unfortunate for the profession but PMI keeps lowering standards and enabling frauds to become certified PMP. I've encountered many who had never done project-based work nvm led projects or knew anything about generational data-analytics. There's no reason not to require lower-level certs, every junior PM has multiple yet PMI refuses to require them and keeps lowering standards otherwise.