Increasing Phony candidates in IT interviews - A Canadian perspective

With my most recent experiences in the remote working scenario, I have noticed an increase in the number of fake candidates in the interview process who present their resume but when we reach the interview stage, they have someone else on the audio and the person on camera is just moving the lips . With a drastic rise in use of video conferencing for enabling face to face interviews, it has also put some pressure on Talent acquisition teams with a task to identify the real and proxy interviewers . If something is fishy or doesn’t quite add up, it’s most likely a scam, beware !!

I understand recruiters and hiring mangers are under tremendous pressure to close the open positions in shorter timelines, but Its better to be late in closing a requisition than sorry !! In today's hiring landscape, we cannot afford the time wasted to interview, let alone potentially hire and onboard, a fake candidate. The real danger arises, when Candidate A (fake with knowledge) gives the interview and Candidate B ( Real, without knowledge) joins the company and continues working remotely.

Below in my writeup, I will share some pointers on how to identify these phony candidates who try to make a fool of the hiring systems and dodge their way into the interview process.

While screening Resumes/CV, look for :-

1. Missing second names in resume :- these candidates will sometime just use their first names in the resume so that its difficult for you to search them on Social media
2. All keywords present :- their resume will have all the techie keywords present and highlighted in bold which will make you feel that this is the perfect candidate you have been looking for . Where was he all this while ?? :)
3. All experiences with top companies :- Beware of the "Too Perfect" Resume. The resume will have a mention of all Tier 1 Canadian or international firms mentioned in the resume . When you probe them, they would respond that they were contractors and were working via own inc and wont have any official documents to prove employment. While we cannot ask for much personal information from the candidates, they target this as a loophole and use it to their advantage. This is where a strong BGV check plays their role.
4. Educational credentials- in most cases, they wont mention the year they graduated or their specialization . You will notice that information is been hidden to make it tough for you to track them
5. Some common Educational institutions :- my personal perspective- 90% of such profiles which i have found are from a same college whose name can be googled and found guilty of approving fake degrees in lieu of money and also verifying them with employers when required (cant name it here) . I still end up calling these candidates with a belief that all cant be fake and i shouldn't create a stereotype (but get proven wrong every time )
6. Check area code in phone number :- Most of these candidates are not using phone services from top telecom providers and instead use services which provide you an online/internet phone numbers. If you are not able to identify the area codes, ,most likely its a fake and a case where the candidate is sitting offshore applying on Canadian jobs.
7. If you call them :- Its most likely a text mail number they wont answer but will call you back . A Text Mail will contain a message and a phone number. However, you can’t respond to them directly. You can not call or text back this number as the message is sent via the web. When you try calling it back, you will hear a voicemail stating that "the text mail subscriber is not available."

Look at their LinkedIn Profile :-

1. Check Activity :- When you open their LinkedIn profile, click on "Activity" or "Show all activity". If you done see an elaborate history , its a red flag
2. Check Connections :- If connections are very few, most likely this profile was freshly created just for this job search assignment
3. Looking for recommendations (Given & Taken) :- The fake ones wont have any as this is a very newer profile

If they reach interview Stage, look for below red flags :-

1. Check for Audio Video Time lag - If you see your video properly and see a difference in the Audio and video of the candidate, its a red flag . Observe the lip movement versus the audio you are hearing, or hearing a cough or sneeze without seeing any physical change from the person.
2. Old school headsets :- These candidates mostly use old fashioned/ contact center headsets with large mouthpiece extending and covering their lips so that you are not able to see their lip movement. In actual the recruiter is talking to someone else on audio, the person on camera is just moving his lips. Ask them to remove it
3. Tape on camera :- this is a pro level technique ( was told by an imposter whom i called later and checked how he lowered the image quality). They put a piece of translucent tape on the Laptop Camera to blurr the image and blame it later on the internet bandwidth so that the recruiter or technical panel cannot see the lip movement clearly
4. Ask about the Weather, Where he lives etc :- Stop them in-between and ask about the local weather and about things around. If you suspect the candidate is employing a facial overlay, casually ask about something in the background and they will get confused :)

Canadian Immigration link

This whole fake candidate scenario is also linked to Canadian immigration process as once you get the offer letter, you can apply for a Work permit extension or apply for your permanent residency . I am gathering more information on this and will post about this later.

Cybersecurity at Risk

Nefarious intentions of some fake candidates make them apply for a job to gain access to sensitive, private company data. The thought of someone running off with valuable, proprietary data is scary. That person gaining control of internal IT or software systems could be catastrophic.

Conclusion :-

Thankfully most of the candidates we interview actually know the technologies they have worked on and are real . In comparison to them, the fake ones would be very few in number , despite this, the risk they can bring in terms of both cost and reputation can be huge and dangerous .

Happy Recruiting !!!