9 Steps to Handling Suspicions of Cheating in Tech Hiring

When cheating is suspected, act carefully. Investigate thoroughly without jumping to conclusions. Respectfully engage with the candidate and stick to the facts. Use data to guide decisions and refine your approach for the future. Learn from every case to strengthen your system.

What does that look like step-by-step? Read on.

Step 1: Stay objective and open-minded

Avoid jumping to conclusions based on initial suspicions or single indicators. Any one indicator of unusual behavior is not necessarily enough to label a candidate as a cheater. 

“Some engineers, being introverted, might not feel comfortable being on camera for the first interview. I wouldn’t take this as a red flag indicating cheating. Instead, focus on being engaged and ensuring the candidate can walk you through their solution in real time.”

Nathan Sutter, CoderPad VP of Engineering 

Step 2: Gather and validate evidence

After identifying suspicious behavior, make sure you dig deeper and get all of the facts. You could:

• If your system has flagged excessive copy and paste, cross-check the candidate’s work against public solutions or AI-generated outputs to identify similarities.
  • Code search engines: GitHub, Stack Overflow, or Codewars
  • AI detection tools: Turnitin, Copyleaks, or GPTZero 
  • Commonly used generative AI tools: ChatGPT or GitHub Copilot
• Cross-check your candidate submissions internally, looking for similar code, patterns or mistakes.
• Review digital monitoring data (e.g., screen recordings, activity logs, localization information, time stamps) to pinpoint anomalies.
• If necessary, manually review the candidate’s code.
• If possible, involve multiple reviewers (e.g., technical leads) to validate findings and minimize bias.

Note: tools like CoderPad allow you to anonymize candidates during the screening process. This ensures that your initial investigation is based on evidence, rather than bias. You can then reveal a candidate’s identity if and when you decide to take action.

Step 3: Initiate a constructive conversation

Engage the candidate in a non-confrontational discussion:

Highlight specific areas of concern and ask them to explain their reasoning. Avoid accusatory language; seek clarification instead. For example: “Can you walk me through how you approached this problem?”

“Curiosity will get you further than assumptions. Ask for explanations. Seek understanding without instant judgment. And see what you find out.”

Amanda Richardson, CEO of CoderPad

Step 4: Test real-time problem-solving

If the candidate insists that your suspicions have no grounds, offer the candidate a second chance to demonstrate their abilities. Depending on their context within the hiring process, you could suggest: 

• A proctored follow-up assessment or coding exercise 
• A live coding interview. You could use this time to work on collaborative coding exercises that are specific to the role and your business. You could also review the candidate’s initial code, asking follow-up questions.

Step 5: Pause, before making a decision

Take a moment to step back, review the evidence and ask yourself the following questions: 

• What actually happened? 
• Why?
• Does this class as cheating?
• Is there a way to move past this, or is the outcome a firm reject?

When in doubt, speak with other hiring professionals or colleagues within your organization to gather insights and compare actions taken in similar situations.

🔖 Related read: Four questions to guide your cheating prevention strategy (incl. What does “cheating” mean for your organization?)

Step 6: Document and flag the incident

Once you decide that you have sufficient evidence and perspective to label behavior as cheating:

• Record all findings, including suspicious activity and follow-up interactions, for transparency.
• Flag the candidate internally (so as to adjust scoring, alert other team members, etc.)
  • Within CoderPad Screen, for example, if you determine that a candidate has cheated on a particular question, you can mark the offending question by ticking the “Candidate cheated on this exercise” checkbox. Checking this box will remove points for the exercise and add a filter to the candidate. Additionally, in your dashboard, you’ll see a “Cheated” notification next to the candidate’s name.
  • Ensure you are adhering to any formal policies or systems for reporting and dealing with cheating.

Step 7: Provide clear feedback to candidates

Communicate your findings to the candidate respectfully and professionally:

• Explain why their behavior conflicts with company values.
• Emphasize the importance of integrity in future applications.
• Be able to justify any actions or decisions by matching them to the level or type of cheating suspected. You should be able to explain precisely what behavior you consider cheating (for example, using someone else’s solution “verbatim”, and not being able to answer follow-up questions on said solution) and why.

Step 8: Review content and manage leaks

• Take the time to review your assessment content, try to identify any recurring themes or formats prone to cheating attempts. Take a critical look at your content and update any questions that aren’t relevant, relatable and realistic.
• If the suspicious behavior involves leaked content:
  • Update or refresh compromised questions to maintain fairness for future candidates.
  • Report leaked material through proper legal channels, such as a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown requests.

Step 9: Review your anti-cheating strategy

See every “cheating case” as an opportunity to improve and adjust your approach to cheating. Analyze how the cheating occurred, identify gaps in your process, and collaborate with your team to refine tools and questions.