Catfishing is the new ghosting, so how can organisations protect themselves against this fishy practice?
From quiet quitting and coffee badging to hushed holidaying and hustle culture, there is always some new workplace buzzword doing the rounds. While some, for example the great resignation, are contextually relevant to global workplace dynamics, others are just new ways to describe commonly held workplace feelings.
Having said that, buzzwords can be an apt way to showcase the changing attitudes towards working life, expectations and future goals, particularly for Gen Z. Career catfishing, for example, is the process of deliberately deceiving your employer, and was coined in the early 2020s largely in response to an increasingly digitised and competitive jobs market.
So, what do you need to know about career catfishing, and how can your organisation avoid falling for it hook, line and sinker?
How is it cat-egorised?
Career catfishing has nine lives in that it can appear in multiple forms.
The most obvious and perhaps well-known example would be cases where a new hire deliberately chooses not to show up to work on their first day and fails to inform their employer. While there is no one root cause, research suggests that it may be as a result of candidates becoming defiant after being dragged through arduous and lengthy recruitment processes.
GenZ, in particular, as a group that have been vocal about the need for work-life balance and their unwillingness to adhere solely to traditional working values, may be more likely to catfish as their ambitions may not align with monolithic organisational goals.
Presenting falsehoods as fact and impersonating others is also a form of career catfishing. This is where a person lies about their credentials and even their identity in order to secure a position far outside of their skills. While lying about skillset is of course counterintuitive to long-term success, deceiving a corporation in regards to identity is against the law and therefore could expose both the individual and the organisation to legal consequences.
Lastly, a successful candidate may have embellished their educational background in order to be considered for the role. This can include claiming to have studied at a prestigious institution, how they performed at university or the degree they graduated with.
Something is fishy
How then can organisations reduce the risk of hiring a career catfisher? Well, when it comes to dealing with hires that choose not to turn up it isn’t entirely the fault of the applicant. Often organisations will put potential candidates through a recruitment process that is far too long, draining time and money.
Companies that want to attract dependable, straightforward people need to show that they too can be transparent about their motives. The job listing for example should be clear, the criteria, expectations and compensation should not alter post-hiring and applicants should be in regular contact with the employer once the job has been secured.
When it comes to trying to detect whether an applicant is being honest or not, vigilance and time will be your best friend. Make sure to do your due diligence and look into all of the information that was provided, including previous employers, their educational background and the certifications they have earned. More often than not people are who they say they are, but you should be cautious nonetheless.
Red flags can include timelines that don’t add up, social media platforms that are conveniently new, the lack of a portfolio or body of work despite being qualified or previously employed and a failure to provide references, amongst others.
All you can do is trust your gut, if something feels off, or just a little bit fishy you owe it to yourself, your employees and sometimes even the candidate to investigate, in order to have the full picture and make the best, or even a purr-fect choice. Okay that’s it, no more cat and fish puns, I don’t want to go overboard.
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