This is an introduction to a newsletter ghostwritten for a legal tech thought leader:
Picture it. A team leader and the HR manager walk into your office, casting quick, downward glances at each other.
You never imagined you’d be asked to call out an imposter today, but when are you ever in full control of your to-do list?
“We video-interviewed and hired a knowledgeable, experienced person named John for an IT role,” the HR manager explains.
“But a completely different John showed up to work,” the team leader follows up.
It’s not that a gregarious, confident interviewee appears a bit shyer and timid on the job. No.
The John who showed up to work has different hair and glasses. Details about his personal life had suddenly changed. He now can’t answer critical questions about his role that he easily answered before. And he doesn’t recall a colleague who’d been present at two of his three interviews.
HR hadn’t offered the job to the wrong candidate. Besides, this John claims the same work history and credentials as the John they interviewed.
But more people are noticing the oddities, and John seems woefully underqualified for the role.
How would you advise the HR manager and team leader?
I’m describing an actual case of fake interviewing—one that may occur more often in our increasingly virtual and remote work world.
In John’s case, legal approved HR to speak with John about him “overselling his abilities.” Security also traced John’s computer to see if his work was being completed with outside help or on a whole different computer.
John quit before HR could ask him anything. In the final story update, the company’s security team was still trying to discover what apps John downloaded and how to get their equipment back. They were all crossing their fingers that he hadn’t accessed confidential company information.
This is just one of many bizarre situations lawyers may need to deal with in our changing business environments.
Try as we might, we just can’t foresee everything that will happen.
But we can work on developing skills to help us deal with uncertainty and unexpected events. Personally, I continually work to step out of my comfort zone, build up my mental flexibility, and exercise my creative muscles.
What do you do to prepare for the unexpected?