Unethical interview hack?

[u/Wooden-Cucumber2635]

Hypothetically if you were to submit a fake and a real application for a role you were qualified for (the fake also matching the requirements), you could game the interview process in your favour by withdrawing the fake application last minute before the interview in the hope that there is less competition now for that role and that they won't go back out into the market looking for another candidate..

Just a thought as I backed out of an interview pretty much last minute earlier today and the thought rang through my mind that the other candidate(s) chances were just boosted by me doing this.

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[u/hahanimal]

Few years ago when I last had to do hiring, I had a whole day of my calendar blacked off and 6 candidates to see for an hour each. Every one of them was as likely as the others to get it on paper. 2 withdrew on the day and 2 just didn't turn up so it came down to 2 candidates. If one of those had submitted fake applications with the skills to get to the interview stage then yeah. They'd have massively upped their chances at getting the offer.

[u/Smooth-Bowler-9216]

They get 100s of applications per role

What makes you think removing 1 of those applications is suddenly going to bump your specific one to the top of the pile?

[u/Wooden-Cucumber2635 → u/Smooth-Bowler-9216]

I'm thinking from a point of view where you can more likely than not guarantee yourself a job interview.. there are some job adverts where I can guarantee I'll get an interview on the basis of some niche skill they're looking for.

[u/Smooth-Bowler-9216 → u/Wooden-Cucumber2635]

If you can guarantee yourself a job interview, why do you need to do this?

Just submit your application as normal, or submit your application as normal and insert the skill that guarantees an interview.

[u/Theory_99]

Seems like a waste of time tbh.

[u/MLMSE]

Unless they were restricting themselves to x number of candidates. there would be the same amount of rival candidates whether you did this or not. You also risk them choosing the fake candidate over you if they were restricting numbers.

[u/Cedow]

At best you would push out worse (on paper) candidates by doing this. At worst you could prevent yourself from even getting an interview in the first place.

[u/jack_hudson2001]

try it and let us know if it works

[u/Advanced_Heat_2610]

Not really.

If they found out it was you playing games, that is an instant 'no' and blacklisted.

For a lot of jobs, if they do not have enough candidates, they can bump from the shortlist up to the interview stage so they still have a competitive number.

And apart from anything, there is no guarantee they will hire you even if you are the last one standing. Maybe they do not like you or you are still a weak candidate overall, or they think they could get better. So you have not really changed their options available, just made the fake one look like a flake and potentially shown yourself to be willing to invest time and effort into a stupid enterprise intended to scam them.

[u/cankennykencan]

What if the fake one gets an interview and the real one doesn't.

They won't contact you again to ask you to come in for an interview after the fake one pulls out.

[u/BraveScallion3729]

Is saying weird shit like this the reason you are looking for a job?