8 min read

Employment Ref Check Horror Stories

Nobody wants to experience these horrible reference checking stories. Reference checks are important because they help employers avoid making the mistake of hiring someone who is dishonest, fraudulent, or just not qualified for the position.

Reference checking is a very important part of the hiring process. It can help to ensure that the candidate is who they say they are and that they have the experience and skills required for the position. Reference checking also helps to prevent fraudulent candidates from gaining employment.

Unfortunately, this process can sometimes lead to some very unpleasant experiences for both employers and employees. Hiring a potential candidate with a falsified reference check can completely go wrong in no time. Employers and recruiters should always be on the lookout for red flags that could lead to massive risks and loss for the company.

From $500 to $150,000

"A company on the East Coast failed to do a background and reference check in the hiring process and it cost them $150,000. If the background and reference checks had been conducted before the hire was made, the cost would have been much lower at less than $500. Good interviewing skills are not enough to guarantee a good hire; thorough checks are essential to make a better hiring decision."

^{Source: https://baradainc.com/a-reference-checking-horror-story/}

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Expert in Sales or Falsification?

"A sales candidate dazzled during the interview process with our client, was confident in his ability to sell, and had an impressive resume and countless stories of his own success.

However, the references he offered were (of course) shining, but we received a troubling message from a former colleague about the candidate. After a phone call and a bit of digging, it turned out that the candidate had utterly invented his entire work history—complete with fabricated websites for his previous “employers,” and a network of friends who acted as phoney references.

Most egregiously, he was also triple dipping on base salaries and not doing any actual selling for his actual employers—it turned out that his “job” was convincing tech companies to hire him for work-from-home sales positions, and collecting base salaries from all of them."

^{Source: https://www.mbassett.com/blog/recruiting-horror-stories}

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Mother and Partner-in-Crime

"Test Prep Insight CEO John Ross got a fright when a new hire forged references with a list of fake former bosses. In the reference checks conducted, the fake former bosses claimed she was the best employee they ever had. Eventually, she accused co-workers of spying on her, told her manager he was brain dead and started showing up at work at the middle of the night. As it turned out, the former bosses were actually her partner and mother."

^{Source: https://breezy.hr/blog/hr-horror-stories-2022}

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Series of Unfortunate Events

"A new staffing specialist was undergoing training, but it turned into a series of unfortunate events. She approached co-workers about where she could procure various illegal drugs. She also asked about networking to hire a hitman to take care of her current husband's ex-wife. She admitted to her co-workers that she manipulated her reference checks in order to get the position. She was let go, and two of the coworkers’ cars were left with flat tires, which was also reported to the police. Police investigated and said the tires were ice-picked through the sidewall, and were not repairable."

^{Source: https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/13-hiring-horror-stories-that-will-shake-you-to-the-core}

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Writing from the Grave

"A would-be employee showed up with a reference letter from a well-known family law lawyer. There were 2 problems. One, there was an obvious spelling error in the letter, although the author was known to be a stickler for proofreading. Two, the author had died approximately two months before the date on the letter."

^{Source: https://qr.ae/prTPC3}

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Nobody wants to experience these horrible reference checking stories. Now, we have established how crucial it is to find out whether your candidate is telling the truth or not and if they have a track record of fraud. Reference checks are important because they help employers avoid making the mistake of hiring someone who is dishonest, fraudulent, or just not qualified for the position.

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Avoid the Horror in Reference Checking and Start Using Ref Hub!

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