False Resumes

I have come across a resume scam in my line of work and there's nothing I can do about it! There's a certain country (and to be politically correct I won't name which one) overseas that CREATES FALSE RESUMES.

Here's what they do...

1 THEY'RE ALWAYS MARRIED! I'll get resumes from females in the US who are on their husband’s visas and are looking for technical jobs. I find that most of the time they're either looking for developer or database positions. They're resumes portray that they are HIGHLY QUALIFIED therefore I book a phone screen.

2 THEY NEED 2 DAYS! During the phone screen I'm usually interested in the candidate’s personality and communication skills (I don't ask ANY technical questions). I find that everything goes great until I go to schedule the in person interview. Then the typical response is that they need 2 days to prepare. When I try to push an earlier date they'll become belligerent insisting on the 2 days. I'm usually able to sway a few into coming in sooner but mainly I just wait.

3 THEY CAN'T INTERVIEW! The candidate usually shows up to the interview with her husband where I have to inform her that he needs to wait in the lobby. In the interview I bring in a basic level technical consultant who then quizzes the candidate. They're great at the verbal Q & A with almost exact textbook wording but when they actually have to show some basic code on a board they fail and fluster miserably. About 90% of these women can't pass the simplest white board questions of the most basic technical standards.

4 SAME RESUME! As I dug deeper into this matter I found that most of these women had the EXACT SAME RESUME. All of them had the SAME technical skills as their husbands! When I'd look at the properties of their resume the author was always someone else. My theory is that there's a company overseas who contracts out the husbands then writes their wives false resumes (WITH DEGREES) and tries to get them a position as well; with just basic knowledge either learned from the husband or taught in 6 week courses.

The CRAZY thing is I'm sure some of these women actually get high paying jobs!! Not through me of course as I'm VERY THOUROUGH!!

Now working in the field I also ran across many men from this country that would tell you they could do things that they couldn't. One case someone in my team needed a Web Developer and instead hired an Applications Developer. I kept telling the hiring manager that this person was not suited for this particular position and that he should be moved to another one. Yet every time the manager asked this gentleman if he could do the work he said yes, sure, no problem. As soon as the manager walked out of the room I was bombarded with the questions regarding the simplest matters. Eventually after producing crappy work the developer was transferred to another team. I was appalled at how he could OUTRIGHT lie about his knowledge right in front of me. Then turn around and ask me to teach him how to do it. I simply stated “that's not in my job description I suggest you get some reading material”.