How can Jinn protect your business against resume fraud?

In these hard times of lockdown and curfew all over the world, a particular case of resume fraud has been brought to my attention. I want to share it with you, and explain what would be the benefit of using Jinn in this situation.

Experts speeches, a music to our ears

We usually turn to experts when we are seeking for answers to topics we do not fully grap. It is in human nature. German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer even consider it as a technique to win an argument in his excellent essay “The Art of Being Right” (Method 30: Appeal to Authority rather than Reason). No wonder when we are facing an unknown virus such as Covid-19, many people are willing to listen to anyone claiming to be a doctor. But the downside is, many charlatans in search of fame are trying to take advantage of people’s uncertainties. Sometimes, they are going as far as pretending to be what they are not. Just like in this famous story from Aesop, “The Frog and the Ox“. This is what happened in the following case.

The expert, who was not really an expert

In Senegal, a man called Amadou Samba, claimed to be director of a clinic. For about 100 000 FCFA (about €150), this “doctor” proposed his patients a covid-19 test. That is something extremely precious, especially at this time of exponential growth of coronavirus cases worldwide. Once he got paid, he collected blood, and went home with it. There, he spilled it in his sink. Later, he provided the patient a fake certificate declaring the test returned negative. At the peak of his fame, many TV studio sets invited him to speak. One day, one of his “patients” called the Institut Pasteur of Dakar, a medical research center, to thank them for their cooperation in his test. The Institute answered they did not know him, nor doctor Amadou Samba. Arrested, the fake doctor confessed to pretending to be a doctor almost his whole life, although he had no qualification nor diploma.

Resume fraud in general

Resume fraud is present everywhere. Even the most powerful employers in the world experience it. Fortunately, most of the times the consequences are not as bad as helping a deadly virus to spread. However, they are still very harsh. For employees, it can be grounds for contract termination, or loss of professional license. In most extreme cases it can go to criminal charges or civil liabilities. In nearly all cases, it is a permanently damaged reputation. For employers, this is either a more expensive recruitment campaign, to properly vet all the candidates, or the risk of hiring an inadequate candidate, whose lack of efficiency may cost a lot. Thanks to Internet, it has never been so easy to fake some skills, or print fake certificates to embellish a resume, or just impress people. With current social media, it is also easy to build a fake profile, and advertize about it.

Jinn and resume fraud

This may not solve the issue of resume fraud altogether. But Jinn wants to propose a very simple tool to easily vet anyone registered. Concretely, a candidate fills a profile. He or she adds professional experiences and education, the names of the companies he or she worked for, and the names of schools or universities he or she attended. In case these institutions are on Jinn too, they receive a message, requesting them to confirm the candidate’s claims. If they acknowledge that the candidate is an alumnus or a graduate, the candidate gets a token near the relevant experience. If not, the experience appears with no verification token. To optimize the process, all organizations member of Jinn can submit documents to verify their authenticity. By doing so, they get a blue “verified” badge. In case the school or company is not present on Jinn, it is still possible to send an invitation.

With such system, candidates background screening would be easier than ever. Most importantly, all users could use such feature, not just companies with huge resources. There are still some questions to answer, like who is going to represent the institution – leadership, HR department or any employee. But it is certainly an area of improvement for the site in the next versions.