New employee is a fake, where to go from here?

[londonnotlangdon]

It's a large organisation and I just had to send off her paperwork, passport, things like that

She was given the job after her second interview last week.

However, she has emailed me these documents (fine), and her birth certificate says born in September 2002?

That makes her 19?

This is a problem because, for example, her CV says she was an Executive Assistant to a Director in 2018? When she would've been in school?!

I've asked HR, who haven't replied properly, I've asked them to call. But someone replied to my email of concern with 'so you don't want this new me ever of staff? Why not?'

What can actually be done about this?

Rarely done these days and good HR practices should discourage it as age is a protected characteristic.

Could it be that the passport isnt hers but the experience might be closer to the truth? You said you thought she looked older. Could she be a different nationality perhaps and using another passport to establish her right to work in UK?

i know others have said you will soon find out if she doesnt have the right experience but that could be harder to dismiss on umless there is a probationary period. If there has been dishonesty that would be a bigger concern for me and hence I think you are right to flag it up. HR department may not have carried out the checks and may be brushing over this to try and avoid getting themselves in trouble. If things dont add up maybe a meeting with another colleague such as a manager or HR person present as a witness might be appropriate to go over her employment history in light of queries following the provision of her ID documents?

All very suspicious. What was the date on her Insta post? Was it done between now and her interviews? Any interactions with it? Check who’s commented/liked etc then have at look for their profiles on SM. Also search the school with a couple of possible years and see if she’s mentioned anywhere. I still FB friends with people I’m at school with and whenever someone puts up a “God look at us!” picture the least I’ll do is a 😂 If that’s a recent post with no interactions from her girls then it sounds awfully like a plant just in case someone does some internet sleuthing!

Don’t have to. It’s to discourage age discrimination however age can be determined by year finished school/uni etc

I'm quite impressed. If she was doing this 4 years from now she'd get away with it.

Make sure HR are with you all the way on this OP.

Of course it is possible that she has something in her background such as a mental health crisis and extended period off work that she believes is likely to prevent her getting another high level job, and does not want to disclose it. Oh she was previously bullied by someone in a high position in a previous employment and had to leave but has no references - and thinks if she says she will get labelled as a whistleblower and not given another job. Or even that she had a long career break for having children and now can't get back to the level she was and is desperate for a job as her DH has been made redundant and they are on the verge of losing their house.

People can do desperate things for all sorts of reasons.

So, although still prima facie fraudulent re her cv and reference details, it may be that it is because there are things in her past she believes will mean she never gets a professional job (and she may have tried several times and never got shortlisted when being honest).

So it's possible it is false information but does not mean she is financially fraudulent.

Just a thought but many of us probably have things in our lives we wouldn't put in neon lights on our CV.

God you’ve just reminded me of an awful awful icebreaker in a previous workplace where we all had to put ourselves in age order from youngest to oldest. Most people were asking peoples ages 😣 but worse was when people looked at you and then inserted themselves where they thought they were younger/older 😣😣 it was so mortifying!

What everyone else has said...it's not good practice to put your date of birth on a cv and employers shouldn't be asking you to put in on an application for either.

That so many are looking for an innocent explanation is why con artists get away it. They rely on us assuming the best and accepting a good story.

The simplest explanation is actually more likely. She is telling fibs is more likely than the other scenarios being dreamt up here. Sadly.

Diligence in checking references and documents is really needed.

This sounds super dodgy - her first job, in a large company at 13/14?! Surely it wouldn't have been legal for the company to employ her. At best, she's been economical with the truth about her work experience. Sounds as if you have a good opportunity now to not go any further with this whereas further down the line it might be a lot harder. Hope HR are supportive. Good luck.

This is all bobbins unfortunately. DD(20) left education at 14 due to illness. She received a letter from DfE at 16 asking if she had continued in education or training and I replied saying no she wasn't in either and she was bedbound and unable to do anything. And could they help with finding something. They replied saying thanks for letting us know and no we can't help.

It'd make me suspicious that two of her previous employers no longer exist.

If I was going to create a fictional CV I might think that naming companies that have gone under would mean I wouldn't be expected to supply a reference.

I think she has lied on her CV and is hoping that the discrepancies wont be noticed. I dont think she is using false ID or someoen elses ID

I think as others have suggested, she has over egged the pudding with two roles that cannot be verified as the companies have gone bust. The 'old boss' who gave a reference could be anybody - although can he/she be tracked/verified as the actual name of a boss in that company. However as Im guessing that particular reference, if you have it, is just a private email, it could be anybody

previous job. Again. I suspect it doesnt exist and again the email account is fake, and may even have been written by herself.

My 21 year old spotted this as a possible straight away - says TikToc is full of people faking their CV to get jobs they really arent qualified to do

She's a chancer, nothing else.

Me. I never have and I've had 15+ jobs in my 59 years.

I had a similar role to what she has put down on her CV from when I was 13 - I covered the school holidays and worked full time throughout them so it is possible. It's not on my CV now but is it possible it's something like that?

I think it's a bit weird you've gone and looked at her insta to be honest.

I completely agree with this but so surprised it’s got this far. Id think something like this would be flagged when looking at the CV, it’d be easier to decline the position if the info offered at interview didn’t stack up. Now she’s got the job it’s just harder to double back in that offer. Hopefully HR learn from this.

@londonnotlangdon

I'm an hour behind reading this thread, so sorry if this has already been addressed but

"She doesn't look old facially but her whole demeanour comes across as someone far older than 19, so I would never place her at 19 on that alone, or under 25 for sure!"

Women's faces can be really deceptive. Botox, make up, etc. Even some 60 year olds look like 40 year olds when in full war paint (look at Hollywood A listers)

so I'd imagine she could easily be pushing 40 and look 25... which would make more sense of her cv.

I imagine it takes a lot of effort but if it is that important to someone, and they spend enough, I think people can really wind back the clock on their facial appearance

But does not explain her documents!

Really sorry about your DD's experience - that is so disappointing

Place marking- I’m curious to know how this ends.

If the OP isn’t concerned about the identity thing, then what? You think she’s too young to get £40k?

People embellish their CVs ALL THE TIME in order to secure an interview. It sounds like that’s what has happened, and at interview it was decided she was suitable for the job. So the problem is…?

I’m really surprised at people supporting this.

we had a lady that lied about something (later found out) the line manager wanted her as she ‘knew her from years ago briefly and was a hoot’ she didn’t have references from any managers. Oh what a delight she turned out to be. A racist bully that physically attacked my personal belongings and had a long history of such events.

The best that can happen is that she just gets on with the job. The worst is there’s damage to your team and company and a long fight ahead once they are in. Sorry to be harsh.

It's actually quite standard for a potential employer to look at social media and Google potential employees these days

as mad as this sounds, you can check the domain of the emails she listed, see if they're registered by the actual company or, perhaps just by herself:

who.is/

See who it says owns it, and compare it to the real one you found on the website...

Is there a probation period ?

just wait if so. If she can do the job then there’s no problem

Ps if anyone has been in this situation and just wants a chance, I get it and I don’t mean to sound judgemental.