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?

Just ask her. In writing.

She answered why she didn't continue in education after GCSE level herself. She said she was very keen to enter the working environment and doesn't regret that decision

why not just give her a chance? Surely the most important thing is that she can do the job.

Because it might be fraud and if someone can fraud or lie about their personal details then what else will they lie about? I wouldn’t hire someone I thought was untrustworthy.

If she’d had references that matched (not different email addresses) and 2/3 of the companies hadn’t gone under (conveniently) I’d be less concerned about the apparent mismatch of age but it just stacks up I’m afraid, that’s she’s a fake/hiding something.

@MintyCedricRidesAgain
Surely the most important thing is that she can do the job.

Not if she’s dishonest, it’s not. If she ends up defrauding the company, being good at the job will make her even more successful at the fraud.

I was going to say maybe she was home educated - I started working earlier than most due to being home educated from the beginning of secondary school and my CV makes me look older than I am due to it and that I did some OU qualifications at 16.

But if she posted photos of her in school uniform on Facebook, that doesn't add up...

In England they can work 20 hours or more along with some part-time education/training.

nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice/career-choices-at-16

One of mine looks older than she is. Her CV seems to get extra scrutiny because she was office manager at 17 and by 21 building manager for a well known building. Worked a year overseas inbetween, 2 of the companies now bust.

Your company have responsibilities to ensure that you are hiring people who have legal right to work in the uk, and most large companies have a screening process where ID, proof of address documentation is required. So I would expect HR to be making a better job of validating all of this.

in many large companies, falsifying details on your CV (I don’t mean a bit of embellishment, but misleading on companies, dates, qualifications, etc) is usually considered (gross) misconduct and certainly in my organisation we would fire someone (or withdraw offer if they hadn’t started).
this is not just about, “oh hasn’t she done well, blagged herself a good job”, it’s about the trust between employer and employee and you won’t have any!!

Make sure your report is logged with your line manager as well as HR to show you have followed process

You could always query it with the person

"I'm confused about these dates can you explain"

Fair point.

I'm not suggesting that the OP isn't right to raise it with HR or do some more digging herself...there's definitely some clarification needed, but it's not impossible for a young person to be accomplished and seem more mature than you would expect.

How mysterious! I hope you can get to the bottom of it all. It definitely sounds dodgy.

Maybe she's the daughter of the big boss and your about to star in some kind of undercover boss program?!

So she admitted that she left school at 16 in order to enter the workplace. I'm fairly sure that's against the law. Only that you can work up to 20 hours per week IF you are still in education, which she wasn't.

This all sounds very bizarre but you certainly need to interrogate her further

Are you sure it isn’t 1902 abbreviated to ‘02 and she actually looks really fucking great for her age?

Would she not be 119?

three possibilities:

1. she's typed dates wrong
2. she's not who she says she is
3. she's faked the experiences

With regards to the references a friend of mine in Recruitment had a candidate provide fake references by setting up email addresses that were very similar to real ones with large organisations she had claimed to work for. So "[email protected]" or similar and replied to the email request for references herself. Its best to follow up with a phone call where possible.
In your shoes I would call her back in and get her to go through her CV more thoroughly. She either wont turn up or will turn up and you will be able to see exactly what the truth is

Ask to see originals of documents/certificates! Surely you need to see the original documentation that shows the right to work in the UK.

Check on the companies the references came from - do they exist on the Companies House register.

You'd be her LM and she'd be on £40k, which puts you on what, £50, £60+. You interviewed her twice (alone/2nd person/panel?) and you didn't pick up exactly what she'd been doing in previous jobs? No competency type questions? Give me an example of....?

It’s convenient for her, isn’t it, that two of the places she worked for (as a teen) have closed down?

Yes I did. And she sounded very very good. Impressive interview skills. Not nervous at all. Good command of the English language

Came across as very confident, personable

What year did she take her GCSEs?

if you have concerns, could you ask to see the certificates?

The simplest explanation is usually the correct one - ie,, she's faking.

She has provided two sets of ID which show the same date of birth. That's not a mistake.

So therefore all you have ti do is work backwards from the DOB to realise that she must be fabricating her experience at the very least or outright lying about it!

@Cuck00soup it doesn't say on CV

When did they bring the thing in where you HAVE to continue in some form of education or training post 16 - either A levels or apprentice?

I do think it's important you get to the bottom of this. An EA has access to a lot of confidential info and if there's a chance this person is dishonest or faking then you are opening yourselves up to so much risk.