Fake resumes: How to identify fabrication?

Have you ever faced a fake resume problem?

I had a bad experience last week. My candidate was scheduled for the phone interview with the Client. The Interview was a failure. The candidate's experience turned out to be inconsistent with the resume submitted.
I did a phone screening and reference check on my part. The credentials were great...

Is there a way to identify falsification?
Do you ask your candidate to provide references' company emails to make sure the references work at the same Company with the candidate?

Thank you,
Kathy

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Permalink Reply by Jolly Nibu on February 7, 2009 at 11:26pm

Kathy, I always insist that I get end client references with their official email id's.. I do not proceed further if I don't get these and sometimes it is little harder to convince very senior consultants to send me the references... But I have always seen that a genuine candidate sends it without any hesitation. Sometimes, if they give an excellent reference, I don't call them, but would have it for my record.. This helps to a great extend in getting only reliable resources...

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Permalink Reply by Sean Harry on February 8, 2009 at 12:37am

Did you check their information in relation to their LinkedIn profile and other social network presence? If they have recommendations on LinkedIn (which is a GREAT thing to do) they are much less likely to fabricate, as it will reflect poorly on the one who gave the reference. Sean

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Permalink Reply by Ksenia Shulga on February 8, 2009 at 4:16am

Hi Nibu,

Thanks for sharing your experience with me.
That's what I was thinking about.
A genuine candidate has nothing to hide and is usually very cooperative.

Nibu, what if a candidate asks to contact the references only after he gets an interview with the Client?
Sometimes they say that they do not want the references to burn out and etc. Then I tell them that this is what the Client requires to be done if a candidate wants to apply with them.
I proceed only with those who show cooperation in the submission process.

J.nibu said:

Kathy, I always insist that I get end client references with their official email id's.. I do not proceed further if I don't get these and sometimes it is little harder to convince very senior consultants to send me the references... But I have always seen that a genuine candidate sends it without any hesitation. Sometimes, if they give an excellent reference, I don't call them, but would have it for my record.. This helps to a great extend in getting only reliable resources...

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Permalink Reply by Ksenia Shulga on February 8, 2009 at 4:41am

Hello Sean,

Thank you for the LinkedIn advice!
Yes, I use LinkedIn, MySpace and Facebook for that.

LinkedIn already helped me to reveal a fake.
I checked out there the information about the reference who had never been a part of the Company my candidate "worked at".
The reference was confused and surprised ... the Candidate could not come up with excuses after that...

Thank you Sean.

Kathy

Sean Harry said:

Did you check their information in relation to their LinkedIn profile and other social network presence? If they have recommendations on LinkedIn (which is a GREAT thing to do) they are much less likely to fabricate, as it will reflect poorly on the one who gave the reference. Sean

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Permalink Reply by Jolly Nibu on February 8, 2009 at 7:34am

Kathy, Yes... It happens some times that the candidate give us the permission to contact the references once we set up a client interview only... Here, we have to be little decisive and look at the overall picture: resume, confidence as well as the kind of references he has given... But.. please go by your instinct... Till now I have gone against it twice by looking at what I saw in a resume and made the submission and both the cases turned out to be an unfavorable one.... my bad luck!!

"Sometimes they say that they do not want the references to burn out and etc. Then I tell them that this is what the Client requires to be done if a candidate wants to apply with them. I proceed only with those who show cooperation in the submission process."
- I go with this take depending upon the client and also if I have a 1% doubt in my mind about a candidate..

It's all about how you feel about a candidate...

Also, if you are involved in placing contract employees esp with h1b visa, you have to be more careful...

Hope this helps... Let me know if you have any doubts... You may also email me at jolly.nibu@wayutel.com

Kathy said:

Hi Nibu,

Thanks for sharing your experience with me.
That's what I was thinking about.
A genuine candidate has nothing to hide and is usually very cooperative.

Nibu, what if a candidate asks to contact the references only after he gets an interview with the Client?
Sometimes they say that they do not want the references to burn out and etc. Then I tell them that this is what the Client requires to be done if a candidate wants to apply with them.
I proceed only with those who show cooperation in the submission process.

J.nibu said:
Kathy, I always insist that I get end client references with their official email id's.. I do not proceed further if I don't get these and sometimes it is little harder to convince very senior consultants to send me the references... But I have always seen that a genuine candidate sends it without any hesitation. Sometimes, if they give an excellent reference, I don't call them, but would have it for my record.. This helps to a great extend in getting only reliable resources...

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Permalink Reply by Irina Shamaeva on February 8, 2009 at 10:32am

I think the trick is to interview the candidate well. Of course many of us are not specialists in the candidate's area and this makes it tricky. But with the basic knowledge, some intuition and the art to ask open-ended questions a recruiter should be able to figure out whether the resume lies or not. There's some psychology involved, since, of course, we want the candidate to really have the right skills.

Any red flags in the conversation with the candidate should be taken seriously. If in doubt, I'd go investigate on the web; there are many ways to do that. If I find some inconsistency between the stories about the job history on the web and in the resume, I would go back to talk to the candidate, or even call if off in extreme cases.

I don't think contacting someone's references before an interview is reasonable though.

My 2c

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Permalink Reply by Ksenia Shulga on February 8, 2009 at 2:17pm

Hi Nibu,

Thanks for your comments! Yes, a recruiter's instinct is something very important and reliable. We should listen to what our instinct says all the time!

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Permalink Reply by Ksenia Shulga on February 8, 2009 at 2:36pm

Hello Irina,

Yes, indeed, what you are saying is so true!

Thanks a lot for the feedback.

Irina Shamaeva said:

I think the trick is to interview the candidate well. Of course many of us are not specialists in the candidate's area and this makes it tricky. But with the basic knowledge, some intuition and the art to ask open-ended questions a recruiter should be able to figure out whether the resume lies or not. There's some psychology involved, since, of course, we want the candidate to really have the right skills.

Any red flags in the conversation with the candidate should be taken seriously. If in doubt, I'd go investigate on the web; there are many ways to do that. If I find some inconsistency between the stories about the job history on the web and in the resume, I would go back to talk to the candidate, or even call if off in extreme cases.

I don't think contacting someone's references before an interview is reasonable though.

My 2c