False Marine I
An intriguing title of the post with a hint of history? Absolutely right, this case can be safely added to the history of the direction of personnel selection, taken into account and not to make the same mistakes!
Last year we were looking for a Middle QA engineer. In the first batch, we noticed a very strong resume of Marina (name changed), whom we immediately invited for an interview. Marina passed the interview brilliantly: she confidently answered all the questions, solved practical problems perfectly, and her soft skills indicated that she would ideally fit into our friendly team and strengthen it with her professional expertise. Marina successfully passed the SB and we, having caught luck by the tail, tried to agree on the offer as quickly as possible. Marina accepted the offer immediately, which caused a certain wariness on our part, but the QA lead and I were completely confident that we were able to charm her with our product and team.
On her first day at work, Marina connected to the morning sync, turned on the camera, met the team, told about herself and started to immerse herself in the work process. After this sync, I was left with a strong impression that this was not the Marina who was at the interview: thinner, different hairstyle, big round eyes, darker hair color and manner of speaking. The QA lead did not say anything, I thought that in the wave of the interview conveyor I was starting to get stuck and I was starting to confuse people. For a couple of weeks, Marina regularly connected to calls, turned on the camera and tried to immerse herself in the work process. The QA lead began to complain that Marina was poorly understanding the platform, did not remember anything, did not ask questions, did not show initiative and did not cope with tasks. At 1:1 with the QA lead, he asked a question: “Doesn't it seem to you that our Marina and the Marina at the interview are 2 different people?” Bingo!
After this synchronization, we started an investigation and showed Marina's photo to our recruiter, HR BP and technical director who were at the interviews. All colleagues said that they saw the girl in the photo for the first time and we realized that we were not imagining things! For the final decision, we conducted an assessment of Marina, which showed that her level was below that of an intern. We eventually fired Marina, but here are the conclusions that follow from this story:
Always ask candidates to turn on their cameras during interviews or interview them in person. If a candidate can't turn on their camera, don't waste your time on them.
Just in case, take a screenshot of the candidate's image so that you can later compare it with the person who will come to work for you.
Pay attention to inconsistencies between the candidate's story and the information in his resume.
Ask your HR to carefully check the candidate's documents and their compliance with the resume.
Always spell out in detail the tasks for the probationary period and the criteria for their successful completion, so that parting with such candidates is easy and legal.
If you have any doubts about a candidate, it is better to reject him immediately. Trust your intuition and experience.
remember, that anyone can make a mistakeso let's figure out what a manager should do if he finds himself in a similar situation:
Make sure it is not a mistake. Conduct testing, certification or knowledge survey, show the photo to colleagues who were also at the interview.
Notify your HR.
Report to the Security Council. As much as I would not like to get involved with these guys, there is no way out. There is a risk that this is not an accident, but industrial espionage, the machinations of competitors or any other evil intent.
Prepare an invoice for dismissal: facts of failure to fulfill the tasks of the probationary period, violation of labor discipline and the employment contract, etc. (yes, yes, it is not so easy to fire a person who knows the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, even from the probationary period. People who go for such a scam either take a leap of faith in the hope of getting a foothold in IT, or know the legislation well and are ready to cause problems for their employer).
Wait until the Security Service completes all checks and finishes its work. In such cases, it is hard to wait, but there is no way out, the company's security comes first.
Call the employee for a conversation, voice your decision, provide the collected facts and give constructive feedback. In any situation, the manager must remain the manager and give constructive feedback.
Refer the employee to HR to formalize the dismissal. The format is not important: at their own request, by mutual agreement, or due to failure to pass the probationary period. Decide for yourself. But it is important that the employee be fired! You cannot give a second chance if your acquaintance began with a scam and lies.
Be vigilant and remember that any doubt about a candidate should be interpreted to his disadvantage.
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