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?

Surely at that age her GCSEs should be 9-5, not A*-C?

Might be worth double checking GCSE certificates.

Yes I've seen them. All looked very real

Can’t you have a conversation with her and just say ‘can you confirm your date of birth’ etc and do it on the phone - eg the first job can you clarify what year and what company and then send everything she says to HR pointing out the discrepancies

I had a Saturday job at 13.

Just re read the OP. You need to see the originals

Really, I'm surprised at that. If you're an assistant or executive assistant, I've seen some salaries, especially London, pass the 80k mark

Probably fancy titles for very simple jobs. People who work in subway are called 'sandwich artists'. If everything checks out, let her crack on. She will sink or swim.

No she wouldn't. Education EMPLOYMENT or training

It started off sounding fishy, but as I've read on i think the most plausible answer is that she really is that young and just started working at a young age. Especially as there's no qualifications listed after GCSEs.

She's maybe given herself more important sounding job titles and descriptions but genuinely has held those kinds of jobs.

I assume there's a probation period? Why not give her the benefit of the doubt and get rid if she can't do the job. She might just surprise you.

Surely you need to get in touch with the company that employed her at 13?? Give them a ring to check??

My DD worked as an admin assistant/accounts clerk in our business from the age of 15 until about 25- through school, 6th form and Uni and alongside her 1st graduate job.

This sort of proves that job titles can be completely meaningless. 'Head of Admin and assistant to chair' sounds important and implies that she managed a whole team of administrators and was the right hand woman to the leader of a major organisation, but it could well be that she worked for a very small company and she was the entire administration team and PA function to the company owner/s.

But in 2015 she was 12/13 at most and while she could well have been working a few hours around school in a business run by family/friends, it won't have been a full time job.

She could have 2/3 years experience of full time office work, but does that tie in with her qualifications. What does she say she has in terms of GCSEs/A levels and does she meet the educational/experience requirements in the job spec?

It’s most likely the roles and job titles have been over-inflated. One of her jobs was started at 13 and an apparently senior role at 15 or 16. And I would be concerned enough about that to insist HR call her references at the very least. If HR are no help I’d go to my own line manager.

yes you can get rid of someone easily after they start but you’d have spent weeks training someone up.

The thing is this, the first job she ever had was with a company, a very large one that people know, that went under

And the others are with big companies too. So not little ones where you can just exaggerate the job title there

A good example is the CV listing things like 'Managing multiple diaries for Director' or 'organising flights and accommodation across multiple time zones'

You wouldn't give that to a 13-15 year old surely, in a blue chip company

Google her and see what you find out from there.

Age Discrimination
Come on, this is not discrimination it’s possible fraud, unless age mismatches are explained.

If she does have the right to work, and she passed interviews, can you give her the benefit of the doubt? I assume she will have a probationary period which, if she shows her true colours and is completely useless, you can just not pass her and get rid.

It does come across that you think 40k is too much for a 19 year old but if she's worth the job then she's worth the pay.

Give her a chance but definitely let us know about the train wreck that follows

If she has actually lied, then that's fraudulent and you would be able to sack her on that basis.

If she has just bigged up her experience in a family firm and your due diligence in the recruitment process has failed to pick it up, then all you can do is see how things go during the probation period and follow your usual processes if there are problems.

She might turn out to be brilliant despite her age!

This sort of proves that job titles can be completely meaningless. 'Head of Admin and assistant to chair' sounds important and implies that she managed a whole team of administrators and was the right hand woman to the leader of a major organisation, but it could well be that she worked for a very small company and she was the entire administration team and PA function to the company owner/s.

But they aren't small companies. The first one listed was a very big company! As are all the others

However, she has emailed me these documents
sorry to bang on about this but the onus is on you and I’d hate for you to get in trouble. You saw the actual documents not a copy or scan? Because it’s not unreasonable to go back to her to say that you have to see them.

Might she just have made a mistake with the date of her first job on her CV? So she started at 16 (as it doesn't sound like she did A-levels) but she's put down the wrong year by mistake?

I think this is the best option but I have a strong feeling they're going to say not hiring her because of her date of birth not matching CV timeline might be seen as age discrimination... a protected characteristic

That would be very silly of them. If you don't hire her, it will be because she (presumably) lied on her CV.

Was she asked to provide anything like GCSE and A level certificates? Do they tally with her CV and whatever age she claims to be?

I have a strong feeling they're going to say not hiring her because of her date of birth not matching CV timeline might be seen as age discrimination... a protected characteristic

Age may be a protected characteristic, but lieing isn't, and that's the issue.

We've sacked people when it was discovered their qualifications weren't as they claimed, and she hasn't even started yet.

Asking for copies of her GCSEs and checking her out on linked in or other online platforms could be a good idea. Then you could report that back to HR and ask if there are any comments they would like to make about her.

@milcal I have seen her instagram.

Can't see Facebook. There's a group picture of her in school uniform dated August 2021. But it says 'Memories with my girls ❤️'