A 2020 survey by ResumeLab found a majority of job seekers fudge a detail or two on their résumés. Fake candidates are an even more insidious problem, wasting significant time and money for employers.
As a result, validating candidates’ skills and experience has never been more important. Some companies are implementing more rigorous background or reference checks and are taking additional steps to verify credentials. In the current market, however, when top IT candidates may be considering multiple offers at a time, it’s important to move quickly, since a delay of even one day can cause you to lose your candidate to another employer. What’s the solution?
As a leading IT staffing provider for more than 25 years, BravoTECH has developed proven best practices to detect candidate fraud so that our clients don’t have to worry about it. Here are some of our tips for employers.
- Learn to spot resume inconsistencies. Sometimes the dates don’t match up, there’s a major job title leap or there is an inconsistency in technology progression. For example, a candidate’s stated “years of experience” may not correlate to the candidate’s graduation date. Make sure employment dates and contract positions match. Question any gaps in employment.
- Check LinkedIn profiles. Since a candidate may change their resume to match the job they’re trying to get, their LinkedIn profile may reveal any problems. If the candidate doesn’t have a LinkedIn profile, that’s an immediate red flag.
- Check two legal forms of identification. Ask candidates to hold their driver’s license up to the camera during a video interview. Take notice if the IDs used in the video interview do not match the IDs the candidate shows up with in person.
- Be alert during video interviews. Fake candidates may hire an expert to coach them during interviews. They may receive responses from someone offscreen, so ask them not to use earphones and share their screen to eliminate the possibility they are reading from a chat window.
- If in doubt, reschedule. Some fake candidates have used an app called Bufferi.ng that allows people to simulate freeze frames and lags as a cover. If you’re seeing a delay before a candidate responds to questions, or if your candidate is experiencing any technical difficulties at all, reschedule the interview to weed out a potential fake candidate.
- Ask for and check references. This is a tried-and-true way to find out if a candidate’s job history has been fabricated or if they have lied to their previous employers.
- Make job offers contingent on the completion of background and reference checks. This helps strike a balance between performing rigorous candidate reviews and the need for quick hiring decisions to attract top talent.
- Validate skills on the first day of employment. This is a best practice every employer can use to reduce their risk. On day one, have someone on your team or in human resources do a quick review of the skills and experience the candidate listed on their resume or confirmed during interviews. If all goes well, assign them to a closely supervised project during the first few weeks to test their knowledge. You can also buddy new hires with a trusted team member who can show them the ropes. If something seems fishy, they should report it.
Every candidate BravoTECH presents to our clients has been thoroughly screened and vetted, saving our clients time and money. For more information about attracting top IT talent, contact us at info@bravotech.com or 800.762.7286
