The various remote work modes and virtual hiring processes have allowed employers to have access to talent pools from around the world. Unfortunately, this opportunity has also increased the risk of receiving fraudulent applications.
LinkedIn estimates that 15-20% of candidates are dishonest in the way they present themselves. Here are some other alarming statistics:
- Since the pandemic, the number of fraudulent applications has increased by 92%.
- 21% of candidates cheat in a controlled testing environment.
- 52% of executives believe that AI fraud detection is a best practice for hiring and preventing fraudulent applications.
Hiring managers have learned the hard way that hiring a candidate based on false information can be costly. It can represent up to 30% of the worker’s salary in the first year. That’s why it’s essential that people involved in the hiring process be alert to suspicious information on resumes, or that is shared with them during job interviews.
Fraudulent applications: Do you really know the person you want to hire?
Types of CV Fraud
CV fraud comes in many forms, including:
- Falsification of work experience: changing company names to reflect a certain experience in a given sector or making a list of projects carried out in a company, but not by oneself.
- Falsification of employment dates: extending the duration of employment in a company.
- Enhance skills or professional experience: take advantage of skills that you do not have, especially in technologies for which you lack experience.
- Inflating titles: Assigning yourself a higher title in the hierarchy than the one you actually held, or changing a title to make potential employers believe that you have skills that might be of interest to them.
- False information about schooling/training: having university degrees or professional certificates that you have never obtained or claiming to have diplomas from unknown institutions.
Detecting fraudulent applications is not easy, but it is possible in part thanks to technology and human capabilities.
Detecting resume fraud
There are several methods to detect possible resume fraud and verify the accuracy of the information.
Signs of possible CV fraud:
- Conflicting resumes: The candidate has applied to a company multiple times, but each of their resumes contains different information about job titles, dates of employment, and more.
- Different profiles in the applicant tracking system: The candidate uses different profiles in an applicant tracking system. Their contact information or name differs from profile to profile.
- Discrepancies from LinkedIn: The candidate does not have a LinkedIn profile or the information in their profile does not match the information on their resume.
The following are the main methods for verifying the information contained in a resume:
- Check the resumes on file: If the files contain multiple resumes of the same candidate, compare them to verify information on previous employers, dates of employment and job titles.
- Cross-check information from external sources: Check resumes using external resources such as job boards and LinkedIn.
- Check professional references: Check professional references that include the employer’s email address (not their personal email address) on LinkedIn or company websites.
- Conduct informal checks with industry professionals: These may include people who are not currently working with the candidate, but are part of the same network and are familiar with their skills and experience.
- Review professional references on LinkedIn: Did the person named in the references work in the same place and time as the candidate?
- Ask the candidate to email you from their work account: If the candidate states that they are currently employed, ask them to email you from their work account.
- Confirm the candidate’s employee status with HR: If you have any doubts about a candidate’s work experience, contact their employer’s human resources staff to verify the information.
- Ask specific questions: Ask the candidate specific questions about the extent of their skills and experience on their resume. Check to see if the answers they give you match the information on their resume.
- Review resumes from other employees at the same company: Is there consistency in project themes, technologies, and timelines?
- Education/training: If the applicant needs to provide proof of education/training, ask for a copy of their certificates, diplomas or transcripts.
Don’t assume that inaccurate information is necessarily fraudulent. We all make mistakes, which is why sometimes it is necessary to do additional follow-up.
How to react to a potentially fraudulent CV?
When differences arise, they must be confronted immediately. Here are some examples of what to do in the event of a potentially fraudulent resume, while assuming that to err is human:
- Conflict of employment dates: Incorrect employment dates or gaps in employment history can result from a typo, or a simple memory error. Ask the candidate about the dates that seem wrong or about their periods of inactivity.
- Suspicious work experience: Ask about jobs or projects that seem suspicious or don’t align with the candidate’s resume and LinkedIn profile.
- Missing supporting documents for schooling or training: If you are unable to verify the candidate’s diplomas or certifications, ask them to clarify any discrepancies.
- Job titles: When verifying a job, ask the human resources department to provide you with a verifiable job title. If the title does not match the one provided by the candidate, ask them why.
Small mistakes, which can be honest mistakes, especially about the length of a job, can be addressed, corrected and forgiven. But a candidate who knowingly makes false statements or embellishes their career path should not be allowed to move on to the next stage of the hiring process.
Fraudulent job interview
Video conferencing job interviews have become the norm since the pandemic, and just like remote work and hybrid work models, they are here to stay.
But video conferencing job interviews open the door to fraudulent behavior. Since many jobs are done entirely remotely, some candidates take advantage of this to give a misleading image of themselves during job interviews by videoconference in order to obtain coveted positions for which they are not qualified.
Confirm your candidate’s identity during a job interview via video conference
Some candidates may use different deception tactics during video conference job interviews, including being replaced by a more qualified person. Here are some warning signs of fraud to look out for during a video conference job interview:
- No camera: The candidate’s camera is turned off or the candidate claims that they do not have a video camera or that it is defective. This situation may indicate that the candidate is unprepared or who they say they are.
- No sound: The candidate appears in front of the camera, but uses another device to participate in the interview.
- No eye contact: If the candidate’s camera has been activated, but they are not looking at the camera or appear to be looking away after each question, they may not be confident in their qualifications, looking for answers in a pre-written job aid, or using another device to find the information online.
- Candidate types during the interview: If the interviewer sees or hears the candidate typing in the middle of the interview, they may be taking notes about their desired job or looking for answers to questions they can’t answer effectively.
- Nervous body language: Job interviews can be nerve-wracking, and it’s normal for some candidates to seem nervous. Be alert to excessive nervousness or overexcitement, as these can indicate that the candidate is not who they say they are.
- Verbal language denoting embarrassment: As with body language, candidates may stumble or stutter during a job interview because they are anxious. However, candidates who overcompensate for their anxiety by speaking or who use language that doesn’t align with their supposed experience or the position at hand may not live up to their expectations.
If a candidate can’t appear on the screen, ask if you can reschedule the interview to a date when they will have access to a computer with a working camera. If you suspect that the candidate is chatting with someone during the interview to get information, ask them to share their screen. If you believe that the person you are talking to is not the person who applied for the job, ask them to show you identification for verification.
Reception
The onboarding process is a crucial step in recruiting talent. This is why candidates must continue to be validated until the very end of the hiring process. It is useful to conduct a basic background check, but it does not necessarily confirm the identity of a candidate. When welcoming a candidate:
- Address: Do you need to ship equipment to an address other than the one listed on the resume or supporting documents?
- Start dates: Does the candidate keep postponing their start date? Combined with other red flags, this can be fraudulent activity. It may be that the person who applied has other commitments and there was a misunderstanding about the dates of the project with the person you conducted the interview with.
- Validation: Is the candidate unable to validate their identity or banking information? Can’t they provide identification with their photo and full name?
Businesses around the world are seeing an increase in fraudulent applications and are concerned about the risks and consequences for cybersecurity. To protect against fraudulent applications, hiring managers can use recruitment technologies that make it easier to screen candidates, conduct job interviews, and quickly, automatically, and efficiently verify the skills required and their eligibility to fill your open positions.
