Almost every job I ever had had an intermediate step with background/biographical reference checks after I accepted the offer, but before I started.
I Got Catfished by a Candidate
51–60 of 662 posts
Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate
#52I really hate the so-called term “catfished” it’s a completely contrived word that came from a 2010 movie that probably 50 people actually saw. “Ghosting” is another one, but at least you can use context to sort of figure out what people are actually talking about. A bit off topic, but this adulteration of language — from an obscure pop-culture reference, is a bit silly. Obviously the author agrees that most people d…
The dictionary is not the definition of the language.
It's a somewhat out of date "map" of the language that is missing the newest roads. (I just learned this last year.)
"Anne, who appeared on Adam Ruins What We Learned in School, explains how grammar rules are not fixed in the English language. Language is constantly evolving and we’re the ones who get to shape it -- not dictionaries! So we can all stop correcting each other and just appreciate our different ways of speaking. On the podcast, Anne and Adam discuss how we should think of the dictionary as a field guide rather than the authority on language, how young people think about language and texting, and how Anne helped choose 2000's word of the millennium! Anne is an English Professor at the University of Michigan where she researches the history of English and lexicography. She is also a member of both the American Heritage Dictionary’s Usage Panel and the American Dialectical Society." http://www.maximumfun.org/adam-ruins-everything/adam-ruins-e...
Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate
#53I know a person who has faked a position on resume to get around the whole you need experience to get hired and to get experience you need to get hired thing in marketing field and now he is super successful C level exec in Fortune 50 company so go figure.
Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate
#54Maybe he would have been great and our best performing AE. Maybe he wouldn’t have even known how to log into Salesforce. Or, even worse, maybe he would have been dishonest about something down the line. Whatever the outcome, better to suss it out early.
So, the person appeared competent and capable, and "may have been our best performing AE" but it's "better to suss it out early" by immediately rejecting him?
Sounds like they should have considered some sort of short-term contact to evaluate the guy. Instead, their ego was bruised, so they rejected him and patted themselves on the back.
Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate
#55The real question is how many people normally get the job with embellished resume's, fake recommendations and friends as references. I think its quite a high percentage. I'm always honest but I think I've missed out on a lot of jobs I could easily do because I don't meet the "requirements".
There is a big difference between embellished and fake. I always assume there is some title/responsibility inflation on resumes i read, but i generally assume that those people did in fact work at those companies in those groups, etc.
Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate
#56I was hoping to find out from the story why this catfish lied in the first place. If they passed the interview so well they must be someway good.
In the tech world I would imagine a scenario where you don't have any professional experience in language X, you've been working only in language Y, but you've done some personal projects in language X and would like a career shift. It's hard to get a senior position without any experience.
Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're going to outright lie to my face & get caught, you'd better have a proof that you had discovered a brain tumor after having told the lie, pictures of the tumor being removed, and a doctor's note explaining "healthy now - no more liar liar pants on fire".
Why? Management lies to employees constantly. Sales lies to customers constantly. Why the sudden insistence on honesty?
So it's okay to lose an arm if you've already lost a leg?
Because honesty is better than dishonesty?
Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate
#58Maybe he would have been great and our best performing AE. Maybe he wouldn’t have even known how to log into Salesforce. Or, even worse, maybe he would have been dishonest about something down the line. Whatever the outcome, better to suss it out early. So, the person appeared competent and capable, and "may have been our best performing AE" but it's "better to suss it out early" by immediately rejecting him? Sounds…
Your stance is that they should have hired the guy who blatantly misrepresented himself to them?
Hard disagree, even if this guy is the best that ever was, he's shown his true colors. The second it's beneficial to him, he'll lie again.
Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate
#59Maybe he would have been great and our best performing AE. Maybe he wouldn’t have even known how to log into Salesforce. Or, even worse, maybe he would have been dishonest about something down the line. Whatever the outcome, better to suss it out early. So, the person appeared competent and capable, and "may have been our best performing AE" but it's "better to suss it out early" by immediately rejecting him? Sounds…
egos set aside, once you know the person youre looking to hire has been lying about most of his past to the point of making up email addresses and getting his buddy to speak on the phone for him as a reference, i dont see how you can look past that and actually still hire them.
Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate
#60The place I'm at now forbids employees from being references for past employees (or current employees discreetly seeking other employment). Is this normal? It would have prevented "Jim" or anyone else at ACME Corp from being a reference to catfish-er, so requests for a reference from the company would have been denied right off the bat. That would have made it harder to spot the fake.
It is fairly standard. Most of the companies would only verify if someone worked between the two dates and what was the position to avoid lawsuits.
Standard in the US maybe, but I've never even heard of anything like this in the UK. I'm sure it happens, but I will eat my hat if it's fairly standard.