I had another experience where a candidate lied to me about her compensation to get a higher offer from my company. We only learned about it after she had started, and we obtained some documentation about her. Had we known she had lied before she was hired, we would never have hired her. When we did learn about the lie, we discussed what to do and we elected to keep it to ourselves, but she lost all her integrity with me. I never trusted her the same. It likely hurt her career at that company, too.

On another occasion, during my tenure at a pharmaceutical company, we did a national search for an individual to lead a new process automation group who would work for me. This was something we'd never done before, and we put a lot of time and effort into recruiting the right person for the job. We eventually found someone working in Michigan for a competitor whom we believed had all the right credentials. This fellow was of Indian descent. In all candour, I had a gnawing sensation that something wasn't totally right with this individual. But he had done well on the interviews with other people, and my boss liked him. And since it had taken forever to find him, we went ahead with reference checking, made him an offer, and he accepted.

He then told us that his father had a motorbike accident in India and that he needed to go home to take care of his father. He said he needed to delay his start for six to eight weeks. We agreed and wished him well. A few weeks passed, and one day during a meeting with my boss, my boss commented that he had spoken to this fellow that morning and that his father was improving and that it was hot in India, etc. I found this a bit puzzling and troubling. I wondered why this guy was calling my boss. I asked about the caller ID on the phone call, and my boss was somewhat confused but commented that it appeared to be a US number. He simply assumed that the call had been transferred in to him. This call added fuel to my suspicions about this candidate, so when I went back to my office I asked my secretary to get this fellow on the phone at his office in Michigan. She looked at me like I was crazy and said he was in India and asked why would she should call his Michigan office. I told her to humour me, and that if she reached a receptionist, to simply ask for him and see what the answer was. To make a long story short, she called and on the first ring he answered the phone in Michigan at his old place of employment. My secretary passed the call to me, and I said, "You told my boss this morning you were in India." His response was, "Yes, I guess that's a problem." I answered back, "It certainly is," and I told him we would be in touch with him later. By the end of the day, we formally rescinded the offer. The lesson from this story is to learn to trust your instincts.