You May Have to Prove You Are Real to Get Your Next Job

When you applied for your last job, nobody asked whether you were really you. You sent a CV, joined a few video calls, and got an offer. The next time may feel different. The interviewer might ask you to turn your camera on and keep it on, to hold your ID up to the screen, or to come into an office for the final round even though the job is remote.

There are reasons for this, and they are not personal. Remote hiring made it much easier to apply from anywhere, and it also made it easier to pretend to be someone else. Law enforcement agencies in the United States have publicly warned about people using stolen identities, and in some cases altered video, to get hired into remote technical jobs, sometimes to gain access to company systems. Separately, AI tools have made it easier to fake parts of an interview. How common this really is varies by industry and is hard to measure, but enough companies have been caught out that hiring processes are changing.

Expect more identity checks during hiring, and more of them earlier than before. Some companies have brought back in person interviews for at least one stage. Others use identity verification services or ask for documents before an offer rather than after. Rules about what employers may ask for and how they store it differ from country to country.

Try not to take it as an accusation. Being asked to prove you are a real person is becoming as routine as being asked for references. A calm, cooperative response reads well. If a check makes you uncomfortable, it is fair to ask how your data will be stored and for how long.

At the same time, protect yourself, because scammers have noticed this too. Fake recruiters ask for passport scans and bank details for jobs that do not exist. Only send identity documents through the company's official process, after you have confirmed the company and the role are real. A genuine employer will rarely ask you to send ID over a chat app before you have spoken to anyone.

If you interview other people, the same applies in reverse. Follow your company's process consistently for every candidate, so no one is singled out because of an accent, a name or a bad connection.

The honest candidate has nothing to fear from this. A little patience on both sides keeps the trust that hiring depends on.

– Asael Shinder