<p>I don't think it's particularly sleazy. Why not just do it for real? It's really not THAT hard to start your own small business and earn some consulting revenue on the side. Particularly if you're a PhD student - there is some company out there that will pay you to do some consulting of some kind, even if it's only for a few hundred dollars.</p>
<p>I don't even particularly view it as a matter of integrity. After all, do you honestly think your employer is telling you the whole truth? No, of course not. So you don't really owe the whole truth to your employer either. Hiring is a business transaction. Nothing more, nothing less. Employers are going to present whatever they need to make themselves look like desirable employers, and employees should present what they need to do present to look like desirable employees. That's how business works. It's no more sleazy than the advertising you see on TV, where companies aren't really telling you the whole truth in order to sell their products.</p>
<p>There is a fine line between integrity and naivete. It would be nice and idealistic to think that everybody in the world would tell each other the complete truth. We don't live in that world. Business transactions are fostered on each party telling the other party what they want to hear. That's business. Like it or not, that's the way that business works. I would be perfectly happy to tell the complete truth to my employer if I could be assured that my employer was telling the complete truth to me. But I know that's not going to happen, and I can't be naive about that.</p>