Storytime.
What had happened was…
There was this candidate who lied about never having previously applied to the company before the recruiter submitted him. The hiring manager came back to the recruiter saying, “This guy has applied 7 other times and we denied him. Not interested.” All while making the recruiter look dumb to the hiring manager—because why would you try to submit a guy who has been denied seven times?! And asking, “have you ever applied here before?” is recruiting leader 101—the question was definitely asked.
So, let me ask you…
If you were in this situation and you discovered a candidate straight up lied to your face, what would you do? How would you handle this situation? What would you tell the candidate?
Here’s what I have to say.
You catch them red-handed, you call them out. In a professional way, of course.
There’s no time to waste in recruiting. Here’s why:
First, time is money. Plain and simple.
Second, there’s a real person in need of a job who deserves the job, and time needs to be spent on that person… not a liar.
Third, if they’re bold enough to lie to you, the recruiter, is that someone you would really want to put your name behind in the future?
Absolutely not.
How do you handle it a lying candidate?
Once you discover their deception, calmly ask them they blatantly lied to you. Listen to their excuse. Then say that you won’t be able to work with them again and wish them luck.
That simple.
Hopefully, that will be a lesson learned.
If you ever encounter a candidate full of shameless taradiddles, let them go and chase after the deserving ones. Liars are a waste of time.