If you are hiring for Information Technology roles, you should be familiar with Proxy and Fake candidate issues. Just to level set, here are the definitions for these terms:

Using Proxy in Interview: A candidate appearing for a phone or video interview using someone who is an expert in the technology (proxy) to speak and answer questions. The proxy may be sitting in the room with the candidate, away from the visible area of the camera or may be on the phone speaker with the candidate doing a lip-sync for the voice of the proxy. 

Fake Candidate: A candidate presenting fake experiences in his/her resume.

Both the above are illegal and amount to misrepresentation and cheating. However these practices have become prevalent in the Information Technology industry in the past two decades due to the high demand vs supply of talent. The Covid19 Pandemic has made phone & video interviews common and have increased the instances of proxy in phone and video screening. There are firms that prepare candidates to build fake resumes and attend interviews using proxy. Candidates can engage an expert (with expertise in the concerned technology) by paying $100 to $200 to be their proxy in interviews.

A good interview process should have checks and balances to eliminate both Proxy and Fake candidates.

Detecting Proxy in Interviews:

Make Video Screening mandatory in your hiring process. Inform the candidate in advance that they should sign-in using desktop/laptop over a stable internet connection, with proper lighting and face clearly visible for the video interview. After the greetings and introductions, assess whether you are able to see the face and mouth of the candidate clearly. If not, advise the candidate to adjust their camera/lights appropriately. Start the interview process after you are comfortable with these aspects. Ask questions that the candidate should be able to answer easily, such as year of graduation, name and location of the college, first employer etc. The real candidate will be able to answer these questions without pausing or referring to the resume. Observe the lip movement and voice and ensure that they are in sync. Take a screen capture of the candidate’s video and compare with the ID Proof you have collected earlier.

Any of the following in a Video Interview are Red-Flags:

  1. Candidate’s face not clearly visible
  2. Voice and Lip movement are out of sync
  3. Long pause/delay while answering personal details.

Other malpractices that may be used during a Phone or Video interview are:

  1. Taking help from an expert via chat or a 2nd phone line to answer your questions
  2. Using a Cheat-Sheet either in the Desktop or from a Printed Material

Detecting Fake Candidates:

The resume of a fake candidate will have experiences that are not real. The project and client name may be real, but copied from the resume of a different candidate. The candidate may not share his/her LinkedIn profile or they may share a profile that was created with fake information. Frequently such profiles may list an employer that does not exist and/or may not have company logo, address etc. When interviewing the candidate, ask them to describe the specific features they developed for a project/client they have mentioned in the resume. Ask them to elaborate on the development process followed in that project. Ask them to describe the team size and structure of the project team. If the candidate is not providing specific answers, you should pay close attention to assessing the candidate further. Ask specific technical questions to determine if the candidate is able to answer them appropriately. If you are hiring for an AEM Developer role, and the candidate has mentioned 3 years experience in AEM, ask questions relating to JCR, OSGi & Java. If the candidate has mentioned that they followed Agile Development Methodology, ask about their Sprint Cycle, How the User Stories are created and Acceptance Criteria defined. Such specific questions will expose the candidate’s real experience in the technology/role and will allow you to filter profiles with fake experiences. Have your questions confined and related to the experience mentioned in the resume so that you are making fair decisions about whether the candidate has mentioned real or fake experiences.

Any of the following in a Candidates Profile are Red-Flags:

  1. The Candidates LinkedIn Profile is shady
  2. The Candidate is unable to give specific details about the features developed in his/her most recent project work.
  3. The Candidate is unable to talk about technical details and development methodologies used in his/her most recent project work.

When you filter candidates based on these strategies, and find a qualified candidate, you should conduct Reference Check’s and Background Verification by a third-party before extending the offer to the candidate.