What usually gets embellished
| What the CV says | What it often means | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| Job title "head of department" | senior specialist with no direct reports | ask about team size and the names of direct reports |
| "Increased sales by 40%" | market growth or the whole department's achievement | ask about personal contribution and the calculation base |
| Continuous employment history | gaps hidden by rounding dates | check dates month by month |
| "Implemented CRM" | took part in implementation as a user | ask about their role, the stages and the difficulties |
| Level of software proficiency | basic functions | a practical task |
Seven verification steps
Step 1. Check the chronology
Ask for employment dates by month rather than by year. "2022–2024" can mean two and a half years or thirteen months. Gaps in themselves are not a problem — hiding them is.
Step 2. Questions about specifics rather than qualities
"Are you resilient under stress?" yields nothing: everyone says yes. What works are questions about specific situations: what exactly did you do, what decision did you take, how did it turn out, what would you do differently. Someone with real experience answers with detail; someone without answers in generalities.
Step 3. A practical task
A small task close to the real work gives more information than an hour of conversation. Key conditions: it should take a reasonable time (up to an hour and a half or two), be paid if substantial, and not amount to free work for the company.
Examples of tasks: for an accountant, working through entries for a typical situation; for a sales manager, a conversation using your real scenario; for a marketer, a review of your current campaign with suggestions.
Step 4. Checking references
The most underrated step: it takes 15 minutes and filters out a significant share of problem cases. Call the immediate former manager, not the HR department and not a colleague the candidate nominated.
What to ask a former manager
- In what period and in what role the person worked — cross-check against the CV
- Which tasks they performed independently and which under supervision
- What they did best and what they found hard
- How they behaved in difficult situations and when they made mistakes
- Would you take them back — and if not, why
- What a new manager should bear in mind for this person to do well
The last question often produces the most valuable answer: it is framed as help rather than scrutiny, and people answer it more candidly.
Step 5. Checking education and qualification documents
For roles where qualifications are critical — accountant, engineer, medical staff — request original documents and, where necessary, verify their authenticity with the issuing institution.
Step 6. Open sources — with caution
Professional profiles and public activity give an impression of a person. But it is important to observe both proportion and the law here: reviewing public professional information is normal practice; gathering personal information unrelated to the work is not.
On personal data. In Kazakhstan the processing of personal data is governed by the law on personal data and its protection. Collecting and processing candidate data must be done with their consent and to the extent necessary to assess suitability for the role. Requirements unrelated to professional qualities are impermissible.
Step 7. A final check on motivation
Before making an offer it is worth asking directly: why are you leaving your current role, what are you looking for, what other options are you considering, and what might prevent you from starting. The answer to the last question flags counter-offer risk in advance.
How to run situational interviews
This is the main tool for checking real experience, and it works on a simple pattern: instead of hypothetical questions you ask the person to recall a specific case and go through it step by step.
| What you ask | What the answer reveals |
|---|---|
| Tell me about a specific situation when... | Whether there is real experience or only theory |
| What was the task and what constraints existed? | Understanding of context and scale |
| What exactly did you personally do? | Personal contribution versus the team's achievements |
| What was the result, in numbers? | Results orientation and honesty in self-assessment |
| What would you do differently now? | Capacity for reflection and learning |
The mark of real experience is detail that cannot be invented on the spot: role names, specific obstacles, failed attempts. The mark of embellished experience is a smooth account in general terms and a shift from "I" to "we" when asked about personal contribution.
A candidate for a head of department role stated in their CV experience managing a team of twelve and a 40% growth in results.
Asked about the team structure, it emerged that formally two people reported to them while the others were brought in for projects. Asked about the calculation base for the growth figure, it turned out the metric was measured from a low base after a downturn, and the growth was largely explained by market recovery.
The candidate deceived nobody deliberately — they described the situation in the most favourable light, as most people do. Two clarifying questions brought the picture back to reality, and the decision was then made on facts.
Red flags
What should give you pause
- Refusing to provide contacts of former managers with no coherent explanation
- In every previous company, management, colleagues or circumstances were to blame
- Dates, job titles or company names not matching when clarified
- Leaving several positions in a row within the first months
- Readiness to start immediately despite formal obligations to the current employer
- Avoiding a practical task under various pretexts
- Pressure on decision speed: "I have another offer, answer today"
A single flag does not mean rejection — each point can have a perfectly normal explanation. What is concerning is a combination of several signs, especially if the candidate avoids direct questions.
What you must not do
- Demand information unrelated to professional qualities and the nature of the work
- Call the current employer without the candidate's consent — this can cost them their job
- Reject on grounds unrelated to professional qualities
- Collect and store candidate data without legal basis and consent
How long this takes
| Stage | Time | What it gives |
|---|---|---|
| Checking chronology | 10 minutes | reveals gaps and inconsistencies |
| Situational interview | 40–60 minutes | separates real experience from claimed experience |
| Practical task | 1–2 hours of candidate time, 20 minutes to review | confirms skills |
| References | 15–30 minutes | an independent view of their work |
| Documents | 15 minutes | confirms qualifications |
That is about two hours of work per finalist. Against the cost of a bad hire, which for a specialist is measured in millions of tenge, it is an extremely good investment of time.
In brief
Verify facts, not impressions: check dates month by month, ask about specific situations, set a practical task, call the former manager and confirm qualifications with documents. Everything you collect must relate to professional qualities and be processed with the candidate's consent.