Page 28 | New employee is a fake, where to go from here?

londonnotlangdon · 2022-04-28T05:56:42+00:00

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?

Kanezgrl · 28/04/2022 14:52

I skipped a grade and graduated at 16, and got my first job right after. So she may have a couple year's experience.

FeathersMcGee · 28/04/2022 14:54

DogInATent · 28/04/2022 14:24

I am sure this is commonplace in many places of work. I work in the public sector and we are very much bound by process and legislation. I don’t know why you think that line managers wouldn’t see this material.
Perhaps this is still more common than I think, but I'm deep into an information security audit and the auditor is showing a great deal of interest in how PII is handled during recruitment. I thought the controls we had in place were good, but they need to go to another level to come up to scratch. And we don't take RTW documentation before interview. The candidate supplies it in a sealed envelope or via an encrypted portal online and only HR review it.

So does nobody do the most basic check - that the photo on the ID matches the person who is being seen at interview?

Hoppinggreen · 28/04/2022 14:55

FFS, if she's going to fabricate a career she could at least make it feasible from a time point of view. Shes not just a liar shes a bad one
Glad its worked out OP, she may have been great at the job but you could never trust her

FeathersMcGee · 28/04/2022 14:55

Kanezgrl · 28/04/2022 14:52

I skipped a grade and graduated at 16, and got my first job right after. So she may have a couple year's experience.

Possibly. But her CV says she was working for a household name company at the age of 13. I would say that’s unlikely, wouldn’t you?

Comefromaway · 28/04/2022 15:04

Regardless of age in England the minimum age you are legally allowed to start full time work is the last Friday in June of the academic year that you turn 16.

CorsicaDreaming · 28/04/2022 15:07

@MissLucyEyelesbarrow

"This is the most bonkers take on GDPR that I have ever seen on MN - and that's saying something 🤯"

I couldn't have put it better myself 🤣

Soffit · 28/04/2022 15:10

She probably is who she said she is except that all her work experience is made up. She would have deliberately chosen companies that have gone under so that it cannot be investigated further. Many people without much professional admin experience would be able to perform reasonably in that role if they have good organizational skills and are computer literate. Perhaps she knows this, doesn't have the experience but would be ok in the end which is what she is counting on. It doesn't make her less of a liar though.

Soffit · 28/04/2022 15:11

You need to ask for some PAYE proof to find out for certain.

WeCouldBeSpearows · 28/04/2022 15:14

Soffit · 28/04/2022 15:11

You need to ask for some PAYE proof to find out for certain.

I doubt that she'll provide it, given that she has declined the job offer.

Herejustforthisone · 28/04/2022 15:24

yellowsuninthesky · 28/04/2022 13:11

What if she lies on the job as well? What if she says she's sent that contract regarding that million pound deal and she hasn't? One person can cause A LOT of problems. Then you have the issue of getting rid of her

I love the casual ageism here. Why is she any more likely to be a useless liar than anyone else, because she's 19? Anyway, the issue has been resolved, due to the OP's eagle eye. She may have dodged a bullet, she may have lost out on a good employee. We'll never know.

Where’s the ageism? She lied on her CV and she falsified her references. It’s hardly a leap to suggest she’d lie on the job, too.

The fact that she’s a teenager is entirely incidental here.

Herejustforthisone · 28/04/2022 15:32

Ferngreen · 28/04/2022 13:42

Is she hiding from an abusive ex?

What, by making out she’s worked at top firms, which are now conveniently defunct, from age 13, and by falsifying references in order to get a job for which she is almost certainly not qualified, seeing as she only left education last year? Really?

This place. What with that, the accusations of ageism for calling a teenage liar a liar, and the insinuation that looking at someone’s passport is a breach of GDPR… so entertaining.

MadeForThis · 28/04/2022 15:36

My Theory.

She is 19.

Her mum/dad worked at these companies and she did work experience for them.

Parent may have transferred from company 1 to company 2.

CorsicaDreaming · 28/04/2022 15:40

C8H10N4O2 · 28/04/2022 14:23

We've had a couple of really unfortunate appointments in our team and they end up not pulling their weight, it puts huge strain on everyone else, and it took ages to go through processes to get rid of them

You don't have a probation period for new hires?

Or you don't have line managers capable of managing performance and raising issues in a timely manner?

@C8H10N4O2 - the latter. Three times in my years at the place (but I've been here nearly a decade now, which for me is some kind of record...)

Huge organisation, lots of red tape, people not acting quickly enough before probation runs out (despite a v well respected colleague repeatedly raising red flags with senior management in one particular case, and the most extraordinary catalogue of wrongs including criminal proceedings in another... ) makes life interesting I suppose...

IMustGoToBed · 28/04/2022 15:45

That was the best outcome really.

CorsicaDreaming · 28/04/2022 16:06

DogInATent · 28/04/2022 14:24

I am sure this is commonplace in many places of work. I work in the public sector and we are very much bound by process and legislation. I don’t know why you think that line managers wouldn’t see this material.
Perhaps this is still more common than I think, but I'm deep into an information security audit and the auditor is showing a great deal of interest in how PII is handled during recruitment. I thought the controls we had in place were good, but they need to go to another level to come up to scratch. And we don't take RTW documentation before interview. The candidate supplies it in a sealed envelope or via an encrypted portal online and only HR review it.

To be honest I think levels of data protection have become absolutely bonkers, and are really frustrating to work within.

I know it's seen as necessary to protect against mass data farming and selling etc, but it seems to me that two layers of issues are now conflated and it makes everyday work for HR, empirical research with members of the public, support for students, etc an absolute minefield.

It needs law reform to split out truly intentional criminal activity for gain that affect whole cohorts of people from inadvertent mistakes that still lead to breaches for individuals(and potentially huge fines for organisations ) but are bona fides.

At the moment, genuine organisations can face enormous fines, but I'm still regularly getting spammed when my mobile number/email is presumably sold on, etc.

I don't think the current system is at all fit for purpose.

CorsicaDreaming · 28/04/2022 16:13

@Luculentus - at the point in the thread I wrote my post (and in fact still) it isn't clear what is truth and what is fiction here.

The OP was saying she looked much older, at least 25 - I was giving possibilities of how she may have a cv that doesn't stack up if she was older, but there could be legitimate reasons (such as MH or unfair dismissal ) that she don't want to disclose.

So the being 19 part sounds like it was potentially a red herring - and she was in fact older but had falsified both her documents and her cv.

ErickBroch · 28/04/2022 16:18

Very easy to fake a reference. I think your instinct is right and that she has put down some false info, conveniently businesses no longer trading so no references, and her most recent reference is probably a friend or parent with a fake email. I honestly know people who have done it. Not rare.

CorsicaDreaming · 28/04/2022 16:20

MadeForThis · 28/04/2022 15:36

My Theory.

She is 19.

Her mum/dad worked at these companies and she did work experience for them.

Parent may have transferred from company 1 to company 2.

@MadeForThis

Ooh yes that's a good one.

I will back that horse too 🐎

(Shame we will never know)

Scooby5kids · 28/04/2022 16:28

Do you think it could be a misprint? It's very weird

Soffit · 28/04/2022 16:28

I think she was an undercover DM journalist.

Svalberg · 28/04/2022 16:31

yellowsuninthesky · 28/04/2022 14:45

From my experience I'd never underestimate the lengths people go to get a job. We have a drugs test before confirming employment, all very clear from the outset

and the legal grounds for requiring such a test are what? Unless you are airline pilots or in some other safety critical role, I cannot see how this can possibly be lawful.

Every construction site that I've worked on in the last 18 years has had a drugs & alcohol test as part of the site induction, and random d&a tests throughout employment. One colleague failed a test after eating poppy seeded rolls (but passed the retest a week later!)

anotherday11 · 28/04/2022 16:33

londonnotlangdon · 28/04/2022 07:12

@MrsClatterbuck just says 8 GCSE's A* - C.

Doesn't mention anything else and to be honest we didn't focus much on that at interview

The GCSE reform where they changed the system from letters (A*, A, B etc) to numbers (1-9) came into effect in 2017. So if she took her GCSEs in 2018 - when she would have been 16, she would have got them under the new numerical system.

Does your workplace not check employees qualifications? Most places I have worked at in the past have requested proof of whatever the highest qualification I had.

Original poster

londonnotlangdon · 28/04/2022 16:36

Does your workplace not check employees qualifications? Most places I have worked at in the past have requested proof of whatever the highest qualification I had.

Maybe a degree. But not basic GCSEs or A levels I don't think.

I've had a few jobs in the last 6/7 years. Never ever been asked to provide evidence of my GCSEs or A Levels

OP posts:

Svalberg · 28/04/2022 16:37

Btw, I work on a computer, not in a safety-critical role. Unless Microsoft products now require you to be alcohol free...

Echosound · 28/04/2022 16:38

londonnotlangdon · 28/04/2022 16:36

Does your workplace not check employees qualifications? Most places I have worked at in the past have requested proof of whatever the highest qualification I had.

Maybe a degree. But not basic GCSEs or A levels I don't think.

I've had a few jobs in the last 6/7 years. Never ever been asked to provide evidence of my GCSEs or A Levels

But if someone only has gcse or a level then they should be asked about surely? I get that you wouldn’t ask about those levels if someone had a degree but essentially you look to the highest qualification someone has in a recruitment process