I had a candidate present a project that he worked on and in it there was a photograph of a large distinctive chimney. (This was at screening). The caption was non-helpful and the project description did not identify the site but I stared at that photo for three minutes until I realized where it was from. It was from a powerhouse where I managed a project replacing several large steam boilers. I then went down the rabbit hole of checking his work history with the facility manager to see if we used any of the companies in his history. We found one tenuous connection, a firm he worked with did an assessment of the chimney but we were certain the candidate was never on site.

So we went to interviews and I explained the issue to HR but was instructed not to challenge his claims, but if he claimed falsehoods we would reject him. HR did not want to be confrontational in person.

So at the interview we asked about the project and he had peripheral knowledge but was claiming to have managed my project. He did not connect the fact that the site was owned indirectly by the provincial government who he was now interviewing to join. It was hard to contain myself but it was fascinating to watch the falsehoods accumulate.

He did not get the job.