In the wake of recent workforce disruptions and technological shifts, hiring the right people has become more critical – and more challenging – than ever. HR executives in 2025 face not only continued talent turnover but also a surge in sophisticated resume fraud and misrepresentation. Generative AI now enables candidates to embellish or even fabricate parts of their credentials and interview responses at scale.
This means organisations must be extra vigilant in verifying candidate integrity. The cost of a bad hire remains steep – research shows it can equal about 30% of that employee’s first-year salary in direct costs (and potentially hundreds of thousands more in indirect losses). Beyond financial impact, a dishonest hire can harm team morale, productivity, and company reputation.
To mitigate these risks, HR leaders should refine their hiring practices with a strong emphasis on thorough candidate screening and verification of truthfulness. Below are five key strategies aligned with 2025 trends to ensure you hire the right candidate while verifying that they are exactly who – and what – they claim to be.
1. Define Clear Role Requirements and Expectations
Start by clearly defining what you need in the role – required skills, experience, and even the character traits that fit your company’s culture. A well-crafted job description and a firm statement of your organisational values (including ethics and integrity) set the stage for honest hiring. This clarity helps deter unqualified applicants who might otherwise try to “fit” by exaggerating their credentials. It also ensures genuine candidates understand the role and self-select accordingly. For example, if a position requires a specific certification or level of experience, spell that out. Candidates who know their claims will be vetted are less likely to misrepresent themselves just to get in the door. In short, mutual transparency about job expectations creates a foundation of honesty even before interviews begin.
Moreover, defining your company culture and expectations upfront can prevent bad hires. When candidates know what your workplace is like and what behaviours are valued, they can assess their own fit more realistically. This reduces the risk of hiring someone who might later clash with your team or, worse, feel pressured to lie about their work style to seem like a fit. By being explicit about both the job requirements and your organisation’s standards, you set a tone that truthfulness matters from the very start of the hiring process.
2. Standardise and Structure Your Hiring Process
Having a consistent, structured hiring process is key to catching inconsistencies and screening out dishonest candidates. Establish a clear set of steps for every applicant, from resume screening to multiple interview rounds to final evaluations, and stick to it. Structured interviews (with predefined questions and scoring rubrics) create a fair baseline for comparison and make it easier to spot when a candidate’s story doesn’t add up. For instance, if every candidate is asked in detail about their previous achievements, it becomes obvious who can back up their CV claims with specifics and who cannot. Each interviewer should take thorough notes and later compare impressions with the team; discrepancies in what a candidate says to different people can reveal embellishments or lies.
It’s also important to update your interview protocols to address modern hiring challenges. In an era of remote recruiting, ensure you verify the identity of candidates interviewed via video. Require candidates to show a valid ID on camera or use secure identity validation services if needed. Unfortunately, there have been cases of applicants using stand-ins or reading AI-generated answers during virtual interviews – one HR tech expert noted that 10% to 30% of interviews (especially in tech roles) now involve some level of fraud. By standardising identity checks and proctoring during interviews, you can thwart would-be imposters.
Additionally, include the same skill-specific questions or tests in each interview round so that a dishonest candidate has fewer places to hide. A consistent and well-monitored process leaves little wiggle room for fabrication, ensuring that those who move forward are genuinely qualified and truthful.
3. Assess Candidates Rigorously with Tests and Interviews
Don’t just take a candidate’s resume claims at face value – verify their skills and suitability through rigorous assessments. Practical tests, case studies, or on-the-spot problem-solving exercises will quickly confirm if the person can do what they say they can. For example, if you’re hiring a developer, have them complete a coding assignment; if it’s a sales role, present a role-play scenario. This not only provides tangible proof of ability but also keeps candidates engaged, giving honest high-performers a chance to shine. Conversely, someone who exaggerates their skills will often struggle or make excuses to avoid such tests. In one survey, 43% of job seekers admitted lying about their skills on resumes, so a bit of “trust, but verify” goes a long way.
During interviews, train your team to probe deeper into the candidate’s experience and observe their responses closely. Watch for conflicting or overly vague answers when discussing past roles. It’s a noteworthy red flag if a candidate cannot clearly explain projects or tasks they claimed to have worked on. For instance, you might ask them to describe how they solved a specific problem they mentioned in their resume – if they falter or give a generic answer, it could indicate that their involvement was not as described.
Conduct behavioural interviews that include questions about honesty and ethics (e.g. “Tell me about a time you made a mistake at work and how you handled it”). Not only do such questions test integrity, but they also put pressure on any fabricated stories. By combining skills tests, in-depth interviews, and behavioural questions, you create a comprehensive assessment that filters out candidates who are all talk. The goal is to ensure the person you hire has the competence they claim and a character that aligns with your organisation.
4. Leverage Technology and External Expertise in Screening
Even with a great internal process, it can be invaluable to tap into advanced tools and expert services to reduce hiring risks. Technology can augment your screening – for example, AI-driven platforms now help scan for inconsistencies in applications, verify identities, and even detect if a cover letter or test answer was likely written by a human or a chatbot. These tools can flag potential red flags faster than manual methods. (That said, be mindful of AI’s limitations and biases – any automated screening must comply with fairness and privacy rules. Use AI to assist, not to replace human judgment.) On the positive side, new tech solutions are emerging that can authenticate a candidate’s credentials (such as digital diplomas or blockchain-verified certificates) almost instantly, giving HR confidence that an applicant’s education or licenses are legitimate. Embracing such verifiable credentials technology can save time and catch resume fraud that might go unnoticed otherwise.
At the same time, consider partnering with recruiting and background-check experts. Engaging a reputable recruitment agency or specialist background screening firm can dramatically lower the chance of a bad hire. Experienced recruiters often have robust vetting processes and access to industry networks, helping them identify candidates who are both qualified and sincere. Likewise, professional background investigators know how to dig into a person’s history and credentials thoroughly.
They can perform deeper checks on employment history, academic qualifications, and other records that may be hard for your team to verify alone. According to HR experts, bringing in a neutral third-party screener is one of the most definitive ways to uncover the truth about a candidate’s background. While these services have an upfront cost, that investment can pay off by preventing an even more expensive bad hire.
In 2025, many companies will also integrate their applicant tracking systems with background check services to seamlessly initiate verification for every offer candidate, ensuring no hire falls through the cracks unvetted. In short, leverage the best of both worlds: cutting-edge screening technology and the seasoned eye of external experts. This dual approach markedly improves your ability to catch misrepresentations before a hiring decision is made.
5. Conduct Thorough Pre-Employment Background Screening
Perhaps the most important step in safeguarding candidate integrity is robust pre-employment screening. Verifying all the critical information that a candidate provides, such as education, past employment, professional licenses, and criminal records where relevant, is non-negotiable in 2025. The reality is that misrepresentation is common: over half of Americans admit to lying on their resumes at least once, and screening data shows that 46% of reference and credential checks reveal discrepancies between an applicant’s claims and the truth. In other words, the only way to know for sure that “what you see is what you get” with a new hire is to verify.
This means calling up universities to confirm degrees, contacting previous employers to confirm job titles and dates, and checking that any claimed certifications or memberships are legitimate. Be thorough with reference checks – and be aware that some candidates attempt to provide fake references (one survey found that 17% had directed employers to a friend or even a paid impostor service posing as a past employer). To counter this, insist on speaking with references at their official business contact numbers or emails rather than personal lines provided by the candidate. A genuine former supervisor’s feedback can be invaluable to validate a candidate’s performance and honesty.
If your organisation lacks the time or resources to do all these checks in-house, use accredited background screening firms to do it. These professionals will systematically verify academic records, past employment, and other background details, providing you with a report of any discrepancies. Many such firms are adept at spotting forged documents or inconsistent job histories that an untrained eye might miss.
Most discrepancies uncovered during background checks tend to involve a candidate’s employment history or education (one analysis found 87% of issues fell into those areas), so pay particular attention to those sections of the resume. It’s also wise to include a criminal record check and credit check (if relevant to the role and legally permissible in your region), especially for positions of trust.
While not every role will require every type of check, develop a screening plan appropriate to each position’s risk level and follow it consistently. By doing your due diligence before finalising a hire, you significantly lower the odds of onboarding someone who has lied about their past. In the long run, this level of diligence saves your company time, money, and potential reputational damage – it’s far better to weed out a dishonest applicant now than to deal with the fallout later.
Prevention Is Better Than a Cure
Today’s job market holds many pitfalls. With high competition for quality jobs and new ways for candidates to present themselves in the best possible light (not always truthfully), there will inevitably be scenarios where a hire isn’t what they seemed. However, by taking a proactive, rigorous approach to vetting candidates, you can greatly decrease the chance of a bad hire and filter out applicants who are not being honest on their CVs.
The strategies above – from clearly defining job expectations to performing comprehensive background checks – all centre on the idea that doing a bit more work upfront in the hiring process will prevent far larger problems down the line. In fact, as bold fraud tactics increase (analysts predict that by 2028, one in four job applicants could be “fake” in some way), doubling down on candidate integrity checks is becoming a critical aspect of risk management for HR.
It’s far more effective to prevent a hiring mistake than to have to fix one after the fact. By modernising your hiring practices to reflect current trends and steadfastly verifying every candidate’s claims, you will protect your organisation’s resources and ensure that the people you bring on board are the right true hires, not just the right resumes.
