Spotting Fake Resumes: What Are the Red Flags and How Can We Verify Them?

Hi,

I recently posted this on a Yahoo group, and I believe it might be more helpful to a broader audience here. Please read on and let me know if you find this information useful. I am also open to suggestions for additions or deletions.

Here is my insight based on my experience in identifying fake resumes. The points mentioned below are not strict rules but rather general observations with a high probability of a fake resume falling into these categories:

1) Absence of personal details like Date of Birth, Passport Number, and Residence Address.

2) Use of very generic email addresses that do not correspond to a person's name, e.g., [Login to view], [Login to view]. This could indicate an attempt to remain anonymous or switch identities easily.

3) Only providing a first name or using a full name with numerous initials, increasing the likelihood of multiple resumes under different variations of the name.

I have noticed that when the above factors are combined, there is a 95% chance that the candidate has fabricated experience. It is essential to keep an open mind for the remaining 5% of candidates who may not fit these patterns due to personal beliefs or assumptions.

In the case of IT resumes, pay attention to the names of clients associated with projects, which may seem unusual or vague, like "State Bank, US" or "VTC, Sweden."

Candidates with fake resumes often omit specific details about their education, such as the college name, branch of specialization, or graduation year. Instead, they may provide vague information like "B.Tech from JNTU University, Hyderabad with an aggregate of 75%," often rounding off percentages.

To verify suspicions, ask candidates basic questions related to their field of study and claimed expertise. If they struggle to provide coherent answers or respond with fabricated information, it is likely that they are not genuine.

In conclusion, a thorough assessment of candidates through targeted questioning can help identify fake resumes and ensure the authenticity of their claims.

Comments?

Dixit

Hi Dixit,

You have identified many of the possibilities. I would like to add one more. If there is a project on Hospital Management System, no second thoughts.

Radhika

Oh! Well, Radhika,

I did not even get into looking at the projects!! After the identifiers, I think one can blindly say that there would be a project in either Hospital Management, as you said, Library Management, or Inventory Management (of any sort). But I have noticed that fakers have turned to copy-pasting most of their projects from actuals, or extremely well-imagined ones (Unfortunately, I never had the 'guts' to ask a faker where he copied the projects from!).

PL&E
VND

Hi Dixit,

In my experience, I have observed that when candidates write in their CV stating, "worked with XYZ company from Jan 1997 - Jan 2000" and then in the next company, they mention "Jan 2000 - Jan 2003", such patterns, when I conducted reference checks, most of them were found to be fake.

Regards,
Vinay

[http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/HumanResourceOnLine](http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/HumanResourceOnLine)

Hi Sherine,

I think the best way to defeat all these individuals who have fake documents is to conduct background checks on all employees. This is a practice we implement in our organization. We have partnered with an external agency to perform these checks, which cover criteria such as date of birth, address, identity verification, educational certificates, and past work experience. During interviews, I also ensure to inform candidates about this process.

Moreover, as most individuals are now aware of our pre-employment screening procedures, it serves as a deterrent for those with falsified credentials from applying to our organization.

Thank you,
Sherine

Hi Vindixit,

Interesting observations!! Though I have never been into the IT recruitment or recruitment per say.. i have a very bad habit of discussing Careers with who ever i meet. A lot of my school and college friends are in the filed of IT. This gives me access to professionals from the IT than any other field.

I should admit here in shame that most of them are on the fake experience.. All in best of the companies!!!

In the early days I used to be surprised and I would often challenge their survival in the industry. This I was sure because a person with no work experience, gets a job by showing 3 years work experience.. how would he survive. the difference between a person who is 1000 days old and the person who is new to my logic should be very large... how than industry is not able to identify a person who comes with a fake experience.

Let me take you through the steps on how this process works:

• The process starts with a friend in the industry who is ready to help another friend of his who is unemployed. This is one of the major sentiments I have come across which supports fake experience. They give the projects to the friends and then train them for quite some time.

• The second type would be the guys who make money of the knowledge they have. They sell the code they have. Not only the code of theirs but also the modules that their colleagues have worked on ( I don't know how they manage to take it out of office).

• There will be a standard set of questions most often used by HR to eliminate fake candidates. Friends help them with the scripts to answer these questions. All permutations and combinations worked to be ready to face any question that would be asked by the HR.

• There is a serious preparation that happens on al the scripts being provided and then the candidate is ready to face interviews.

Then they happily face 20 - 30 interviews and the most desperate company would take them.

My read of the situation is that most of the cases we know that a wrong candidate is being recruited. We have our own deadlines to work and therefore this. The line managers would also go with this because they need resources to show to the client.

Interestingly one of friends shared with me that most of the resumes in the IT market today are fake only for a fact that the requirement for the experienced professionals has grown so huge that all the companies are on the recruitment spree and no one has laid of employees.. How can you generate people with experience all of a sudden.. This is a simple imbalance in the “demand and the supply” .

The candidate who is ok would survive.. the bad guys some times get thrown out ( 10 % chance) and they manage to get themselves a new job … all because of the market.

We did not try to find a permanent solution to the problem; instead we created a new problem now. This is what happens when we start looking for short cuts instead of working to find genuine solutions.

Regards

Srikanth Ch

Dear Dixit,

I appreciate the observation that you do, and I too gained some knowledge by looking at your article. But I want to know that sometimes when candidates fill out forms on portals, some options may not be available. For example, if a candidate has completed MSW (HR), there may not be an option for MSW; instead, there might be an option for MBA. This situation can be a bit confusing for the candidate when filling out the form.

Therefore, we cannot completely conclude that a resume is fake. Sometimes we need to take a second look or seek clarification, which would be better.

Regards,
Dan

Hi Srikanth,

Thanks for your inputs. It is very nice to see a non-recruitment person's opinions on the topic. Indeed, the inflow of business and the shortage of good talent are the causes of accepting applicants with fake credentials.

The purpose of listing this write-up was to understand further the means of identifying fake resumes and eliminating them at the beginning of the recruitment process. Given that even one round of a technical interview is effectively a waste of one man-hour of the technical person and a lot more effort from the recruiter or the HR coordinator, the purpose was also to enable the population of recruiters who do not have a technical background or understanding of technology to become self-reliant to a certain extent on doing a better job.

Sometimes, eliminating resumes at the ground level is not just about saving time but also a matter of ethics. This means that there are ample openings for freshers in the industry to accommodate competent and qualified people. Generally, the people who resort to adding false credentials are the most incompetent in their respective batches. This does not generalize anyone's competence level but also highlights that values are at times equally important as one's abilities to fit into a prospective employer's list of employees/associates.

Furthermore, I would like to add a note to Sherine: I have also recommended many companies to conduct thorough background investigations for every hire made to keep the company clean from malpractices. Identifying fake resumes at the beginning of the hiring process would save the overhead hiring cost in case the candidate is through the technical assessment by the employer.

Additionally, a note to DanielMay30: This is about resumes, not about portals, etc. Nowadays, portals are mature enough and have added plain text fields and options named 'others' in case a person is unable to list themselves in any category. My write-up is about identifying fakes in resumes using a very traditional pattern-based approach rather than a generic or standard protocol. I have mentioned in the article to recommend not using the mentions as rules but rather as indicators of the probability of fake credentials being present in the resume.

I mentioned this part to avoid:

"That is the reason why I started the mail with a disclaimer because the 5% of the remaining candidates must not lose out because of personal beliefs/assumptions."

I mentioned this part to avoid:

"So we can't completely conclude a resume is fake. Sometimes we have to give a second look or clarification, which would be better."

That's about it. Thanks for all your contributions, and I hope there are more contributions to this thread!

Hello Everyone!

You have made some fine generalizations. However, it may not be fair to shortlist based on assumptions alone. Here is why:

[color=darkblue]1) Absence of any personal details:
- Date of Birth
- Passport Number
- Residence Address

This could be because the person has moved and changed places a lot, due to his/her parents having a transferable job. He had to move from one city to another due to personal reasons (like personal/parents' ill health) and does not have a place to stay.



[color=darkblue]2) Very stereotype mail addresses, e.g., For the name Raghu Reddy, the email address is something like manu_advice@yahoo.com, or raghuexpert@gmail.com, which does not actually associate with a person's name, etc. (I use this email address of mine to stay anonymous, something of that sort. Like manu_advice could be of Manoj, Manish, etc., and the person can switch identities or evade identification easily)



This is true to a large extent. People who don't have professional ids cannot act professionally. We don't want them anyway.





[color=darkblue]3) Only a first name is given. And if a seemingly full name is given, it has a lot of initials (hence the chances that an RGB Reddy having other resumes with the name Raghu GBR, Raghu Reddy GB, Raghu Ganesha B R, etc., is very high.



The example you gave could be a really long name. We actually had a person who had a large name (7 sub names, with more than 60 characters). I know this fact because he was from our college. I cannot mention it here. I am sure one would not like to have it at the top of their resume. It might actually reach two lines. God knows what will happen when you end up using fancy fonts and font size greater than 12.)

This can be largely affected by cultural influences and practices followed in a particular nation.





[color=darkblue]Also observed (in case of IT resumes), the names of clients associated with projects would be very absurd or ambiguous. Such as "State Bank, US", "VTC, Sweden" (A few names I found in Raghu's resume)



This is very true; however, they can be verified with a little bit of ground check. Background checking is a little risky mainly because the sources we rely upon may turn out to be unreliable.

For example:

An ex-boss - This person may either die of guilt for firing the person or may be vindictive.

A colleague - Usually turns out to be a friend from the organization. He/She has all the nice things to say about him/her.

This person may be trained or coached to say the right things.





[color=darkblue]*Not to miss out this part*, candidates of this sort would not mention the name of the college they studied in, the branch they specialized in, not the year they passed out or completed their course in. Instead, it would be, "B.Tech from JNTU University, Hyderabad with an aggregate of 75%".



Yes, it might be exactly true what you are saying; on the other hand, it might be because the candidate is plain careless.





[color=darkblue]Also, you would notice that the percentage would tend to be rounded figures.



This can happen because the candidate has actually undermined his performance (i.e., rounded off 67.67% to 67%) or has prepared a standard format and is using it to apply to a lot of places, wherein they are asked to please truncate the decimals.



[color=darkblue]If you would want to confirm this, call the candidates. The probability that the candidate would say "I am busy, call me after 1 hour" is almost 90%.



Another reason this may happen is that the boss has just come in, and he/she does not want to take your call or be in a comfortable place/position to give an interview. The candidate may be discreetly searching for a job.







[color=darkblue]The litmus test:

To eliminate them (to confirm your doubts), have a few (2 or 3) basic questions in their branch of studies, and also in the area they claim expertise in. For example, in electronics, ask them what 'noise' is. Ask what the logic behind a 'multivibrator' is and where it is used in real life. Then ask them to explain how a recursive function would work and what the flow of logic is. You may also ask questions like what the runtime memory allocation table would look like, etc.



Asking a couple of basic questions is a good idea.





[color=darkblue]After they have answered none of your questions, use your lively imagination and ask them something really silly, hypothetical, and non-existent. If the candidate babbles out some answer, then you have just confirmed that the candidate is a fake.



Your test fails because what seems impossible to you may actually be possible (assuming that you have very limited knowledge about the subject).



Alternatively, it may mean that the candidate may think of things that are out of the box.



AT THE END OF THE DAY YOU MAY END UP LOSING A GOOD CANDIDATE!



Regards,

Shyamali

Hi VND!

I was hoping that you would defend your points. I cannot use your guide as an all-purpose error-free shortlisting guide - freedom from fake resumes. I would be glad if you did win this debate because everyone would be able to use your findings as a general guide. 😄
Please address my concerns.

Regards,
Shyamali

I was trying not to defend my point because my previous observation of defending caused a silence in people trying to bring out more points. Well, if you want me to, here I go.

Before starting off, I would like to re-re-iterate the following:

"What I have mentioned below are not rules of the logic of identifying fake resumes, but a general observation where the probability of a fake resume falling in the given category is very high.

I am going in sequence on how resumes (usually) appear. Parsing down, the key identifying factors of individuals are:

1) Name, 2) Contact Details 3) Date of birth

Name is static and hence cannot change, but a person intending not to disclose the full name on his resume (NOT an online application) is fishy.

Contact details contain a) Phone numbers (residence, mobile, office) b) Email addresses c) Residence Address

Acceptable that people are on the run today and hence providing just the mobile number is fine. But I could be sharing a phone with another unemployed room-mate of mine. Email addresses, I have got 10 or so personally. These two do not help in associating anyone's identity with anything.

"There are non-fakes who follow the above pattern as well, but they tend to fall in the 5% mentioned:

Moreover, I have observed that if the combination of the above is present, the chances that the candidate holds fake experience is almost 95%. That is the reason why I started the mail with a disclaimer because the 5% of the remaining candidates must not lose out because of personal beliefs/assumptions.

I guess my points about the name, email address, and the residence address and date of birth, etc., are logically clear.

Your point about the absence of an address is valid, but the statement "Moreover, I have observed that if the combination of the above is present, the chances that the candidate holds fake experience is almost 95%."

For large-scale resume processing systems (or recruitment software), identifying duplicates in the database is done by the points I have mentioned (also, the passport number is considered). For those who intentionally do it (try to beat the box), software tools are very effective. But recruiters who have to rely on their methods, these prove helpful to a large extent (hence the 5% exception to the rule).

At times there are those that mention client names as confidential. Those are absolutely acceptable. But providing incomplete, or rather, ambiguous names, well, I guess the point is clear.

"Yes, it might be exactly true what you are saying; on the other hand, it might be because the candidate is plain careless."

It is purely left for oneself to understand:

1) Resumes are to market oneself for a job. If a person doesn't pay attention to providing accurate details, you can assume or conclude the sincerity one can expect from employing him/her.

2) I still remember exactly the branch I specialized in. If for a PG, for instance, MBA, I would definitely not forget mentioning whether I did a dual specialization or a single one, and what the course actually was.

"Another reason this may happen is that the boss has just come in and he/she does not want to take your call or be in a comfortable place/position to give an interview. The candidate may be discreetly searching for a job."

Yes, that is a possibility. But, this was following the points mentioned above. Meaning, for a candidate who has been identified matching the list, the chances that he would say he is busy (assuming that he is actually not employed) is 90%.

"Your test fails because what seems impossible to you may actually be possible (assuming that you have very limited knowledge about the subject). Alternatively, it may mean that the candidate may think of somethings that are out of the box."

That part follows the basic questioning which the candidate is most likely to fail. And questions usually pertain to those that the questioner (the recruiter) is comfortable asking and is fully aware of the intricacies pertaining to it.

BTW: I have had many recruiters who used this as a tool to eliminate candidates, do borderline calls to confirm employment status of candidate(s). And surprisingly (not to me), this has had a 100% accuracy. Since the sampling volume has been in the order of the 50s, I cannot claim a 6 sigma accuracy in it because the recruiters have actually started using this to sideline resumes and not waste time on talking to them.

"AT THE END OF THE DAY YOU MAY END UP LOSING A GOOD CANDIDATE!"

At the same time, a lot of time is saved from investing time on fakers. I guess hardcore recruiters would agree to the point that losing 1 guy in a bulk of 50 (with 'fake-looking' resumes) is more cost-effective (in terms of time and effort) than talking to the 49 actual fakes and spending at least 2 man-hours on processing them.

Any further comments? I was hoping that recruiters would, out of their experiences, add more points to the list.

Anyways, thanks for the post. I am glad this thread is live again!!

Thanks again.

PL&E

vndixit

Dear Mr. V. N. Dixit,

In the time I have spent on this site, I have noticed numerous posts discussing how to eliminate the menace of fake resumes. I have said it before, and I will reiterate it now.

The majority of corporates, especially in IT, have not placed this issue in their top 3 priorities. IT company management is primarily focused on completing their projects and looking at their profit margins. IT professionals often try to shift the blame for faulty recruitment onto HR, making them a scapegoat.

This trend only serves to turn HR into a punching bag. Can you show me one IT company that has dismissed technical personnel from the interview panel for making incorrect technical assessments? Or sacked a project manager for making a wrong selection? The results would be interesting. Implementing such actions once would significantly reduce the number of fake resumes.

We are not bloodhounds or police; we do not need to sniff out everything, nor do we need to be Sherlock Holmes. What we require is a highly competent technical panel that can effectively screen candidates.

As long as recruitment is viewed solely as HR's responsibility, these issues will persist.

Let me pose a question to you. If your technical head selected a candidate for a crucial project for one of your most valued customers, and the project is already delayed, claiming the candidate is the most suitable, what would you do if he cannot provide all the required experience certificates? As HR, would you have the authority to revoke the selection? (I would like to mention that, except for the top few IT companies, most responses I have received to this question have been negative, except for TCS, where this scenario does not apply due to their substantial bench strength.)

Kind Regards,

SC

Hi!

At this point, I would like to narrate a very personal experience. One of my friends/course mates/batch mates was a very good student - the best in maybe the three or four batches taken together. She was overly enthusiastic and overly concerned with campus placements. She sent her resumes to different placement agencies, but her resume did not get shortlisted. Her CV was fine. She had the skills. She had the right BL. She could not figure out what went wrong. We did a little analysis and then realized that it had some of the problems mentioned by VND. However, if she were given a chance, there would be no one who would fit the job like her. Thank God and thank management that we had the scope for campus placements. Otherwise, she would never be absorbed by an MNC.

Regards, Shyamali

Hi,

The purpose of this thread is lost with your post. Here, we are trying to discuss what points could be to eliminate resumes as the beginning of the recruitment process and not to discuss who is to blame for a bad/wrong hire.

HR and recruitment are now being divided into two different verticals in many companies (and that's to the good of it). A wrong hire made is completely the mistake of the hiring/interview panel, which includes the HR as well. If it is about discussion who's to blame, then I suggest that a new thread for the same (and a good name would be "Blame Game").

To err is human, and hence there is no way anyone can be blamed for a wrong hire (unless it was deliberately done).

And I would have to contradict a lot of things that you have quoted:

"The IT Company Management are only interested in completing their projects and looking at their Profit line."

"The IT professionals are more interested in making a scapegoat out of HR by passing the blame on faulty recruitment."

"Show me one IT Company which has sacked the Technical Persons of the Interview Panel for making a wrong technical assessment?"

"We are not bloodhounds or police that we will have to sniff everywhere. Neither are we Sherlock Holmes. What we need is a very good technical panel which will be able to screen a person."

I would just like to ask you one question:

Suppose your Technical Head had selected a candidate for a very important project of one of your most valuable customers, which has already been delayed. The Technical Head states he is the most suitable guy for this project. Now, when you asked for experience certificates, he gives the last two and says the rest is not there and neither can he provide you with any proof. Will you as HR be able to cancel the selection?

The process that we used in my last employment involved a background investigation. Only proof of the last employment was required to be submitted during joining. The rest was required to be detailed in an investigation form. The process was effective. We have had demotions and terminations following that. We had to be ruthless, as some would say. But, as an organization, we kept up to our integrity and values.

I hope this clears the points. Please note that this thread is about how recruiters can eliminate resumes at a screening level to minimize the time wasted in the recruitment process and not about making bad/wrong hires or who is to blame for the same.

PL&E

vndixit

Hi! I am sure Swastik would like to defend his post. He has highlighted the root cause of such problems. This is not just about recruitment, HR, or even the technical head taken separately, but the issue may actually relate to coordinating problems with the top management.

As far as recruiting people goes, it's similar to having money (read purchasing power) to buy gold (the best and the most suited for that position), but since we did not have the right knowledge, we ended up with silver instead (an average recruit). Recruiters have targets to fill, but if they keep supplying average people, they will lose goodwill and business in the long run.

Regards, Shyamali

Dear Mr. Dixit,

I am not trying to start a blame game, but what I have stated practically happens.

Let us ask ourselves: Why are we interested in eliminating fake resumes? Once you answer this question exhaustively, we will be able to see that the effort and cost put in is far greater for checking the credentials than having a fool-proof Technical Selection Team.

In one of my previous organizations, I had stressed and was able to implement the concept, and it was so successful. The Technical Team could detect any fake resume, and the rate of success was about 96%.

Here, I would like to admit that as HR professionals, we are not technically equipped to catch fakers. The fakers you have mentioned are novices, and they generally get caught, but the highly specialized fakers are the real dangers. They are so good and efficient at faking that they only get caught in times of crisis situations. They are not only dangerous but also highly destructive for the company.

For example, when hiring for Plant HR, we used to ask, "How do you enlist a worker with an ESI Doctor/Dispensary?" Unless you have done it personally in West Bengal, you will never be able to answer it.

So, instead of trying to screen resumes, we put more thrust into framing the right questions that will test your experiences.

Yes, the novices got automatically caught within two minutes, while the experts took some more time.

Regards,

SC

Hi,

A good way to identify fakes without wasting too much time is via a tele-interview. It is a good way to shortlist. There are loopholes, but they can be taken care of.

Regards,
Shyamali

Dear Swastik73,

I appreciate your post and your view, doubtlessly. But the whole idea of starting this thread was to understand what fellow recruiters think are patterns in resumes that are typically found in fakes. This would further help recruiters in reducing the time invested in the entire recruitment process.

For instance, in my experience, any candidate adhering to a recruitment process undergoes at least one recruiter screening (15-20 minutes), two technical interviews (2*45 minutes), and one HR interview (30 minutes). This sums up close to 2.5 hours. Other than these, the overhead investment of scheduling interviews, meeting the candidates, and coordinating the interviews would take another 1.5 hours or so.

Assuming a mid-sized organization or a small, fast-growing one looking at 20 people a month (assuming replacements and not expansion headcounts), a team of 5 recruiters would have to talk to 20*(inverse of the hit-ratio) [For non-services company, where quality is most important, the average ratio (across all positions) may vary close to 1/200 +/-10%]. In this situation, a recruiter would be required to talk to 200*20 people = 4000 people. If each discussion were to last for 15 minutes, each recruiter would be talking for (4000/4)/5=200 hours.

Mathematically, that's just too much. Assuming 8 hours of work without breaks, every recruiter would have to talk for 25 working days, that's more than a month in the IT calendar (roughly 22 working days a month).

Above is all theory though! Still, with the amount of variance, and also assuming that all candidates ARE interested, and that with a 50% offer-join ratio, the amount of time invested would be more or less equal to the calculation.

Hence, I feel that a resume-level screen/elimination would be more than essential for recruiters to recruit more effectively. (At least in India where the hiring market is not mature enough, and the hiring needs are very high)

Thanks for bringing this thread back to life!!

Hi VND & Radika,

I strongly disagree with what you people were discussing regarding the project done on hospital management, etc.

I do understand these projects are like desk projects and not real-time projects. But coming to a conclusion that people who have done hospital or inventory projects are providing fake information on their profiles is unfair.

FYI: Even I have completed my B.Tech project in Smart Card Enabled Hospital Management. I have also completed my MBA in HR and I am working with a well-known company in Bangalore as an HR Executive handling recruitment.

I completely agree with VND's discussion, but Radika, I believe you may have a wrong perception.

Thank you,
Ilango

Hi Mr. Dixit,

You have given very intelligent clues to find the fakers. Thanks a lot. However, the first two things you have mentioned in your comments, I won't accept for this. Because, some people in a hurry may not write their passport number or the name of their college, thinking that the university is important. At that moment, we can't label them as fakers. Everything else you mentioned are the symptoms to identify them as fakers.

Thanks,
Bye.