In times when recession is looming over the job market, job vacancies are numerous in contrast to the availability of people, and there is a desperate need to attract talent. This has changed the thought process of hiring managers and they are compelled to look for talent internationally as well as hire remotely. To add to it, the pandemic has made us witness virtual interview processes which seem quite normal. However, this new change in the hiring process comes with some unforeseen vulnerabilities.
Deep Fakes and Threats to the Recruitment Market
In June, there were warnings regarding a spike in complaints of deep fakes being used. Also, stolen private information was used for many remote work applications and work-from-home positions. So what exactly are deep fakes?
Deep Fakes, generally are video-based. They are altered in a very convincing manner to misrepresent an individual as saying or doing something which wasn’t actually said or even done. This process of using deep fakes in job interviews is an indicator that hiring frauds are more sophisticated in contrast to doctoring CVs or purchasing degree certificates online. The concern here lies in the roles where such frauds occur – IT, database job roles, computer programming, and software job roles. It also occurs in jobs that provide access to financial and customer information, corporate databases, and also proprietary information.
Spike in Hiring Pressure
Presently, firms are rushing to fill up positions and catch the best talent. In this rush, inconsistencies in the CVs are overlooked. Companies need to enhance and automate their pre-employment screening process, and increase the range of standard checks done, to avoid such frauds.
Though on an average, FinTech firms run around seven checks for every candidate, data indicates that the relevant ones might not be selected. The common checks that a finch or financial service firm conducts on employees are checks on financial history, global sanctions, and criminal records. Yet, what they fail to check are CV gaps, civil litigation cases, and employment history.
Checks on the Social media of Employees
So, other than academic qualifications, and ID checks, what is it that firms fail to check? Checks on an employee’s social media will help identify any inappropriate or offensive behaviour of the individual. This is a major blind spot that has been ignored by many businesses. Last year, checks in this area amounted to just 0.02% of all the checks done. Also, checks on adverse media, which highlights any negative press reports on a candidate, was 0.71%. These two aspects are crucial for businesses that want their new employee to align with the culture of the brand and avoid any form of reputational damage.
Technology in Recruitment
With technology, posts as well as images of a year can be analysed. This helps identify particular risk factors such as bullying, narcotics, self-harm, violence, hate speech (political), and violent images. It then generates a report within 30 minutes, while conforming to the social media guidelines. So, what you need to be sure of is that, irrespective of which country you hire talent from, ensure they are real and not deep fakes!
The article has been published by the editorial board of the Fintek Diary. Happy Reading. For more information please visit www.fintekdiary.com
