The Bait and Switch Interview Trend

According to recent research, one in three Americans admitted to lying on their resumes. Some of the most common reasons include the applicant's years of experience (46%), educational background (44%), length of a position held (43%), and skills or abilities (40%). 

With the growth of virtual interviewing tools, hiring managers continue confronting an upsurge of more uncommon and fraudulent interviewing practices. Prospective employees are taking advantage of the now ubiquitous virtual and phone interviews by partaking in bait and switch, the unethical practice of a potential employee hiring someone to be their stand-in during the interview process.

While proxy interviewing may seem harmless because candidates still provide correct information, it is still dishonorable. Therefore, the bait-and-switch practice is not acceptable in any industry.

But companies aren’t the only ones who can experience a bait-and-switch situation. Conversely, many candidates run into a bait-and-switch job offer.

A bait-and-switch job offer is when the job has significant discrepancies with the job listing. For example, a digital marketing position may actually embody little creativity, unlike the description. The candidates' hours could also far exceed what the hiring manager previously mentioned, or there may be a major salary issue.

Bait and Switch Phone/ Video Interviews On the Rise

An October 2021 Indeed survey found that 82% of the 1,100 U.S. employers interviewed said they had adopted virtual interviews thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, and nearly all (93%) expected to continue using virtual interviews in the future.

Therefore, the number of phone and virtual zoom interviews at companies has escalated significantly, and anecdotal evidence suggests the number of bait and switch situations is rising. 

Recruitment experts said that bait and switch phone interviews are the easiest to pull off, as the applicants only need to find someone with a similar voice. In this case, the candidate’s voice may remain undetected in an office environment.  

On the other hand, interviewees can bait and switch Zoom interviews by declaring a technical or technical emergency that would require a phone interview (e.g., the wifi isn’t working or their webcam is malfunctioning). 

If the interviewer demands a video interview, candidates have a variety of methods to obscure the image of their stand-ins, including scratching or blurring their webcams, adding a filter, toying with the lighting, and wearing a disguise. 

Candidates can even superimpose another face on top of their own with deep fake technology. Deepfake technology uses deep learning artificial intelligence to replace the likeness of one person with another in video and other digital media.

“Some are simply trying to cheat the system and make it easier to get a job, but others have more malicious intentions to gain access to company systems and cause trouble once they’re there,” Matt Erhard, managing partner of recruiting firm Summit Search Group, stated in a U.S. News press release.

“Roles with access to customer or company financial data, or other proprietary and sensitive information, are the most at risk for this second type of scam,” Erhard concluded. 

Avoid Looking Like a “Fake” Candidate

Hiring managers are tasked with protecting sensitive and privileged information and must be hypervigilant to ensure their employees have the skills they demonstrate in interviews. Therefore, you must avoid looking like a potential bait-and-switch candidate before a company refuses a job offer. 

A few red flags managers look for when reviewing resumes and vetting candidates include missing information, a “too good” candidate, inconsistencies, no online footprint, and avoiding video interview calls. 

Don’t be the “too good” candidate

Legitimate applicants will ensure to include all their personal information on their resumes. But any candidate who has too many in-demand skills listed on their resume may look too good to be true. Hiring managers also look for gaps, overlaps in employment, or inconsistent job titles. 

Therefore, you should always explain gaps in your resume, reassure the hiring manager why you won't be taking time off again, and share the value you picked up along the way.

Create an online footprint

Most professionals have a social media profile or LinkedIn account. And companies may think you're fake or stringing them along if you don’t seem to exist on the internet.

A social media profile builds credibility. A well-written LinkedIn profile will give you credibility and establish you as a trustworthy potential employee. Every time a recruiter contacts you, you can be sure that they've looked at your profile.

A Jobvite survey found that 87% of recruiters find LinkedIn to be the most effective when vetting candidates during the hiring process – especially those under 45 (90%).

Be open to video calls

If companies have concerns about an applicant, current technology makes it very easy to replace phone interviews with video calls. Although this doesn’t eliminate the risk of scammers, it makes things more difficult for them.

Therefore, interviewers can ask you not to use any backgrounds, filters, or other camera alterations during your interview and to use your computer’s speakers rather than a headset, Erhard stated in the U.S. News press release. 

Additionally, a hiring manager may ask you to send in a scan of your photo ID as part of the application materials and then ask you to show that same ID on camera besides your face at the start of a video interview.

How Applicants Can Avoid Bait and Switch Job Offers

Candidates who find themselves in a bait and switch situation were hired for a particular position but ended up performing unrelated duties that most likely failed to utilize their proper skills. Experts have noted a few tips for candidates to avoid bait and switch. 

First and foremost, one of the best ways to avoid a bait-and-switch job offer is to work with a staffing agency to find a promising job. These agencies work with reputable companies and have agreements to ensure that the company is honest and hires a qualified employee. 

But if you search for a job yourself and proceed to an interview, you should beware of an interviewer that seems extremely stressed or frazzled and ask any questions that will clarify the roles and responsibilities of the position. 

Overworked and overstressed employees can be a sign that they are doing more work than they originally signed up to do, not just for a temporary period. If the interview isn’t straightforward and can’t give specifics or explanations, this could be a sign that the job description is a false advertisement. 

And if you miss bait and switch warning signs during the interview process and accept the job, compare your current duties to those listed in the job posting and what you recall from the interview. Then, write down the differences between what you expected to be doing and what you are actually doing. 

You should also determine if your skills are undervalued and ask yourself if you are unhappy in your new role or if you enjoy your work, even if the original job description didn’t identify these tasks.  

Overall, nobody should ever stay in a job that isn’t a good fit for them. You should continually assess the current job market, understand the positions available in your field, and move on.