Staffing Resources

770-638-8100

Pull the Wool Off Your Eyes: How to Spot a Faker in an Interview

July 17th, 2017

As a top Atlanta Staffing Agency, we work hard to provide our business clients and our job candidates with the best resources possible to achieve their goals. However, there are plenty of less reputable resources out there, especially for job candidates who want to pull the wool over your eyes. Fake credentials, phony references, and padded resumes are just a few of the ways interviewers have been fooled. But don’t worry; we’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen to you! Watch out for these signs a candidate may be a faker.

Beware of Virtual Interviews

Unless you are hiring a candidate who lives out of state, there is no need to resort to Skype or other video conferencing software to conduct interviews. If a candidate lives in the area but wants to conduct their interview over Skype, this could be a bad sign. The reason for this is, with a virtual interview, the candidate can easily have a third party listening in to feed them answers. Some fakers even have a different person conduct a phone interview for them, trusting you won’t notice that a different voice shows up for the job!

Ask Follow-Up Questions

Interview techniques are pretty standard across the board. Google “Common Interview Questions” and you’ll find dozens of scripted answers that a candidate can memorize. If a candidate seems over-rehearsed, ask follow-up questions to get them into a deeper discussion. If they really know what they are talking about, they should be able to answer your follow-up questions with relative ease. But if they’ve been reciting scripted answers, asking questions that start with “Why…” and “How…” may stump them.

Ask For Examples

If they are unable to come up with examples, they may be fibbing about the amount of real on-the-job experience they have. You could also create a hypothetical situation (“What would you do if…”) and note how the candidate approaches the question. People with ample job experience tend to share that experience in their answer (“I had this problem at my last job, and this is what I did”).

Need Help Searching for Top Candidates?

These are just a few ways that recruiters handle interviews so that we can weed out the fake candidates. For more information on our Atlanta Staffing Agency, contact our offices or request an employee online.

Leave a Reply