Did Your New Recruit Lie At Their Interview?

27 Jul 2023

It’s a sad but true fact that some candidates embellish the truth when describing their skills during the selection process. It’s down to recruiters to make sure they appoint the right candidate, which means screening, interview and reference processes have to be water-tight so that mistakes aren’t made.

There is a world of difference between slight exaggerations and outright lies that bear no relation to the truth and it is where the latter are being experienced that there can be real problems for employers. Believing that a candidate has a certain set of skills only to find that they are incapable of doing the work as described can be a devastating blow. It can have an impact all across the company if the person who was hired was in a key position where their work affected others.

Despite our best efforts at the interview process, sometimes we trust people too much. We take them at face value and appoint them, and then find out later, at our peril, that they lied to us about their experience or ability.

So, how do we deal with it? Well, you could take one of two possible options:

Lying to secure employment we would see as gross misconduct, and on that basis you could take the hard line of summary dismissal. (after an appropriately reasonable investigation) This is the extreme option but it is also a fair one in the circumstances. Once trust is gone, it is very hard to get it back so you may take the view that in the circumstances, it isn’t worth giving them a second chance and time to prove themselves.

You could, depending on the circumstances, give them a chance to develop the skills they need, but within a short enough timescale to ensure there is no detrimental effect on business delivery, with the proviso that if they fail to deliver, then they’re out!

This can be a way of salvaging the situation somewhat and making sure that they put in the work needed to develop the skills that are needed at the organisation. It can be hard to put down the anger from being lied to but recruiting is costly and it may be that keeping the person in place is the best option financially for the company.

Whichever approach you take, you have to take a serious look at your selection process so that this doesn't happen again. Make sure you:

Have shortlisting processes which are thorough.
Develop and implement selection processes which allow you to test those skills which could otherwise be claimed during the interview , e.g. practical tests / role plays to test the depth of their knowledge and skills.
Develop your interviewing skills to the point where you are comfortable in challenging answers, digging deep for evidence and developing some tough questioning techniques.

Remember, this sort of mistake can cost employers money - wasted salary, lost income, and management time, so best to get it right first time!