When do candidates sometimes deviate from the truth and how to check their truthfulness?

The role of the HR representative in the recruitment process is very important and consists of finding candidates whose competencies and experience best match the job description and the company’s organizational culture. However, choosing the right people is not an easy thing. In particular, specialist and managerial positions, which are key for a given market segment, may be poorly filled. This may be influenced by the limited number of people dedicated to the recruitment process, lack of time or little experience. In such a situation, entrepreneurs seek help from personnel consulting companies, which not only help in reaching candidates with appropriate qualifications and experience, but also cover recruitment processes with a guarantee. The guarantee period depends on the level of the position for which the candidate has been recruited and usually lasts three or six months. If the candidate resigns from work during the guarantee period or the employer does not renew the contract with him/her, the HR consulting company is obliged to provide another candidate.

It also happens that recruiters have to face the insincerity of some candidates who embellish their CVs. As a result, an impressive-looking resume may not quite match the actual skills, knowledge, and experience of the candidates. Areas in which candidates may not be entirely honest are foreign language skills, references, degree of computer program literacy, time spent working in previous jobs, and reasons for leaving. These are very important selection criteria, often crucial for a given position. Unfortunately, checking the candidate’s truthfulness requires not only time, but also a lot of experience in conducting job interviews. HR consulting companies employ recruiters with many years of experience, who efficiently catch certain inaccuracies, e.g. in the candidates’ CVs or during a job interview. It is worth emphasizing that deviating from the truth in assessing one’s skills and experience may or may not be the result of conscious action. Various psychological studies have repeatedly shown that self-assessment of one’s own achievements is often not an ideal representation of them, both in terms of overestimation and underestimation.

Knowledge of foreign languages

One of the criteria that employers take into account when selecting a candidate is the knowledge of one or more foreign languages. The most popular language on the job market today is English, although sometimes employers also require knowledge of German, French or Russian, as well as other, more niche languages. The degree of language proficiency can be confirmed by appropriate certificates and if candidates actually have them, they provide this information in their CV. Most often, however, we are dealing with a situation in which the candidate declares knowledge of the language at a certain level only on the basis of his or her own conviction on the subject. Candidates describe their language skills in different ways. Sometimes they give the level, e.g. B1, B2, C1, C2, and sometimes they describe their level of language proficiency, e.g. as communicative, fluent, etc. So how do you assess whether the knowledge of the language declared by a given candidate is really fluent? In the case of less popular languages, recruiters are often asked to allocate more time to the interview so that they can complete an appropriate test to check their level of knowledge. Usually, however, there is no time to conduct such a test during the interview. In such a situation, the best way to check the level of knowledge of a foreign language is to change the language of conversation from Polish to the one subject to verification, of course taking into account the candidate’s level. Thanks to this, we can gain some idea of whether the candidate can use a given language to the degree declared in his CV.

Another way to check whether the candidate is aware of certain linguistic nuances is to use words during the interview that sound similar in the native and foreign language, but have different meanings. In English and Polish, it can be, for example, the word “sympathy”, meaning compassion, and not, as many think, sympathy. However, it is worth remembering that in the case of candidates declaring a less advanced level, ignorance of these types of nuances does not play such a big role – says Artur Mańka-Chrzanowski, Senior HR Consultant, LeasingTeam.

Testimonial

Impressive or not, work experience should always be backed up by relevant references. In order to get contact details of people who could provide references about the candidate, simply ask the participant of the recruitment process for the phone number of the previous employer. If a candidate does not hesitate to provide the data he has been asked for, it can be assumed that he has nothing to hide. The person with whom it is best to talk about a candidate is his direct supervisor, although sometimes you can also ask one of your former colleagues for an opinion. It all depends on the competence or experience that the future employer would like to check. If they want to know whether the candidate met their annual goals or was effective in their work, they should talk to their supervisor. However, the answer to the question of what kind of co-worker the candidate is will certainly be given by one of the teammates. Ignoring a request to provide contact details to a person who could provide a reference to the candidate may be the first warning sign.

If a candidate with extensive professional experience does not provide a contact person to provide a reference, even though he or she was asked to do so, it is worth considering what the reasons for this may be and ask the person participating in the recruitment process directly. If the candidate’s arguments are not convincing, we can suspect that he simply does not want to give the contact person to the contact person. It is possible that he was in conflict with his previous employer or did not work well in a given position. In such a situation, you should consider checking this candidacy, e.g. with another employer. If you are unable to provide any references, you should seriously consider rejecting them from the recruitment process – believes Artur Mańka-Chrzanowski from LeasingTeam.

Degree of knowledge of the programs

As in the case of foreign languages, knowledge of computer programs is confirmed by appropriate diplomas and certificates. If the candidate does not have any certificate, and in their CV declares that they know very well, for example, Microsoft Excel, it is worth spending 5 minutes on a simple practical exercise. If a candidate claims to be able to use it very well, but in fact does not know how to perform the simplest activity such as summing up columns, it can be considered that he has unfortunately misled us. Similarly, if the candidate claims that he has already used several systems, e.g. for e-mail marketing, in his professional career, and does not remember the name of any of them.

Working hours for different employers

Some candidates sometimes deviate from the truth when describing their professional experience. Most often, they overestimate the period in which they worked for a given company, e.g. by giving only the year or years of work, but without specific months. For example, instead of writing in their CV that they worked for a given company from November 2012 to January 2013, they will only mention the years of service. In this way, they conceal the fact that the employment relationship lasted less than three months, which may have a negative impact on their perception by potential employers. If this fact arouses the suspicion of the recruiter, it is worth starting the interview in an unusual way, with a question about free time, interests, and daily schedule. In this way, we will create a space to ask ourselves a question about the exact working time in a given company.

Most candidates today have profiles in social media such as LinkedIn or Goldenline. It happens that candidates change certain data when adapting their CV to a specific job offer, but forget to make similar changes in their social media profiles. If you have doubts about some of the information contained in your CV, it is worth reading the career path available on LinkedIn or Goldenline – comments Artur Mańka-Chrzanowski from LeasingTeam.

Reasons for leaving your previous job

An important issue to raise during the interview with the candidate is the reasons for leaving the previous job. Most candidates mention the lack of development opportunities or the desire to change the industry, some have a fixed-term contract expiring and know that it will not be renewed. There are also situations when the candidate does not get along well at work, perhaps he does not have the appropriate qualifications, which means that he is poorly evaluated by his superiors or is a conflictive person and does not work well with him.

If a candidate has problems in their current job, they will certainly not tell the recruiter about them. In such a situation, it is worth starting the conversation not with specific questions, but with a general question whether he is or was satisfied with his work. After such an introduction, you can ask directly why he is considering changing jobs. Answers in which the candidate starts to speak badly about their employer or co-workers should raise concern. This may be the first sign that he is a conflictive person – thinks Artur Mańka-Chrzanowski.

Recruiting employees is a huge challenge and a big responsibility, it requires appropriate experience and knowledge. Candidates “insincerity is a factor that cannot be eliminated, but thanks to the knowledge of appropriate verification methods, it is possible to check whether the candidate’s declared experience and skills correspond to reality. Sometimes it is worth considering entrusting the recruitment to a personnel consulting company, which will not only complete the search process faster, but also carefully check the candidates” competencies and provide guarantees.