[WY] The guy who started today is clearly not the guy we interviewed and no one else has noticed

I’ve had this happen before. We terminated the employee for dishonesty.

This wasn’t hard to figure out, because the candidate spoke perfect English on the phone, and the individual who showed up on the first day only spoke Spanish.

Had the person on the phone said, “I am interpreting for XYZ”, that would’ve been a different outcome, but the person on the phone didn’t allude to them being someone else at all.

I work in HR and this has happened to us. Alarmingly, we’re in the finance sector, so this had wide security implications; however, we caught it fairly quickly.

But you feel like a dumbass even asking the question because, like, who would even do this? Turns out, more people than you’d think.

Lmmfaooooo

I have nothing else to add

Are you 100% positive that you didn't confuse Josh with one of the other candidates? Was his interview in-person or virtual?

I've heard of this happening during covid with virtual interviewing being so prevalent, but the fact that Josh seemed to recognize you would give me pause.

Look for the day and time you interviewed him and then contact building security to see if the other guy was caught on camera at the front door, in the lobby etc.

That’s what I’d do.

Are you sure you didn’t just remember the face/accent of another of the five interviewees? Or have you never seen this dude before and he wasn’t even one of the five people you interviewed?

Updateme

Can you review the guys application to see if there's any context clues? Does he mention Guatemala in his resume?

Did the guy you interview sign anything or fill out anything? If so can you compare his signature or handwriting to the new guy?

This is gold r/RBI

Remind me!

Is it possible youve just associated the name with a face ?

Have you ever seen the new josh before, was he one of the 4 or was he interviewed by someome else ?

How much time in between ?

Is the job some kind of role where its beneficial to slip in a ringer ?

This happens very often at my organization, folks getting other folks to take interviews for them and help them acquire jobs they are not qualified for.

I am sure your hunch is right, but this should have been caught long before this point.

Not a lawyer, or HR, you're taking advice from a guy on the internet. That being said, this is related to my work and happens more often than people realize.

Firstly, while HR will be part of the Solution, your immediate stakeholder is actually IT Security. I would let your boss know that, while he seems like a good guy, you cant shake the feeling that you should inform IT Security to work with HR to just quickly review just to validate his onboarding documentation in the background. I suspect your new resource, if your boss is concerned with awkwardness, will face minimal intrusion into his day (they may pop by and ask for his ID again because thet need another copy for records - if they do it thus way, shouldnt feel like anything to him). I would ping Security directly via your IM to let them know you may be mistaken, so you would appreciate them working with HR to do what you can to promote this approach, but do hope they make it a priorty to resolve today in the event your suspicions are accurate.

Secondly, at that point its out of your hands. Id put a reminder to checkin in 24 hours only because if they did not take it seriously, it was your role to fill and if this is not the same person, they are almost certainly not qualified.

I also suspect HR and IT will update their onboarding practices to address this increasingly common fraud of "ringer" interviewee use.

I 100% hired someone last year who had her daughter (I assume) interview for her. The lady that showed up for training was NOT the person I interviewed.

I kept it to myself bc I had no proof, and she ended up getting fired 4 months later for bad performance lol.

All my interviews are virtual so I make sure to take a little screenshot now.

I had a more blatant one. I interviewed a very capable candidate by video. Smart, knowledgeable, focused, and had the right skills.

Then he turned up for work. I was somewhat surprised, because I'd interviewed a woman.

THIS HAPPENED TO ME ONCE. I was a shift manager for a business that occasionally had job fairs. The district manager was running the fair, and the store manager was away on vacation (at this company, store managers had zero part in the hiring process). Someone came in and filled out an application, and the DM did a quick on-the-spot interview. So I saw the guy then, and then I saw him again when he came in for a second interview with the DM. The district manager hired him and scheduled his first day for when the store manager would be back from vacation. That day comes and someone walks in and says they're there to start work, but it is 100% not the same guy. I did a double take and told the store manager. She didn't believe me.

She believed me later, though, when the guy turned out to be a major drug addict who was also selling heroin and meth out of his car in our parking lot DURING HIS SHIFTS. Come to find out the dude had a cousin who would pretend to be him for job interviews so he'd get hired; apparently this had happened at multiple other businesses in that small area, and the dealer was afraid potential new employers would recognize him during the application/interview process, so he got the cousin to "help him out." He figured once he was hired and showed up for his first day, it would be "too late" and the employer would just be stuck with him. Pretty sure he got busted and is in prison now.

I have actually heard about this. Legal got involved because they were worried the guy could be stealing data and identity info. Who is that guy?

https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/comments/shi4d0/the_new_hire_who_showed_up_is_not_the_same_person/

??????

We had a similar situation years ago where the new hire looked nothing like the candidate we hired. Some careful questioning, and she mentioned that she had on a much different wig (from long brown to short black).

With the more extreme differences you noted, you may be misrembering. However, I would be looking through Josh's linked in contacts to see if there is someone on there who matches who you interviewed.

Please tell me you documented the questions you asked in the interview, and wrote or summarized what he answered. Better if you recorded it. What you can prove is massively important.

Get HR and his boss involved immediately, give them all your evidence, be sure to tell them you want to be anonymous, and let them handle it.

How long ago was the interview? Was it possible he had a good tan then, and it’s since dissipated?

I’m all for a good conspiracy theory, but him knowing you is tougher for sure to buy in to that.

Had that happen at the company where I worked last century. Fortunately, it was a contractor. Not only did the team figure it out within the first 48 hours, but the agency ate the hours he "worked". (It was that or get disqualified from future opportunities).

Whoever "Josh" is, he'll reveal fairly soon whether or not he can do the work.

Eye witness testimony is incredibly unreliable. But the worst part is that we believe it's incredibly accurate. Is it possible they pulled a switcharoo and fooled everyone but you? sure. Is it more likely that you mis remembered the guy? yes.

Send feedback to HR that interviews should ask to bring photo ID

You're the guy who assumed your coworker was "doing an acid" on Fridays 💀 maybe it's you?

Edited: this dude is a troller with nothing but bullshit posts.