employer moral dilema and how to tell if someone is lying

[SenoraPostrophe]

this is a long story, but really bugging me.

We employed a new person through an agency. He wasn't quite what we needed - his CV lists his skills in the area we need as "intermediate" where we really need an expert, but we figured we could do some training.

Anyway after 2 weeks and a bit of training it turns out that he can't do the job. It's annoying because we have discovered this gradually - for example I gave him some training last week in skill c, it didn't go very well and it turned out that was because he didn't have skills a and b. He didn't volunteer that information.

He does have some skills that we need, but we don't need a person with those skills urgently and could have recruited for that job without an agency. (it's a bit tricky talking about this without being specific, but i'd have to use so many accronyms you'd all die of boredom.) He has moved his family 100 miles for the job, to an area where he couldn't get another job because his Spanish isn't up to it - we did say that getting a room for the first few weeks might be a good idea.

Here's the dilema - do we just sack him or do we take him on for the other job? To me, it depends on whether or not he lied at interview and in his CV, or if he was just hopelessly optimistic/ignorant about what was involved in the job. I don't like to sack him. How can we find that out?

i would very calmly sit down with him and talk about what the job entails and ask him truthly does he feel up to doing the job or would he prefere another line of work you could offer ask him if the things on his cv are correct as you feel there were some flaurs in his work but realy i would sit down and talk to him

Do the skills he claimed to have need a specific qualification? Or are they the sort you pick up "on the job"?

If the former, you could surely check out that he has the qualifications he claims - ask for certificates, contact the college/university/whatever to check that he actually sat and passed the exams. Check with the agency what background checks they did - isn't that what they are paid for? It looks as though you employed him on the basis of the agency's assessment of "intermediate" skills. How did they assess him and what did they use as a yardstick?

If the latter, look at his previous jobs and check with his former employers if he actually acquired those skills with them.

dh is going to do that tomorrow. It's just that he's been so unforthcoming - he is hiding something, but i don't know what - that I was hoping someone would have a good trick or something. I don't know.

Oh yuck Senora. I'd talk to him first I think but if he's not what you need, he's not what you need. If you got him through an agent can you take this up with them? Did they say he had skills a and b?

Freckle - good idea to ask the agency. I suspect they didn't asses him at all. He didn't pretend to have any quals, but a lot of good IT bods have no quals (eg me and dh)

Totally agree about checking with the agency, you never know if you can get them to admit they didn't check his qualifications and referencea they might forgo their fee, or at least reimburse you what you have alrady paid.

Secondly, if he has 'embellished'/'lied' or been backwards in coming forwards about his ability to do the job, even when you are giving him training to help him do well - I would have no feelings of guilt about sacking him. Where his family live us his concern, esp as you suggested he rent a room for the first couple of weeks. You employed him in good faith, he has let you down and you don't need his real skills set at the moment. Harsh way of looking at it maybe, but it is your livleyhood as well as his!