The vast majority of workers say they’ve been “catfished” into taking a job, meaning they were presented with a deceptive view of the job role during the hiring process, according to a March report from Monster.
In a survey of 1,400 U.S. workers, 79% said the role didn’t live up to the description provided by a recruiter or hiring manager. Among those, 49% said the work responsibilities were different than expected, while 21% said the company culture was misrepresented and 9% said the compensation or benefits were overstated.
On the other hand, 13% of workers admitted to “career catfishing” on their end, meaning they’ve exaggerated their qualifications or background to land a job. Among those, 8% said they overstated job responsibilities in previous roles, 7% overemphasized skills or technical abilities, 7% boosted their work experience and 3% fudged their education or certifications.
In addition, 67% of workers said they believe they work with at least one “career catfish” who they think has exaggerated or misrepresented their qualifications or skills.
Overall, though, 85% of workers said they believe “career catfishing” is morally wrong. Beyond that, 31% of workers said they believe that those who are caught “career catfishing” during the hiring process should be terminated immediately.
Catfishing by both employers and job candidates has increased in recent years, with growing numbers of employees reporting the position didn’t match what was described during the hiring process or that the job had more responsibilities than anticipated, according to a Greenhouse report. Candidates said clear communication is key — and that poor communication often served as a red flag that drove them away during the hiring process.
Talent acquisition teams can improve their hiring processes by adapting to change, creating a candidate-first approach and addressing design failures, according to Tim Sackett, CEO of hrutech.com and senior faculty of the Josh Bersin Academy. HR pros should also reconsider traditional thinking related to time-to-hire metrics, recruiting capacity and applicant quality, he said.
