After validating the resumes of candidates and dodging the tricks of front runners, it’s time to interview promising candidates. This step leads us to yet another scam, impersonation. Impersonation can assume different forms:
- A hidden party or the candidate searches for answers that display on a second window or monitor while listening in on the interview questions.
- A hidden party in an online interview provides notes or hints to the interviewee more-or-less real time.
- A hidden party speaks for the candidate while the candidate lip syncs the words!
- One person interviews and performs successfully, then a different person shows up for the job.
As hard as it might be to imagine the sheer brazenness of these scams, we have witnessed the first three in the course of numerous interviews — not often to be sure, yet enough to be gobsmacked by the audacity, or perhaps desperation, of the perpetrators. The effort, planning, and conspiracy required to pull off most of these is significant, suggesting it must be successful at some level. Still, it would seem more fruitful for the candidate to put their efforts towards improving their skills than in ways to cheat.