We’ve all seen the movie plot that revolves around someone taking a job under faulty qualifications. Although this concept makes for entertaining comedic films, this is not an ideal situation in reality. Every employee in the company must represent themselves and the company fairly. If the applicant fakes credentials or is known for being unpredictable, that should be considered before hiring. Potential employee identity verification is essential during screening and upholds company standards. 

How-To: Employee Identity Verification

A background check will get the job done, but this comes with some drawbacks. Background checks take time and money. There are better ways to verify someone's identity that don’t take as much time or effort as processing a full government-issued background check. 

Some great platforms already exist for candidates to build a reputation and verify identification. Having the candidate or employee provide their user profile for some of these platforms will give you a great amount of information. ‍

• LinkedIn
  - One of the best platforms to ask for is LinkedIn. LinkedIn has a built-in verification system, so you don’t have to waste time building one yourself. Each person with a LinkedIn account has to be verified with a government-issued identification card.
  - LinkedIn members can vouch for other members on LinkedIn. Users' comments about the individual can bring in more information about the employee's identity.
• GitHub
  - GitHub allows you to verify ownership of domains. Depending on what the domains are, this can help identify the creator.

While asking for these platforms is a great prospective employee identity verification method, verifying the person's actual skill sets is also important. Before a candidate becomes an employee, they undergo a series of tests to help assess their talents. To verify the applicant has the correct qualifications, the test should implement fraud prevention. Fraud prevention software can alert the hiring manager to any plagiarized answers. 
These are some of the most common things hiring managers notice on take-home tests:

• Copy and pasted answers
• Candidates getting help from friends and family
• Someone else taking the test for them
• Candidates searching for the answers

These problems could all be expelled with a fraud-prevention system. With this system, the test results will be true to the qualifications and skill sets of the applicant.  

Another great way to get employee identity verification is to ask for references. This step may sound obvious, but most of the time, it’s a great way to verify someone's identity and credentials. The only additional step you’ll need is a way to verify the reference's identity. Most candidates assume hiring managers won’t call their references. Today’s technology makes it easy to fake a reference or lie about the relationship. These references can’t be trusted unless you verify their identity. 

Using LinkedIn and GitHub makes this process fairly easy. Note what the person says and then ask for their LinkedIn profile. If the person can not give a LinkedIn, don’t consider their reference valid. Most professionals have a LinkedIn or social profile, and it’s a high possibility the reference is fraudulent if they can not provide one or verify their identity. 

Questions to Ask Face-To-Face for Identification Verification

During a prospective employee's assessment period, some questions can be asked to verify identity and qualifications. You want to be certain that the person in the face-to-face interview is the same person who took the take-home test. The best way to verify this is by asking them some questions.

‍What was the hardest part of the take-home test, and why?

• This question determines if the candidate actually took the test and further analyzes their weaknesses. 

*Looking at an answer to a question on the written test* Can you further elaborate on your response to this question?

• This question will verify that the candidate knows what they wrote and if they wrote it. It can also help if you verify the sentence structure. If the candidate uses similar words in their face-to-face answer as they did in the written answer, it will verify that the words are theirs and not plagiarized. 

You can determine other questions that also verify the person is the same one who took the test. If you want to eliminate this step, just have video-recorded answers in the take-home test. 

In the face-to-face interview, even if it’s virtual, it is important to analyze the qualities and skills the candidate possesses. If the candidate claims to have a master's degree, then ask them to show their work on an assessment that someone with a master's degree could easily complete. This step can be done both virtually and in person. If the candidate is being assessed virtually, be aware that you will need to use software that allows them to share their screen. You should also provide software such as a virtual whiteboard for them to work out the problem. 

A prospective employee identity verification process may seem like a lot, but it can save your company from many problems in the future. Verify the identity of the candidate to secure the reputation of your company. Want to make it even easier? Let Filtered help. 

Filtered is a leader in skill-based, data-driven recruiting technology. Our end-to-end hiring platform enables you to focus on skills, spend time reviewing the most qualified candidates, and streamline workflows. We’ll help you humanize hiring while applying data-driven techniques to select the right candidates. To get started, contact our team today or register for a FREE demo.