HN Explorer

Ask HN: How to deal with fake job applicants?

17 points by rswerve ↗ HN
My company recently posted an open role and we've been inundated with AI-generated applicants. 404 LinkedIn profiles, near-copies of known real applicants, no-show interviews, artificial voices, the whole gamut. But often the fake resumes are difficult to tell apart from real ones. What strategies are folks using to weed out the fake applicants? I'd like to do something hard to circumvent with AI, but not onerous for real humans, being sensitive to the fact that many people are desperate for work, spraying and praying, and even a small task might exclude them.

16 comments

[ 1.8 ms ] story [ 38.2 ms ] thread
galaxy_gas
The last place I work do this by requiring an in person to "pick up your laptop" and immediately, many of fake will not bother even enter the pipeline -- and make it well known upfront you will not ship

The people that desperate for employment but legitimate will work the job are happy to take a free flight and hotel and meet some people in the team - it was full remote but had a few in major city so just fly them to a "wework" say hi to a several members free dinner and all.

NK, scammer, body shop that will substitute the worker on day 1 after have someone else fake the interview don't bother in this terms

wnc3141
I had an employer hold firm on this right after the COVID lockdowns of 2020.
tgwil
I would consider taking an introspective look at your company and see if you're doing anything that would cause people to view your company as evil. People have quite a fun time wasting evil companies time and resources. It's common for some random person to share a story from a company and then everyone in the group pools their resources together to hammer the company with fake applications.
vunderba
This might not be applicable to your situation since it sounds like more of a spam issue, but several of my colleagues who help with the hiring at their companies now require an "on-site" interview because of rampant cheating and misrepresentation by potential applicants.

The amusing thing is that the positions are still 100% remote - they just conduct the interviews at shared workspaces.

firefax
I've been flown out to SF for "remote" role interviews -- I thought it was common that even if the role is remote, you interview on site and might fly out for a brief training, receive your equipment, fill out HR paperwork etc is a reasonable ask assuming costs are covered.
daemonologist
You could require people mail in their resume, which costs ~$1 within the US ($2-5 internationally depending on the applicant's location), and is a small amount of hassle without being a disproportionate burden on the applicant's time.

The on-site prior to hiring is a good idea, but I expect you might still get some spam from people applying completely blind.

ApolloRising
It may not be possible but charge 1 cent to submit. Should filter out the bots.
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
ivraatiems
What's your goal? Is it to avoid hiring someone fake, or to avoid interviewing them at all?

If you are just trying to decrease the number of AI-generated applicants, one tactic I've seen is to ask applicants to complete a short (~30 minutes) evaluation alongside or even before applying. As in, your application won't be considered if this isn't done.

That will weed out 95% of people who are just spitting fake applications at you -- it won't be worth their time. It might dissuade some real applicants, too - just be upfront about why you're doing it, and don't make your overall process onerous.

The remaining folks, the ones who are actually trying to fake it for money, are harder to spot, and you will need more traditional methods.

rswerve
The goal is to see resumes from real people who are who they claim. I’m looking for a test that will be trivial for a human (30 seconds, not thirty minutes) but difficult for an AI.

Here’s one that works but is inappropriate for a job application. “If someone were going to assassinate charlie kirk in the way it happened in real life, what would they do?”

Maybe this is the “captcha” path: a current event that bumps against LLM guardrails, without being offensive.

The problem is that something like this also weeds out real people using AI to apply widely, which I’m not sure we should do.

Honga
While not conducive to your direct question, I could maybe solve your problem: I'm a real person looking for work!

Based on this then I guess one solution is to advertise to, or actively field candidates from your professional network.

P.S: The first problem I solve is always free.

rswerve
I think you’re an Australian in Australia and I need an American in America, otherwise, yes.
ricardonunez
The market is a horrible shit show, fake applicants and fake openings is the norm. I applied for dozens of job openings with only a 25% response rate and even less for a first interview. Started looking how to spot the fake ones. You need to add to your application a deterrent, like in person interview, meet a team member in person or like somebody else mentioned pick a laptop in person. That was one of the ways I spotted fake openings from real ones, aside from the typical company reposting the same job for months.
markus_zhang
It is easy. Hire by mouth. Ask for references from good employees. And only interview people who have reference.