How to Catch a Cheating Candidate in an Interview

I once had a candidate who Googled answers for an interview. At first, his pauses were almost believable. I slowly progressed to more conceptual questions and he didnt realise he was spending too much time before reading out stuff verbatim.

I agree. Google will often ask the "number of marbles in a jar" question to see if you can think in scales using abstract statistics in their interviews. Now if you suck at math but are just fine in logic and code writing, should this limit you? When I interview people, I'm being attentive to show the interviewee respect but to also catch misrepresentations.

Most people don't code without having reference material available because unless it's just rehashing old code all the time for the same project, you're likely adding or optimizing something about your project. Same with every other part of the infrastructure and service matrix.

I think the assumption here is a non-technical interviewer filling low value roles.

I dunno. I also see it as a red flag for a interviewee as a boss who is likely to tap my shizzle and make sure that the clock is being worked on their terms, not collectively.

For instance, one interview I was having camera issues after messing with some UVC webcam switchers so I can mix it like a Twitch feed, and a request to do a meeting came in. Now sure, my bad for not being ready and testing my setup an hour or two before the meeting but we're both sitting there and while I'm trying to work out the camera issues, I'm trying to coax the interviewer into starting the meeting as both of us are there now and there are a lot of interaction to talk about prior to needing a face to face. His reluctance indicates to me that he's wanting to do exactly that trick... try to gauge my non-verbal language.

Lots of people read and watch videos on how to spot liars. The fact that a polygraph can be defeated shows you why its bullshit and that a attentive eye can be made to watch for a red flag. But the real clincher that you're supposed to do is give them rope to hang themselves on. This guy was so tight to doing it his way that he hung himself and I cancelled any further interest once he hung up with the recruiter. I have no problem finding work and we're doing him a favor not the other way around.

Now you can't bullshit a bullshitter and you can tell through extensive Q & A along with tracking the amount of time to see if someone knows/doesn't know AND someone trying to con by covering up. Which is why you NEVER EVER LIE IN AN INTERVIEW!!! Admit defeat if you don't know, nobody is perfect.

The best SE hacks are the ones that can sell you and stab you in the back. You couldn't figure that out in one call regardless. That's why it's so dangerous and even in-person will someone try to run the gambit on you. And why the weakest link in security is the human.

You need multiple people involved in a interview loop to make sure the likelihood is high that they can do the job. Most people who cannot "talk the talk" cannot even attempt to "walk the walk". Which is why you cannot use canned questions and answers that are already on the internet. It's a waste of time because nobody works tech without having access to the Internet and reference.

Exactly, never had issues so I call BS on that one.

This one is hard as I have a gut feeling that sometimes it does happen as I have an Anglo name but am Asian-American. However, if it does happen, it may also be a place or team I wouldn't want to work for.

It's hard to explain but the 'bro'-ism can be deeper than you may think. Let alone a cultural fit a manager may be trying to achieve - as "cult of personality" will also tend to pull out all the stops to "prove" themselves..

But without feedback from the interview loops, we just don't really know.

I'm not in the job market, but I have a LinkedIn account. Despite occasionally nudging from LinkedIn, I have never bothered to add a profile picture.

Isn't that more-so up to your employer to decide if it's an extra advantage? I'm not saying you're wrong, but I think intentionally obscuring who you are isn't solving a problem.

> In 2021, everyone has a LinkedIn account now, especially in the US.

"everyone". Is it discrimination if I can prove that I was rejected for not having a social media account?

Good point. Once they're actually working contract, it's actually very easy to can them if they're not what they're supposed to represent.

That said, if you have worked with peers and they all vouch for you, I wouldn't bother with the contract part, just make sure that team fit is there and that he can deal with whatever office politics are in the current org in it's current state. After all, in two years, it all could change.

yeah but thats going to be the case when the accomplice is a close fried... my experience here is about the contractors from contracting companies... they put people in position and move on to next contractor. they don't have time to help the one they placed... it may take a while for the incompetent contractor to get fired and then contracting company to replace them.. Which they will do ...

ahh.. may be your lucky.. would you say the same is true for contracting companies from outside USA?