Face-to-face interviews are the best way to gauge an applicant's authenticity.
Padding resumes or even outright lying about one's credentials is a time-honored tactic, which, according to FakeResume.com, extends through all fields and skill levels. Unfortunately, unless the applicant is making completely outlandish claims, it is difficult to tell if a resume is fake simply by looking at the piece of paper. Interviews, background checks and other measures are the best way to ascertain if an applicant has a truthful or fake resume.
Instructions
Fact Checking
1. Search for the applicant's name, credentials and projects on the internet. If the applicant states that any of their work has been published or that they have participated in large projects or won awards, at least some of this information should be on the Internet or in journals and newsletters.
2. Call all of the applicant's references. Verify the applicant's participation in projects, the applicant's skill set and even the existence of the references. If references do not answer or call back, or if they seem confused when you question them about the applicant, the applicant may have faked their credentials.
3. Check the applicant's reported education and training credentials with the awarding institutions. Call the institutions to ensure that the applicant was awarded a degree or certificate, and to make sure that the institution is a certified and respectable organization--not a website that mails signed pieces of paper.
4. Grill the applicant at the interview. The best way for you to ascertain whether the applicant's stated skills and qualifications are genuine is to ask specific questions about them in an interview. Have the applicant describe their role in a project, achievements and pitfalls and the teams they worked with.
