Impersonating an applicant

I recently completed a phone interview with a gentleman who presented well, was polite, articulate, and overall someone who could have filled any one of a dozen jobs openings I was handling at the time. I gave him an initial offer at X company and sent his name to my coworker who would coordinate an onsite interview between the guy and the client's hiring supervisor.

After passing the name to my coworker, I forgot about the guy, as one is wont to do for an entirely uninteresting (i.e., not spectacularly bad) candidate.

For about two days.

I have a solid memory for names...Well, let me clarify that a bit. I have a solid memory for names that have to do with things like, 'that person suuuucks' or 'isn’t he the one who was fired for picking his scabs and eating them at work?'

[Sidebar: That's a true story and one so disgusting I am NOT going to share it because just thinking about it makes me want to puke.]

The main point is that I can recall names. Mostly. Well, maybe not. But I was pretty sure I remembered the name of the guy to whom I gave an initial job offer a few days prior. Then, when I saw a new application come through with the same name, I called to figure out why he was still on the active job hunt when he ostensibly had a job.

Funny thing was, a female answered the phone. When I asked for the candidate, she said that was her.

Now, I get that there are names that are very obviously male (Matthew) or female (Anna). I also get that there are names that are not gender-specific (Taylor), names that could belong to someone who identifies as a different gender, and names that belong to cultures to which I have no insight whatsoever.

Regardless of whether I remembered the name, whether he/she had a gender-neutral name, or whether I was completely out to lunch….I was 100 percent certain the person with whom I had spoken a few days prior was a middle-aged man, and the person on the other end of the phone was a female barely on the other side of puberty. There is no orbit in which they were the same person.

I decided to figure out what was going on:

Me: Is this application for you or for someone else?

Girl: For me.

Me: Then who did I speak with a few days ago regarding the warehouse position in Y city?

Girl: Oh, that was my friend.

Me: Your friend?

Girl: Yes.

Me: Your friend did an entire interview and got a job offer while pretending to be you?

Girl: Yes, he was probably just trying to help me out.

Me: Alright, look. Let me give you a piece of advice.

Girl: Ok.

Me: The fact that someone impersonated you for an entire interview is absolutely unacceptable. If they were doing it without your knowledge, you might want to talk to them about it because it's unacceptable. Illegal, even. He was offered a position after the interview. That position requires an onsite interview with the hiring supervisor. What do you think would happen if we give the supervisor a rundown of the gentleman we interviewed for the position, and then you show up?

Girl: It wouldn't be good?

Me: It wouldn't be good. You cannot have someone impersonating you for interviews. Ever. Understand?

Girl: Yes.

Me: Good. I think we're done here. Have a good rest of your day.

After which I promptly DNU'd the file with a variety of creative writing notes explaining the situation. Oh, and I told my coworker to cancel the onsite job interview.

Could the guy have been doing the interviews without the girl's knowledge? Yes. But…she sure seemed to be on board with the ‘he was just trying to help me out’ situation.

Argh. Ethics. Integrity. Maybe I truly am out to lunch for thinking these need to be things we care about?