Every job posting attracts an overwhelming flood of applicants, typically 50 to 250 per position. As hiring managers, we’re left sifting through a stack of résumés, trying to determine which candidates are genuinely qualified versus those who simply look good on paper. The challenge? A significant percentage of applicants turn out to be fake, misrepresenting their credentials, work history, or even identity.
3 Ways to Find Real Candidates
1. Implement Rigorous Pre-Screening Steps
Beyond résumés, hiring managers must implement structured pre-screening methods to separate serious candidates from those who simply look good on paper. Traditional hiring often relies too heavily on résumés, which can be misleading due to embellishments, keyword stuffing, or outright fabrication. To counter this, incorporating pre-screening assessments ensures that applicants have the actual skills and experience required for the job before moving forward in the process.
One effective approach is to use structured application forms with specific, job-relevant questions that require applicants to demonstrate their expertise. These could include:
- Competency-based questionnaires that test knowledge of key industry concepts
- Scenario-based exercises that assess problem-solving skills and decision-making in real-world work situations
- Technical skill assessments for roles that require software proficiency, coding, data analysis, or other specialized knowledge
By making these steps mandatory early in the hiring process, hiring managers can significantly reduce time wasted on unqualified candidates while ensuring that only serious, high-potential applicants move forward. This strategy also helps standardize hiring criteria, making the process more objective and data-driven rather than subjective résumé screening.
2. Leverage AI & Automation in Resume Screening
With the overwhelming volume of job applications hiring managers receive—often 50 to 250 per position—manually reviewing résumés is not only time-consuming but also prone to human bias and error. This is where AI-driven Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) can revolutionize the process.
Modern ATS platforms are equipped with AI-powered algorithms that analyze résumés for:
- Work history inconsistencies – detecting discrepancies in dates, missing job experience, or conflicting job titles
- Skill relevance – ensuring that the applicant’s experience matches the job’s required qualifications, rather than just keyword matching
- Red flag detection – identifying warning signs such as vague descriptions, unexplained employment gaps, or rapid job-hopping
By leveraging AI and automation, hiring managers can quickly and accurately filter applications, significantly reducing the manual workload and ensuring that only the most qualified and credible candidates make it to the next stage.
Additionally, AI-driven ATS tools can rank candidates based on relevance, allowing hiring teams to focus their efforts on the best-matched individuals rather than sifting through hundreds of unverified résumés. When combined with pre-screening assessments and valid8 verification, this technology becomes an invaluable asset in building a fast, effective, and fraud-resistant hiring process.
3. Prioritize Verified Candidates with valid8
The easiest way to cut through the noise is by starting with valid8ed candidates—those who have undergone rigorous identity authentication and employment verification before ever reaching your desk. In today’s hiring landscape, where fraudulent applications are becoming increasingly common, valid8 ensures that the candidates you’re considering are not just polished résumés but real, qualified professionals with verified backgrounds.
These applicants have already proven their credibility through a secure, digital identity management system that confirms their employment history, identity, and readiness for work. This means you can confidently move forward with interviews and job offers, knowing that you’re engaging with legitimate, employable individuals, not applicants who are misrepresenting themselves or using AI-generated résumés to game the system.
By turning to the short stack of valid8ed candidates first, you eliminate hours of unnecessary screening, reduce hiring risks, and increase the speed at which you fill critical positions with top-tier talent. Instead of sifting through hundreds of applications and questioning what’s real, you can focus your time and resources on evaluating candidates who are already verified and ready to contribute from day one.
In a competitive job market, where every day a position remains unfilled can impact productivity and revenue, valid8 gives hiring managers the fastest and most reliable way to secure high-quality hires with confidence.
Educating Employers: The Need for a Better Hiring Process
Employers understand the issue of fake applicants, but many don’t realize there’s a solution. That’s where valid8 comes in, empowering hiring managers across industries to identify, prioritize, and hire real candidates faster.
By validating identities and employment history upfront, valid8 helps companies focus on real talent while accelerating time-to-hire. And the benefits don’t stop at hiring, valid8 also streamlines onboarding, allowing candidates to pass their verified background information directly to an employer’s screening provider.
The TSA Pre-Check for Hiring
Think of valid8 as the TSA Pre-Check for your hiring process – trusted, fast, and efficient. Instead of sorting through hundreds of questionable applications, hiring managers can start with a trusted pool of verified candidates, reducing hiring risks and increasing efficiency.
Help us spread the word, share this with your network and start hiring smarter today.
Don’t waste time sifting through a mountain of résumés filled with inflated credentials and unverified experience. With valid8, you get instant access to pre-vetted, real candidates – so you can fill critical positions faster with confidence. Join the movement toward smarter hiring. Start prioritizing valid8ed candidates today and see the difference firsthand.
About valid8
valid8 is revolutionizing hiring by ensuring trust, security, and efficiency in the job market. With fake candidates on the rise, we provide a proven solution for job seekers and employers like verifying real talent and eliminating hiring guesswork. For job seekers, valid8 offers a secure digital identity vault for authentication, employment verification, and credentials, helping them stand out and fast-track their job search.
For employers, valid8 pre-verifies candidates, reducing hiring risks, speeding up time-to-hire, and ensuring hiring managers focus only on real, qualified professionals. By prioritizing valid8ed candidates, companies can skip the flood of questionable applications and connect directly with top-tier talent. Think of valid8 as the TSA Pre-Check for hiring—trusted, fast, and reliable.