How Do You Spot Fake Candidates in Tech Interviews?

Hiring
1

False identities are not that common as HR they would have verified the candidates before they come to interview. Rather the question can be how to identify the fake interviews like , they might be reading it from some where or using some AI tool for that. One response can be in FAANG companies they are allowing candidates to use AI to write the code , but real world problem would be given instead of a just a coding question.

I’m hiring for software engineering positions and all of my phone screens today were people using false identities. One person even joined a call accidentally using the name of another applicant. What are some strategies you use at your organization to weed out the spammers and scammers?

2

We start every call with a quick “show me your ID next to your face.” Most legit candidates don’t mind, and the scammers usually bail right away

3

I’ve had the same thing happen. My trick is asking super simple, real-time coding questions (like fizzbuzz) while screen sharing. If they freeze, you know it’s fake.

4

We switched to HackerRank/CodeSignal first. Anyone unwilling to take a timed assessment usually isn’t serious anyway. Cuts out 80% of the fakes before we waste interview time.

5

Yeah, same here. I’ve found it helps to throw in a quick real-world scenario instead of pure coding, way harder to fake and you quickly see who’s legit.

6

man, this is wild :exploding_head: never thought fake candidates were this common. love the idea of tossing in a quick real-world task, feels like the fastest way to filter out who’s actually legit.