How common are fake references?

As a hiring manager reviewing a vast amount of resumes, there’s a good chance that you’ve come across fake references at least once. A fake reference could be anything from asking a family member or friend to pretend to be a manager for a made-up job or asking a colleague at their previous company to pose as the team leader. This type of deception makes it hard for employers to feel confident when they’re hiring someone from outside their organization to do a job that requires reliable, trustworthy people.

Candidates who exaggerate details on their resumes is an issue that makes life difficult for both recruiters and honest job applicants. When an honest applicant is competing against people who are inflating their qualifications, embellishing their experience or lying about their employment history, it’s easy to understand why they might feel frustrated.

Related: Top 3 Hiring Challenges (And How to Overcome Them)

Why do people provide fake references?

There are many reasons why a person may choose to provide fake references. The type of job the person is applying for and their level of experience are factors a hiring manager may wish to take into account when deciding whether to take the application forward after discovering this transgression.

Some reasons for giving fake references include:

• Lack of experience. A person with limited work experience may not be able to provide the desired number of references and naively choose to lie rather than simply contact their interviewer to explain.
• Lost touch with the desired referees. Someone who has recently relocated or who is moving jobs because their previous company shut down may be unable to provide details for their previous employer.
• Falsified experience. A person might provide fake job references if they have a gap in their employment history and they’re trying to cover it up by faking work history.
• They left their previous job on bad terms. If a person left their previous job on bad terms, they may wish to hide this and try to use a different (false) reference.
• The applicant is nervous about asking for help. If you require reference letters as part of the application process, some applicants may feel nervous about asking their usual references to write that letter, especially if they’re currently unemployed and are applying for a lot of jobs in a short space of time.

When considering how to respond to a fake job reference, it’s important to take into account the person’s motivations and experience. Even the most benign of the above explanations do not reflect well on the applicants’ character. Someone who chooses to fake references rather than call their contact at the company and explain they’re unable to provide the desired references may choose to handle other stumbling blocks in a similar way.

It’s up to you as a manager to use your discretion when it comes to assessing the applicant. If the person is otherwise a promising candidate, you may decide to consider giving them a second chance, especially if other employee background checks have come back clear.

How to spot fake references

If you’re concerned about the possibility of someone giving a fake reference, consider how you handle references at the moment. If your current procedure for checking references is simply to call the phone number given by the applicant, there’s a high chance you’ll be fooled by someone giving a friend or relative’s details instead of the real details of their previous employer.

There are many companies that offer fraud checks that can help you identify falsified references. Another option if you don’t tend to have a high volume of applications to check through is to check the references yourself. For example:

• Look up the name of the referee. Do their online contact details match the details you were given?
• If you request a written reference, does the reply come on paper with the expected company or organization’s letterhead? If not, this may be worth investigating further.
• If you request a reference via email, is the email address a corporate one? It’s unlikely someone who works for a large company would use a Gmail or Hotmail email address.
• Check that any details provided as part of the reference match the details given by the applicant.

There may be some situations where an applicant would give personal contact details for a reference. For example, if the applicant worked for a very small company, the owner may not have set up a company website. Alternatively, if a company shuts down, a former supervisor may be happy to provide a reference. It’s not always a red flag for a reference to include a personal mobile number or non-corporate email address. However, it is unusual enough to be worthy of follow-up questions.

Consider reviewing the applicant’s resume a second time to see if there are any other red flags. Do you have any reason to suspect they may have falsified details about their employment? Do their claims about their experience level ring true? Let this information guide your response to any concerns you have about their references.

What to do if someone gives a fake reference

If you discover that a candidate has provided a fake reference, it’s a good idea to seriously reconsider whether you wish to go ahead with the hiring process. Any employee who chooses to doctor or falsify references has shown that they’re willing to lie if they think it will get them what they want. This is not a desirable trait to have in an employee.

If you haven’t given the employee a job offer yet, or the offer was contingent on their references being confirmed, it’s relatively easy to simply choose not to progress with the application. If you have hired the candidate and then discovered they obtained their job offer with fraudulent references, you may still have the option of terminating their employment. It’s a good idea to seek legal advice from a professional with a background in employment law before taking any action, as your options will depend on the circumstances and the employee’s contract.

If you are considering hiring someone who has given fake employment references, consider talking to your HR department about ways to protect your department if it turns out the employee is dishonest or problematic in other ways. For example, you may wish to have a probation period for such an employee or have them do a trial shift so you can properly assess their skills and experience before making any decisions.