Rethinking Candidate Communication in an Era of Digital Deception

The recruitment process has never been easy for human resources professionals, but now it is more challenging than ever due to rising candidate fraud. Someone who seems like the perfect fit for a role may not have the experience they claimed, or they may not even be a real person. What should HR teams be aware of, and what changes should they make to candidate communication techniques as a result?

Know the Common Candidate Fraud Tactics

Many candidates embellish their credentials, and some people entirely fabricate them. That means HR teams should never merely take applicants at their word. They should also learn to spot the signs that a person in a video or photograph could be AI generated.

Experts familiar with the problem say that generative AI alters the hiring process in numerous ways. Some people use it to enhance their resumes, while others read chatbot prompts to interview questions while using second screens.

These approaches explain why many applications now require people to certify that they have not used generative AI tools while completing them. That helps to an extent but requires honesty, which not everyone shows.

Some candidates also rely on other, better-qualified people to be their interview stand-ins or hire ghostwriters to answer written questions. This is more common when those seeking employment lack native language skills or have other shortcomings that would quickly become apparent in interactions with hiring personnel.

A Canadian visa program geared toward Hong Kong applicants faced these problems. Although the vast majority had the required qualifications, documents revealed numerous instances of parties unable to answer basic questions about their purported fields of study when questioned by immigration officers. Professionals investigating the matter also believe some people used ghostwriters, especially to receive online course credentials by completing detailed essays.

Understand That Numerous Scams Have Become Increasingly Common

HR professionals feeling discouraged about the extra time required to vet candidates in today's job market should put things in perspective by remembering that applicants face increased risks of scams, too. Opportunities to work remotely have made people enthusiastic about envisioning a new future that does not require long commutes, office attire and tiny cubicles.

Scammers have also capitalized on the desperation that people can feel about finding suitable employment, especially if they are stay-at-home parents, disabled individuals, older adults or part of other groups that may face employment obstacles. One common tactic is that applicants learn they must pay to start a job, such as by purchasing training or access to an assignment portal. Typically, though, the positions never existed, and the offers were merely attempts to steal data.

These circumstances mean that applicants are also on guard against potential scams. Just as HR teams carefully plan candidate communication strategies, applicants analyze email content, company websites and job ads to see if the advertised positions seem legitimate.

Those involved in filling open roles cannot only assume that some candidates will try to fool them. They must also realize that applicants also have concerns about opportunities that are not what they seem. Some scammers create phony social media profiles to encourage participation in investment scams. They could just as easily make some for companies, meaning that applicants must be careful to avoid nonexistent opportunities.

Uphold a Transparent and Honest Recruitment Process

Hiring professionals can earn trust by putting themselves in the positions of those seeking jobs and asking themselves whether the distributed information seems suspicious. Some internal processes could seem like red flags to applicants who are particularly wary of being misled. Perhaps a company prefers candidates to download a specific app to streamline communication. Scammers also sometimes do the same, especially when using malware.

A 2025 study indicated that a quarter of applicants have less trust in employers that use artificial intelligence to evaluate their information. HR professionals can improve candidate communication by being open about how they will use the technology and when. Such disclosures enable applicants to decide whether to proceed or look elsewhere. Being up front with individuals is also an excellent way to build rapport, decreasing the chances that they will try to cheat or otherwise mislead during applications or interviews.

Hiring experts who use video interviews in their processes should strongly consider doing them live, rather than allowing candidates to submit their responses. That would make it impossible for applicants to prepare answers in advance, regardless of whether they try to do so with AI chatbots.

Verifying information rather than just trusting it as provided is another practical measure to lower candidate fraud. Mentioning those checks in job ads can also eliminate parties who might otherwise try to misrepresent themselves, preventing them from wasting HR teams' time.

Improve Candidate Communication With Awareness and Empathy

Hiring professionals must remain vigilant against candidate deception tactics while recognizing that not all applicants are trying to fool them. Those looking for work must also sift through AI-generated content, fake job ads and other traps targeting people who want to earn a living. Parties seeking to fill open roles will achieve the best results by staying aware of the most common mechanisms for misleading others and implementing preventive measures to identify those with ulterior motives.

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Devin Partida is the Editor-in-Chief of ReHack.com, and is especially interested in writing about human resources and BizTech. Devin's work has been featured on Entrepreneur, Forbes and Nasdaq.