How Do You Spot Fake Resumes When Shortlisting Candidates? Seeking Your Advice!

Dear All,

As HR professionals, you may encounter the same issue I faced a couple of weeks ago. While interviewing candidates for the software developer position, I found some applicants suitable after they cleared the technical round with the technical heads and subsequent technical interviews. However, upon the arrival of five senior developers, I discovered that one of them had fabricated experience and never actually worked for a year. I promptly scrutinized the CV, which was expertly written and formatted by resume writing professionals, making it nearly impossible to detect its fraudulent nature. I am currently in the process of thorough reference checks to uncover any other potential deceivers among the new hires.

Could you offer any advice on how to identify fake CVs during the candidate shortlisting process? As you are aware, there are services dedicated to crafting impressive resumes, making it challenging to distinguish the genuine ones from a large pool of applications.

Please share your insights.

Dev P. Ray

Hi Dev,

I would suggest you use behavioral interviewing techniques - these are the best indicators of future performance on the job. Also, insist on at least one face-to-face interview rather than all telephonic rounds. It would be nice if a technical round is face-to-face or by video conference - budgets permitting. The above, along with your reference checks, should be able to filter out the frauds. This may add to your selection time but will save your overall recruitment cost.

Hope this is helpful. Wish you all the best.

Regards,
Ryan

Hi Dev,

It's really a big problem for HR people during the selection of candidates. There are even a few companies that offer professional CV writing and distribution services.

In this scenario, you can utilize this technique, which will certainly help in identifying individuals with fake CVs.

You should consider using an Application Blank before conducting interviews or when shortlisting candidates. To use this form, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1. Create an interview form based on the necessary information.
2. The candidate should complete the form in their own handwriting and provide a signature.
3. If the candidate is present in your office, provide the form without requesting their CV and ask them to fill it out.

By following the above procedure, you can effectively filter out candidates with fake CVs or those prepared by others. This method enables a more accurate evaluation of applicants, as handwriting can reveal various characteristics, qualifications, and abilities.

If the candidate is not suitable for the job, you will likely notice significant differences between their CV and the hand-written form.

Furthermore, conducting reference checks is a crucial step for additional verification.

I trust that these suggestions will be helpful to you. Please acknowledge receipt.

Regards,

Khalid
+971 55 790 1111
Abu Dhabi, UAE

Khalid, Ryan,

Thank you for your suggestions. I will request all other seniors to provide their valuable input. I am really struggling to recruit some people, and every time I am confused with the CVs they have written with the help of resume writing experts.

Thanks,
Dev P. Ray

That's why always ask them to write their CVs in front of you, I mean while they are in your office.

Anyhow, it's very difficult to know any applicant from inside as we are human beings. That's why before selection, be sure of their attitude along with their technical and functional competencies. As attitude plays a key role in the development of the person and organization.

Conduct more simulation tests for screening and try to use a probing approach while interviewing. You have to dig out from his inside. Conduct interviews in a friendly atmosphere, not in your office, but on a round table other than your office so that the applicant becomes your friend and starts telling you all pros and cons.

Hence, for selection depending upon the nature of the job and seniority of the job, you have to use various types of techniques from time to time.

In addition to the above, please never forget to do a reference check either before their employment or during the probation period where you can take decisions easily.

Best wishes and Regards,

Khalid HR Consultant +971 55 790 1111 Abu Dhabi - UAE

Hi,

It's not a problem, it's a monster. Anybody and everybody concerned with HR faces this problem at some point in time.

There are a couple of good observations already made in the preceding posts. I will give you a couple of practical observations.

1. Whenever a resume looks suspicious, make sure you go through the URL of the company mentioned in the CV. If a company is not there on the web, it's most likely to be a fake company. Most of the companies, however, will be on the web, but such companies will leave a trail which you can easily follow by having a careful glance.

2. Look at the address of the company on the web. It will mostly look like an address of a flat and not of a commercial organization. In 99% of cases, it's fake.

3. Ask the candidate about the breakup of the salary and not the CTC. Most of the candidates are likely to say they do not remember it. In such cases, you can ask them about only the basic and PF. If it's fake, they will either quote the wrong PF amount or will pretend as if they don't have an idea.

4. You can also ask who the CEO of their company is. It is most likely that fake candidates will be caught off guard.

5. One thing that has worked for us is calling candidates around 10-10.30 in the morning. Most people, however eager to leave their present company, don't want to talk at this time because it's peak work time. Normally, a genuine guy will ask to call later, but a fake guy may sound relaxed as if he has no urgency to get back to work.

6. The project that a candidate has done is of immense importance, especially in IT & ITES. So, one can always give it a careful look. The fake projects are likely to be something like "Online ticketing system," "online music system," something that may not look sellable at first glance. This round of screening should ideally be done by a technical fellow.

These are actually theoretical concepts. In essence, I have just tried to write it in the manner we use such techniques.

We have more of such techniques.

You can give a couple of these a try, and then let us know if these are of any use.

Let's resolve to fight fake!!!!

Hi,

It is very difficult to catch such CVs. Even I work for a company that does background checks for employees, but it is very challenging for us to identify such details sometimes easily, even though we conduct physical verification of employees. Especially in India...

Hi Dev,

First of all, I would like to apologize for the delayed reply. I work for a software company as HR, just like you, and I face this problem day in and day out.

Some wonderful tips have already been listed by Khalid and other members of this community. I would just like to add some points.

Please go through their academic details carefully. Please probe them if there is a gap in their education or if there is a huge difference between their percentage of marks between two board exams.

Please have a careful look at their project details, especially the time taken and the team size of a project. For example, as per my experience, I know a web developer takes x man-hours to complete a social networking site, but if I see that he has shown it has taken 3x man-hours to complete the site, then I ask him questions on that.

Ask him to describe every project in his own words and take you through the entire SDLC process from the requirement gathering stage to the implementation stage. A fake candidate will fumble and look for words while describing the project or will get nervous or evade the question. (My personal experience, views of other HR professionals are invited).

I know the suggestions I have provided are difficult to follow as most of us (HR professionals) are from a non-technical background. It doesn't mean that an HR has to know how to code in PHP or Java, but at least we should be aware of the latest technologies and the general market scenario so that the candidate is not able to take us for a ride.

Although I admit that after taking all sorts of precautions, some smart people still play around with their resumes, and maybe it's only through such open forums like Cite HR that we HR professionals can educate each other on this subject.

I hope this makes sense to you.

Thanks and Regards,

Indrani Chakraborty

Hello everyone!

Great contribution by everyone. It's true that we can use CiteHR as a platform to learn from each other so that candidates do not deceive us by providing fake resumes. I am also working in an IT company as an HR and have not encountered such experiences yet, but I am interested in learning more about this to stay alert in the future.

Regards,
Neha Khale

The Issue of Fake Resumes in Consultancies

I have been part of a consultancy in the USA that uses fake resumes to secure contract employment for Desi/international students. I could not handle the idea of earning a living by lying entirely about my educational and professional background, so I left the consultancy. However, I know a lot of Indian nationals who are enslaved by such consultancies that run their business on fake resumes. I hope it helps you all.

Regards

It's obvious that you cannot determine if a resume is genuine just by looking at it. Candidates who have chosen to deceive employers will ensure that their resumes appear authentic and will be well-prepared for questioning. This is where past employment verification serves as a perfect option to detect resume fraud.

Online Tools for Employment Verification

Today, various online tools for past employment verification have streamlined the process of validating an employee's work history, making it fast and easy. One such tool is Verified Resources. It requests factual information regarding the candidate, such as past experience, last salary received, notice period served, and the status of exit formalities. All these details are confirmed by the candidate's former employer(s). The automated process provides quick verification results that can aid in making informed hiring decisions.

Verified Resources has greatly assisted me in identifying fake resumes, and I am confident it will benefit you as well. Here is the link: www.verifiedresources.com

Thanks,

Meesha