Colleague lied on CV/at interview and got job - do I say anything?

[Waferbiscuit]

A member of my team, who I will call 'Dave' applied for a role as a Senior Mgr in a different arm of my organisation. I sat on the interview panel (but not the chair) so was 1 of 4 people reviewing and scoring the applications. Panel members scored Dave highly and he was invited to interview.

Dave has been in my team for 5 years in a relatively junior/asst role. He is very good and we get along well. In the last 3 months he was upgraded to a management post, which was a big jump. So to be clear he worked for 4 years 9 months in a Asst role and 3 months as a Manager.

On Dave's CV he stated that he worked as a Manager the entire last 5 years. He never stated that he was an Assistant, he just put Manager on his CV with dates covering the last 5 years. I was very surprised to see this on his CV as it suggests he's much more senior than he is. However, I didn't want to 'out him' to the whole panel as a liar (because it would have repercussions on his reputation and future opportunities) and so I asked to talk to the Chair privately about it after the interviews. Dave did well in the first interview but came in tied for 3rd so I didn't think he would progress further. However I still asked the Chair for a conversation in private.

The Chair didn't contact me despite me asking for a call a few times, specifically saying that I wanted to talk to him about Dave. And as agreed the Chair set up second interviews with different panel members. Turns out a number of people pulled out of the interviews and Dave ended up being invited to interview and was their first choice. Dave got offered the job. Dave agreed to the job, contract is signed and Dave has resigned from his current post.

I can't change that Dave has been offered the job but (a) do I say something to the Chair or (b) do I say something to Dave? I appreciate that it's a done deal but I do feel lying isn't on and doing so put me, as a panel member and his manager, in a difficult position.

You don’t sound like you’re qualified to be on interview panels if you let it get this far without going and speaking to someone, or even sending the chair an email with the correction to his CV.

Yes, I'm totally incompetent and I've done the 100 lashings. But have still reached out to Mumsnet to be berated because I am very aware that I haven't handled this properly.

I've been interviewing for 30 years but genuinely haven't come across a situation where my own team member lied on a CV. And as I said previously I didn't initially notice it when first shortlisting.

Email chair and person in HR dealing with recruitment:
”dear x & y
i have tried to speak with (chair) about this however my calls/requests have not been returned.
i am now aware that Dave has been offered and accepted (job), and that he has resigned his current role, before I was able to bring this issue to your attention.
i need to make you aware that (bla bla bla Dave has misrepresented his role on CV because I know that…)”

This might be noticed during reference checking anyways so I wouldn't worry

I don’t know why you didn’t share the additional information with the whole interviewing panel. It could be interpreted that you colluded with Dave and the chair to give Dave preferential treatment.

Maybe it wasn’t done on purpose. I’ve sometimes put just the most recent job title to condense my CV. I really don’t think it matters now and I wouldn’t bring it up. They obviously thought he was competent enough for the job. If he isn’t he won’t pass his probation. Saying something after the event makes you look resentful.

You also didn’t conduct the sift properly by skimming his application.

I scored his application like the others but I spent less time on it than the applications of strangers. I genuinely didn't notice that he omitted to mention the asst title/role.

As a panel member and as part of being a panel member - you should have disclosed that you knew Dave and withdrawn from the panel. It was a conflict of interest.

You could have also mentioned (to the panel) that there were discrepancies on his CV that you should have corrected.

Watching it unfold rather than take action has let Dave rise and under your watch.

I'd move on with my life. If it ever got picked up you can just say you missed that detail

If I was your line manager or the chair I'd be as cross with you for failing in your duty to raise this as Dave for exaggerating.

This could have easily been clarified at interview and he could have given answers based on transferable skills as well as recent experience.

You've messed this up.

If you let it go, what’s the worst that can happen? Can you tolerate that?

I can see your dilemma about speaking up at the time, classic british reaction of not wanting to drop him in it in front of everyone.

At this point I'd just leave it, if it's raised at any point say 'oh yes I did try to raise that with the chair as I wasn't sure if it was clear, but the process moved on' or something. I mean it could be seen as an error rather than an absolute lie by Dave.

I'm very aware of my failings at interview but was trying to raise this in confidence. I probably wasn't as aggressive as I could be because I didn't think Dave would get the job having scored 3rd out of 5 candidates.

It seems bizarre to me that you were on the interview panel in the first place - you should have declined once you knew one of your team had applied. Tbf the Chair should have been more on it and recognised the potential conflict of interest.

That said, as long as the selection has been totally fair, and he has scored the best, I don't think there's anything that you should now do. For all anyone knows all the other applicants could have been lying through their teeth - they'll all, including your team member, have been slightly exaggerating their experience and ability - that's what interview processes demand.

The reference is now the correct point for this to be exposed - same as for an external applicant, and you will I assume be able to say 'Dave worked as an Assistant for four years, and was recently promoted to manager etc etc'. Then HR and the hiring manager can decide whether his interview was good enough to overlook his 'misdirection'.

You email HR and state this

Following on from the interview with Mr X I have noticed several potential major false declarations on his C v.

snip tool and splice in;

in this part of his CV he states this:

but I recall his actual role was this …

and his actual job title was this. I may be wrong but

please can you check with his references and old line managers whether he was promoted or not for the full 5 years.

if he has mislead on his CV can HR please do a full investigation as we actually want him to have the full experience on his cv.

many thanks

It’s done, get over it. Let the chips fall where they may.

I honestly don’t think you can backtrack this type of scenario. You can’t give someone a job and take it away it’s just too late. OP should have declared an interest, the discrepancy and withdrawn from the panel.

Happens too often and all the time.

Sorry OP !

This is something HR should have been informed of. I would inform them now.

It's not unusual to sit on panel with candidates you know or manage - we have to declare an interest/conflict, which I did. But I appreciate that once on the panel I didn't act as swiftly as I could have.

You can’t give someone a job and take it away it’s just too late

Of course you can. Especially if they haven't started yet.

You have handled this extremely poorly but you know that.

If I hired someone, on the basic of false information, with a panel of interviewers, one of whom had pertinent information but failed to disclose it, I would be livid.

I would refuse to interview with you again and if I found out, I would speak to HR about both his lie and your ommission. Honestly, I would suspect collusion.

He may even be great at this role. He may even have got it even with you telling them but if it doesn't go well because he lacks the necessary experience and the others realise you didn't speak up, I suspect they will come looking for answers.

Lots of people lie on their CVs,it's just usually harder to find out.

How common is it to lie when going for an internal promotion with somebody who knows what you do on the panel? I admire him really.

I think this is probably best to keep yourself covered. He will likely keep the job but should anything come up in the future you're covered. I am confused why it wasnt discussed amongst the panel after his interview? Also surely while answering questions he will have referred to his experience as a manager? Did he lie outright if so this does need brought to attention especially if the person below Dave on the list for the job finds out

But can he do the job?