A simple online search will point anyone in the direction of a host of websites that provide fake degrees for a meagre fee. Presenting fake degrees to gain an edge in the recruitment process has become a common and dangerous practice, because it allows uneducated, untrained, and incompetent personnel access to positions where they would be in control of assets, sometimes to devastating effect, and is essentially an act of fraud. If this act may have serious repercussions for entry-level and mid-positions, imagine the havoc it may wreak if a CEO at your organization has a fake degree, which is why it’s important to go into your executive search with a series of revealing questions to verify your candidates’ credentials.
To avoid going down the same road as Yahoo, who took their former CEO’s claim of holding a degree in computer science at face value, while his proclaimed alma matter did not even offer that degree, ask the candidates you interview during your executive search the following questions:
- What was your favourite class? Can you give me an example of how you applied concepts you learned in that class to your day-to-day work? Who was your favourite professor?
Your candidate should be able to answer this question by providing particular details and you will be able to tell that there is an emotional level to their response. Their answer may sound like this “My favourite professor was Professor Smith. He had a commanding presence and taught strategy, where I learned about value chain analysis, that IKEA uses, and it’s come in very handy in my job because I use it all the time.”
- Can you describe what the town that was near your university was like? What were the people like? Was there a culture clash?
This second question is quite useful for candidates that come from a city with a background that is different from the region where they studied. If they travelled to the US for university, they may have been surprised by going into regular stores and finding that people go about their days with guns strapped to their waists, for instance. The key here is to check for the details and the emotional dimension of their response, which is inevitable for people who have actually experienced campus life or moved from different cities or countries.
- What was your PhD thesis/master’s dissertation?
A vague answer would sound like “international law” or “business” because they are topics, and not theses, a definite red flag for you to watch out for. A thesis is a statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved by a subsequent body of research. It is not a report or an area of study. Ask about the details of their thesis and remember the emotional component, which should exude fervour and excitement, because a person who has spent between a year (in the case of a master’s dissertation) up to seven years (in the case of a PhD) researching a specific hypothesis would have to be passionate about that topic. You should have the sense that you almost need to pull them back and stop them from speaking as they can’t stop telling you about it, as opposed to a candidate with a fake degree, who would be very dry and lack all passion and emotion in their responses.
As a recruiter, it is your responsibility to catch candidates with fake degrees as it is the area where candidates are more likely to lie. This is particularly important in your executive assessment, to protect your organization from negligent performance and from its reputation being tarnished, perhaps to the point of no return.
Looking for more questions to ask a CEO? Read “CEO Assessment and Selection” to learn more about the 7 universal success factors for the Chief Executive Officer and unlock over 450 fail-safe questions that allow you to recruit top performers. Get more free CEO Assessment tips at https://tpgleadership.com/ceo-assessment-selection-book/ .
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