The HR personnel in companies here have been downloading one app incessantly- the Plagiarism Checker. The reason – mindboggling amount of plagiarised resumes.

Most of the resumes candidates come up with are flashy and run to pages. But most often they get exposed when they sit through a group discussion or in front of a panel of interviewers. There is a total mismatch of skill sets mentioned in the resume and what the candidate is aware of.

Google seems to be more a bane than boon as candidates blindly copy paste resumes that the search lists offer when they rummage round for their related skill sets. Sometimes it is not just the copy of a single resume but multiple ones, said an HR staff of a private concern in Coimbatore.

Dr B Muthukumaran, IT and Cyber Security Expert recounted his experience when he recently conducted an interview in the US for the position of Admin, Big Data. The woman candidate in question had an unbelievable resume with multiple skills. It was a resume that almost fit perfectly, something that did not strike ordinary. Just as she started speaking, he grew suspicious and began asking pointed questions to which she was unable to respond. The resume stated that she had played different roles in different projects but on being questioned indepth on the supposed projects, she finally admitted that she was only a co-ordinator for those who had undertaken the projects.

There was another case where the CV of a candidate had several machine-related languages that were mentioned as part of his skills and when asked in detail, the interviewee was unable to answer anything. He dismissed some of them mentioned stating that it was a typo! This mismatch is the main reason why HR personnel are unable to get the right competency skills.

Adds an HR from a Mumbai-based company, “We get resumes in the form of booklets with so much about the candidate. Though booklet resumes are in, it is important to note that the candidate should give all details but should not give it all either. Meaning, there should be scope for the interviewer to ask questions. Giving it all gave no chance for the employer to seek and find. It is very important to have some elements hidden so that the interviewer is triggered with an interest to unearth it.”

Defending this, S Rajsekar, an engineer, said the intent of the candidates was not to deceive but simply was English. Most students were unaware of how a resume was to be written and it was never taught in classes. When forced to do it with all the limitations, they tend to copy paste from the net. “Unlike a thesis, there is no need for footnote and references in a resume. Resumes should not be evaluated on these lines and if they are then the employer will lose out on eligible candidates.”