The idea that a hotelier, of all people, should lose his job for the crime of exaggeration seems absurd. This is an industry where a “deluxe suite with a fantastic sea view” can well turn out to be an airing cupboard backing onto the car park. In the hotels business, a talent for creative embellishment is generally a requirement, not a liability.

It seems particularly cruel that Patrick Imbardelli, the Asia Pacific head of InterContinental Hotels Group, has had to go for claiming, falsely, that he held degrees in business studies and hotel administration from Victoria University in Australia and an MBA from Cornell University in the States. In fact he did attend both places, even if he never graduated. More to the point, he is widely praised for having done a stellar job running 200-plus hotels across the region, so much so that he was named Hotelier of the Year last month. His academic credentials seem incidental.

The world’s largest hotels operator could not, of course, allow a senior executive to continue in his position after it emerged that he had told a lie. Mr Imbardelli, who has previously waxed on about the importance of reputation, took not only the right path, but the only one available to him. He resigned.

But there is no point in being worthier than thou about it.

Buffing up the CV is a widespread and understandable misdemeanour. The competition for jobs is fierce and the rival applicants always seem to be former Olympic medallists with an Oxbridge degree, a PhD in astrophysics and an MBA from Harvard, who play cello in a chamber music quartet just to unwind. The desire to seem a little more impressive than you actually are is only natural.

The problem, in fact, is that when people burnish their resumes, they do so in such predictable and traceable ways. The most common CV lie, for example, is adding a few months to the period of employment in one place to make sure it fits seamlessly with the next, simply to show that no time has been spent dawdling or job-hunting.

So, for those people who want to polish their CVs, but not get caught doing it, here are half a dozen suggestions for distinctive – and undiscoverable – additions to any resume:

1. Offered knighthood, but declined for reasons of principle. (Don’t like to talk about it.)

2. Financial adviser to the Vatican.

3. Annual participant at the Bilderberg Conference.

4. Former member of the SAS.

5. Nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize. (The committee does not reveal the names submitted for its consideration.)

6. Consultant to BAE Systems.

Peter Linthwaite may not have been the most effective advocate for private equity but he clearly had the industry’s best interests at heart. His resignation from the British Venture Capital Association with immediate effect ensures that the dysfunction at the lobby group will not be the story for much longer. In his departure he has sent a clear message: private equity urgently needs to find its voice.

Times Recommends

• B&B shareholders forced into funding rescue
• John Lewis department store sales plunge 8.3%
• Families turn to credit to cover mortgage bills