Sofia Didukh, Chief Executive Officer at SODI, said that her company’s recruiter recently encountered a virtual pseudo-candidate who tried to convince the interviewer that he was Ukrainian.
Sofia Didukh, Chief Executive Officer at SODI, said that her company’s recruiter recently encountered a virtual pseudo-candidate who tried to convince the interviewer that he was Ukrainian.
«I wrote earlier about candidates of Asian appearance who pose as native Ukrainians. Today, they knocked again from where they did not expect. Today, our recruiter was faced with another case that raises serious questions about ethics and candidate vetting. Before the interview itself, the candidate refused to turn on the camera, instead immediately sent a video (although we did not ask for it), which, as it turned out, was generated using AI,» said Sofia.
According to her, the video used someone else’s face, and the candidate tried to convince people in English that he was a native Ukrainian.
«This raises many questions:
1. How to effectively filter such cases?
2. Do the people whose faces are used to create such AI videos know that their identities may be involved without their consent?
3. Should we introduce new verification methods to exclude the use of such technologies? «, — Sofia noted.
In the comments, IT people give advice on how to filter out such pseudo-candidates.
« I had a similar situation last week, I call Mykola, and a guy with an Asian accent answers in English, who says he recently moved from China and doesn’t know Ukrainian,» said Talent Acquisition Specialist Lina Bohonko.
«And absolutely everyone has bad internet. This always helps to end the conversation in 5-10 minutes, citing that it is impossible to conduct a quality assessment in such conditions. Then in the review I politely write that starting a relationship with a lie is not what we are looking for,» adds Senior TA Specialist Victoria Vorobyova .
«These extremely enterprising people came from the US/Canada market. Their concentration is much higher there, it is easier for them to pass themselves off as locals, and the salaries are higher. Over the past week, I have come across a „native“ Ukrainian, a Pole, and a Latvian of Chinese origin. So they are actively reaching the European market,» said recruitment specialist Lyubov Viktorenko .
According to her, there are a lot of such pseudo-candidates in full-stack roles. «They point out that they have all possible stacks, languages, etc. I immediately go to their LinkedIn profile: as a rule, it was created no earlier than the spring of 2024. They either have no photos or are generated by AI, there is very little activity. It varies greatly by company — from completely fake to normal ones, where they quietly add themselves. On the call: only with video (ultimatum). Usually they have a blurry background, headphones like in a call center, and a terrible accent. When I see them, I immediately ask them not to waste our time and end the call,» she advised.
Volodymyr Knysh, DevOps Team Lead, advises asking candidates to recite a Ukrainian poem from the school curriculum.
Anastasia Voitenko, Founder at Lead Team IT recruitment agency, advises analyzing a LinkedIn profile. «Most often, they have some kind of fake companies in their profile. I don’t say anything about my education. They also use strange names and surnames. Also, Asian scammers often have unicorn functionality mixed in, that they work with all technology stacks, and they are also architects for a pittance. And often, they upload a photo that is either blurry/indistinct, or with their back to the camera/with glasses,» she noted.
