How to Detect a Fake Expert from a Real One
I come across a large number of people who claim to be expert...
How can you detect the fake one from the real in a short time.
They all talk about a good game, and all the right buzzwords of the week.
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Answers (31)
Ask for or require professional career certifications for jobs. Employ an independent third party testing and employment verification background check service. Interview candidates in a panel setting. If the issue is buzzwords and talking a good game, ask more behavioral interview questions in the interview process.
Clarification added 2 months ago:
If you are referring only to LinkedIn Answers, it appears that the rating system awards designations that can be shared by users.
Judy H.
*Exp. CEO & Speaker *Leadership Development Specialist *Mentor & Coach to SMEs *Writer, Trainer and E-learning Designer
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Hi Tapas,
It's also generally easy to verify credentials with stringent reference checking. Hold a discussion and focus on the methods that they have used in the past to achieve specific results (that you determine prior to the discussion).
Often people can talk generally, but when it comes down to specific action, get lost because they are not across the details. In my experience, an expert is across all the details,the methods, the problems, the challenges and the examples they have used to achieve a result.
Hi @Tapas Shome
This is my personal opinion. But first of all you find keywords related to person's designation.
Like person is computer engineer then ask
1) interview questions on Live chat or live audio chat and verify person's answer
2) Find some task from codeproject.com / StackOverflow.com sites and tell person to give solution. and then verify his skills
3) Find your friend and tell him to take interview of desired expert and you involve in this interview to know what questions asked and what answers given by expert
4) Find project task from odesk.com,Elance.com sites and ask for solution to this Expert and verify his answer.
5) after all this you perform suggestions give by @Jessica Ehlers
Links:
William T. C.
Facebook Marketing Expert with 1,100,000 Fans
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Do a background check by calling their previous employers.
Dave M.
Professional trade show booth traffic builder and party entertainer. Corporate and private sector events.
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Ask for recommendations and references.
Clarification added 2 months ago:
... and ignore those who brag endlessly how great they are.
Martin R.
Design, concept and visualising services
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Intuition sometimes works, but in I find in practice it takes time, a good number of interactions, and a decent level of subject knowledge. The buzzwords thing can sometimes be a red-herring. While they are deeply annoying, both experts and amateurs use them, and on it's own isn't a useful metric. The best one can do is to balance out the benefit of the doubt with antennae on full. Sometimes too, real subject matter experts take a while to unearth or tease out, so I understand your perspective regarding presentation.
Mark V.
Experienced Cellular Network Engineer
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That would depend on the field. In some fields, there are some objective standards by which to measure expertise. (Academic degrees, professional certifications, etc.)
In others, like SEO or social media "experts", there are no such standards, everybody who's out of work has jumped on the bandwagon, gotten some "training", and is now presenting themselves as experts. And yes, they are great at slinging buzzwords.
For such people, a client list would be helpful in establishing expertise. The question you need to answer is, "What results have they gotten?"
Robert N.
Information Technology & Business IT Services Consultant.
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Having had the great good fortune to have worked with world class experts in several fields and knowledge domains I've noted a few traits that most of them seem to share.
Amongst the two most obvious of those traits
1] the more such people know within their knowledge domain, the more they recognise the limits of their knowledge and its application: what it is that they do not know. Such people are not afraid or ashamed to admit to any lack of knowledge.
2] true expertise is rarely [if ever] self-proclaimed; most experts I've encountered are pretty humble people with little interest in self-advertising or self-agrandisement.
Expertise and any status which goes with it is an accolade applied by others; such status rarely has any value unless it is has been accorded the individual by their peers - those who have sufficient domain knowledge to evaluate accurately and well.
***********
Having said that, it's also true that most of the people I've encountered in this manner have been academics rather than business people, although there were some rare few business people amongst them: it's therefore possible that these two 'rules' may not apply with equal force [if at all] outside academia.
The broad conclusion I draw from this experience is that when someone shouts about their expertise in public it's rarely well-founded or valid. Starting from a basis of generic scepticism is not a bad way to evaluate the claims of others: see what their peers think of their skills and expertise.
Costin-Sorin I.
Once QA, Always QA
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Depending on domain: live test.
I interviewed a while ago someone for a laboratory position (metallurgical).
One of the tasks for this position was to verify if the heat treatments were performed according to customer specs, techniques and requirements of travellers.
I provided the candidates with a chart, customer spec, technique and traveler (all of them, except customer spec were made - with errors - for the sole purpose of testing).
There were errors (5) in soaking time and temperature, revisions of specs,
etc.
Easy to spot the one that did not have the slightest idea of working with specs and HT.
Another thing, give them a predefined period of time but stay with them for at least 2 minutes. The way they start shows a lot about their confidence.
Benjamin T.
APAC | Talent Acquisition Leader | 10,100+ | Certified LinkedIn Recruiter Expert
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Perhaps provide a case study that has poor results but be enthusiatic about it and see if the candidate can articulate the weakness in that project.. (This test knowledge and confidence to push back).
Christine H.
Do you have your copy of my FREE Report yet? Get "Top 10 Linked Profile Success Secrets" now at: goo.gl/beKnU
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Learn more about them and the results they've achieved.
Brijendra C.
Human Resources at Dodsal E & C Pte Ltd
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If they are consistent , in providing genuine advice they are real
rest all is fake
Cheryl R.
Founder and Principal of CatapultMe and Cheryl Roshak Associates. Transforming Lives for Positive Change.
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haha! Great question. You put this under staffing and recruiting, and from that stand point, a good recruiter knows her industry or should know it inside and out, and what it takes to be more than competent for each position she fills. If a recruiter doesn't understand what the client is talking about, what the skills are, how the process works, what differentiates good work from mediocrity, then that person shouldn't be a recruiter, as she or he has no basis from which to judge candidates or their work if they don't understand the process. A good recruiter can ask the right questions to stump a phony in his or her tracks, it's not really all that hard. If you know what you're doing.
Also in recruiting there are levels of screening. The first pass is the resume cut off. You get hundreds of resumes, and very few of them make the cut. Then there's the initial phone interview from those, very few of those people get to the in person interview. So by the time you are interviewing someone, they have already passed and met certain criteria, and you have eliminated quite a few. Obviously a few have snuck through the gate and you've been had. But it's usually their personalities that are a dead give away. All talk no action. It's really a smaller world out there than you think.
But in general, let the buyer beware of anyone tooting his own horn too loudly in life. People of substance don't really need to do that, their reputation or work precedes them. Some people act like the voice of authority. Trust your instincts. Do you believe everything that everyone tells you? Check it out before you commit to anything, before you buy, before believe, before you send your candidate out, check around.
Jade B.
Analytical Chemist
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Here is my two cents: Test them using a real world problem and have an existing expert evaluate them.
Best case: a true peer sits down in with them while they map out their solution on a white board then watches their desktop remotely while they actually code.
Worst case: an non technical manager reads words he doesn't know to a candidate who is able to impress Him by using keywords printed in bold from an out of date textbook. Yikes!
If you want to make it interesting, give them everything they need but one or two pieces of information and see if they seek it out.
Good Luck!
Ted H.
Small Business Web Developer
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I am a big believer that past performance indicated future results. Also, experts should be able to follow their own advice. After all, would you go to a fat personal trainer? Likely not.
Monica M. P.
Expertise: Operational Efficiencies & Margin Enhancements
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Intuition - if it is truth it will feel light and will resonate in my heart; if it is false it will feel heavy and make my tummy feel strange.
Wallace J.
Multimedia Producer, i3D Programmer, Acrobat 3D PDF, Android App, Virtual World & iTV Design, Kindle, Nook & Sony eBooks
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Take a look at their client list, the number of major brands there, and repeat projects.
Links:
Susan T.
Business development analyst at Thinkstream
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Jade Barker said it exactly right. Demonstrating what you can do is exactly how I separate the wheat from the chaff.
The other technique I like is Behavioral Interviewing. I don't care what credentials you sport--if the knowledge they purportedly stand for can't execute in my environment, they're irrelevant. I want to hear brief stories about how you've solved problems and then watch you tackle something that you've never seen before and pick my panel's brains. I sit at the table with the values statement and a checklist of essential skills and score the candidate as he or she grapples with the problem, talks (or doesn't) with the team, and I can picture how they'll perform on the job, at least initially. Positive reinforcement will take it from there.
That will tell me everything I can find out in an interview about your competency and motivation--and it's very easy to watch the social dynamics as well.
Bruce E.
Programmer
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the only way to tell for sure is to already be an expert yourself. failing that only time will tell tho if checking the person's background raises some red flags you can save yourself some grief and move onto the next possibility.
btw, the 'talking a good game' is the key - you can be completely full of crap but if say it confidently and forcefully enough most other people are not secure enough in their own knowledge to challenge you
Jay B.
Human Resources Executive........................................................ Driving HR to the Pinnacle
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Easy.
Ask a few specific detail questions in area of expertise. Never fails--provided you ask the right questions
Sahar A.
Diversity& Inclusion|Leadership training|Social Media Marketing|Social Media Training|Public Speaker|Culture Competence
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First I cant help myself but rolling my eyes when I hear terms like experts, rock stars, gurus etc... especially of they call themselves that it would be another story of people attributed these titles on them i.e. referred you to them describing them as experts in their fields and yes it is true that SM is a new territory and some people call themselves SM experts and there is nothing called a SM expert as SM is a very fast field that has SM networks that are even sudivided to sub categories, then there are bloggers and SEO strategists, and SM Marketing
So there are SM strategists or professionals or specialist but expert in all SM is fat fetched as they can be strong in one area of SM and not the other take it from a certified SM strategist
Now that being said I would always check references, portfolio, if they have blogs, books, spoke at events and conferences, were quoted in any books or magazines, check their clients lists and recommendations and their credentials
I assume you are talking about computer programmers based on your company.
I am not an expert but from being married to a top notch programmer who would not know a buzzword if it hit him in the nose, I can tell you a very easy way to separate them.
Give them a short but difficult program to write and a time limit. An excellent programmer depending on what is being asked will write the program very quickly and with very few bugs if any. A good programmer will take longer because the code will tend to be buggier. All the others will take the whole time or not be able to complete it at all.
I know from experience that my ex-husband could make programs do amazing things (as an engineer that is saying something) and could sit down a learn a new language in a couple of weeks. (He created a program for the state of Montana that is still being used today) But he couldn't pass a test that the certified people could because he didn't know what things were called, he just did them. He actually developed new concepts when he was programming that are becoming more mainstream today from what he has heard recently from current programmers. He left the business several years ago due to "not fitting" in the standard definition. Something the industry had a problem with at the time and I'm not sure it has gotten any better in most sectors. He's not interested in going back.
Last time I looked having a position was about being able to do the work, not just talk about it. Ockham's Razor-the simplest answer is the best.
Joel G.
Senior Network Security Engineer at Broadview Networks
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Very simple: Ask them to describe to you "what an inside-out porcupine" looks like. Watch their eyes as they tell you. In order to give you an answer, they will have to access the creativity portion of their brain. This is where you access when you lie. It is usually a glance up and to YOUR left. This question is called a "calibration question", and girlfriends/wives generally HATE this question once they find out what it's to be used for.
Then, get them to tell you a story. Some old war story about something pertaining to what they claim to have expertise in; a huge problem that they solved, or to describe a pet peeve of theirs with counterparts.
Even if you are unfamiliar with the subject matter, a story about the subject matter from someone not an expert will soon start to lose cohesion when they are forced to use those buzzwords within a context.
Now, back to the eyes; If they are telling you a story from memory, their eyes will not do the same thing they did as when they answered about the porcupine. If they are making the whole thing up, they will have to access their creativity to come up with the lie, and you will notice their eyes doing the exact same thing as when they described the porcupine - usually glancing up and to your left.
As well as references and meeting them to give them short written tests, I have found that a good way is to learn a lot about the industry you're recruiting in, on a technical level, then you can have a level discussion with the candidate, and can very easily understand whether what they're saying is rubbish or not!
Delia S.
HR Specialist at eSkill
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I would highly recommend you to test that person for the certain skills they state they poses. I represent eSkill, a leading provider of Web-based skill testing to the Hiring and Training markets.
eSkill's assessment solutions are highly customizable, offering you instant response to your question ("Is this expert a real or a fake one?")
If you are interested I can offer you details about how can you get a first glance at our knowledge database, and answer more of your questions.
Links:
Delia S. also suggests this expert on this topic:
Victoria Wagner R.
Executive Producer Krillogy/author/editor
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recommendations from proven professionals, performance in the professional arena easily checked, easily researched background information.
James B.
Seeking my next success at Unemployed
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Ask for references, and check those references.
Certifications and other paper docs are meaningless. The shady can buy (or make, or just claim) a dozen of them in 10 minutes.
The first dead giveaway that an "expert" is fake? If they claim to be an expert, they probably aren't. Real experts' reputations enter the room before they do.
The best experts - which itself is an rather unfortunate word due its lack of neutrality - are those with as little interest as possible in the outcome of an analysis. I would say the most competent experts are usually those found in the academic world. But then again its also a matter of which kind of answers you seek.
An expert can be seen as an opposition to a generalist - and it is not possible to have both a wide profile and at the same time deep insight in all covered areas. Generally speaking you can say the basic indicator would without doubt be the level of independence or neutrality.
Angelos K.
CTO Virtual Trip Group
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I will cast my vote to "prior art" also. True experts have gained their expertise by having performed lots of work and lived through many hairy situations. So ask them for their favorite "war story", sit back and listen.
