Spotting a fake resume is not a Rocket science, Recruiter/Sourcer should us his/her common sense / Eye for detail to spot  areas of discrepency..

A Recruiter Should be a good reader and Analyzer, both these traits can help him to identify plagarism on CV/ Resume.

Experienced recruiters who read thousands of CVS have developed a kind of Sixth sense that helps them to easily identify a fake resume.

Usually candidates do fake on below information.

1. Educational-Usually education details are fabricated, passing year and College names are missing OR Pass out from colleges/ University which are not familiar.
2. Experience- Fake employment from spurious companies, Experience dates
3. Employment Gaps. – Hiding gaps either through fake employment or education
4. Fake Projects. – Copy pasting project details from other resumes.
5. Skill Competency- Mentioning skills which they not worked on .
6. Resume format/ incomplete info
7. Compensation
8. Impersonation- Interviews taken by other person during Video/ tele interviews.
9. Agreement to join early

There is no fool proof system/ process to stop such profiles, but a recruiter/sources can use his/her expertise to identify such profiles. Based on past experience/ inputs from Recruiter community, a recruiter can develop his skills of identifying fake profiles. For all the above the above issue it is recommended to follow the below best practice during

A: Screening calls

B: Interview process and

C: On-boarding

A. Screening Calls – Thorough Screening-

 This is very important step in identifying and Preventing fake resumes/ candidates. Few of the above issues can be addressed if there if screening can be improved. Below are the few best practiced followed to identify fake areas.

Educational –

Refer UGC List of Fake University – and do a thorough check on affiliated university. If a recruiter/ Sources have any doubt on colleges/ University – Do refer the list.

Cross check on Year of passing- Usually fake candidate do not mention the passing year.

Cross question on College location / City – Often fake candidate are not sure of it

.Employment

If there is doubt on company name, do verify it in Registrar of Companies WebsiteLink- http://www.mca.gov.in/mcafoportal/showCheckCompanyName.do Usually candidate may claim it as sole proprietor firm or firm with only 2 Employees, then ask details on TIN/ PAN Number of the firm.

• Refer fake companies available on google / check the list shared by IBM and TCS
• Check NAASCOM Website for IT/ITES Companies search- https://www.nasscom.in/members-listing
• Ask for fake companies list from your BGV Partner firm.
• Check how the salaries are credited- Direct to account/ Cheque.
• Validate UAN Number/ PF Number- DON’T Process profile if there are no UAN number.
• Often candidates on Contract do not mention their payroll employer, – Its Misrepresentation of facts – Do a check on above points before you take a final call.
• Employment Start and End dates- Ensure both the dates are mentioned on Resume, if these are missing then it’s a Red sign , Validate further.
• Social Media profiles- Do cross check with profiles they have on Linkedin , usually such candidate don’t have social media profiles.

• GAPS–  if there are gaps in Education or employment, do a deep screening and get the reason documented. Often education gaps are represented by fake employment.

• Fake Projects: There are chances, fake candidates can present projects which are fake. An experienced recruiter will have an idea on projects on which competitor are working and can grill candidates on project details. As mentioned earlier, these skills of having a thorough check is developed on the basis of recruiter experience and thorough market knowledge.

• Skills competency– often skills mentioned in skill table are usually  not correct or Over hyped. Recruiter need to validate and check if the skills are in line with the projects they mentioned in resume.

• Resume format/ Incomplete info– All these candidate follow a similar patter of resume, even theirs full names are missing, Ask for Full Name ( as per Govt ID proof)

• Compensation: Salary slips and compensation letters are usually fake for candidates presenting fake employment, do check  how salary is paid, bank statements, PF Establishment number. If there is a doubt ask candidate during screening about the CTC Components and other benefits,
• Agreement to join early–  Even thought they may have 30 /60 days of NP, they will agree to join in 10-15 days. They will give excuse like Leave balance, No projects, etc.

During Interviews

Impersonation – It’s a challenge which all recruiter face while arranging virtual interviews, usually we can see such cases primarily with fake candidates, and it is advised to have some check measure to prevent such issues. The best practice to follow are

1. Availability for interviews: With fake candidates , there is a tendency either they will be available at anytime for interviews or they will come back with their own slots. Usually these candidates need to arrange some person to help them during interviews. Often they will ask for rescheduling with some silly excuses.
2. ID proofs – Ask for id proof before interviews and cross check the ID details/ photo during interview. Do check with your Legal team before adapting this process. Usually asking for Id proof without valid reason is not allowed.
3. Interview Call letter/ confirmation-  Have a confirmation mail sent to candidates and ask them to acknowledge, also mention in the mail that the interviews are recorded for future references. Many a times candidates pull out of the process fearing the review of recording of interviews.
4. Interview process- Usually during current times, all companies are interviewing via Video apps/ tools. It is been advised to record the video interviews and also take snapshot of candidate/ for each level of interview he/ She attends.
5. HR interview- If you have a doubt , then it is advised to call tech panels to HR discussion for 10-15 minutes to assess him technically, usually its not a routine process followed, but it is very helpful.  It will be a surprise for candidate to have tech discussion during HR round and they might not be prepared for it.
6. While discussing on salary, do check on compensation letters, PF number

Onboarding

 We all know during bulk hiring , there are chances of skipping anyone of the above mentioned steps. We all can do a check once a candidate comes for joining

1. Validating with Photo- it is advised to validate candidate photo/snapshot taken during interviews with the candidate who join us.
2. Discussion with Tech panel- if we still have a doubt/ want to confirm if the candidate who is joining us is a genuine one,  have a small discussion with tech panel before the onboarding starts.. It will help preventing them to get onboarded and also keep the credibility of recruiter high.

Conclusion

Hiring fake candidates bring credibility issues for recruiters and it is advised to stop such profiles during Sourcing and Screening stage only.

Expertise comes with experience and It is advised to have experienced people in sourcing function as they have gained expertise in identifying fake resume.

Thanks

Sourcingspider