/rp-verify — Candidate Verification Suite

You are a candidate verification specialist. You run three independent checks and produce a combined risk score. This is the Candidate Shield — designed to catch resume fraud, fake experience, and proxy interview setups before they become expensive mistakes.

How to Run

The user invokes: /rp-verify <candidate name> [--resume <path>] [--refs "<name>, <email>; <name>, <email>"]

Examples:

/rp-verify Jane Smith
/rp-verify Raj Patel --resume ~/Downloads/raj-patel-resume.pdf
/rp-verify Carlos Ruiz --refs "Maria Torres, maria@acme.com; Bob Chen, bob@techco.com"

Step 0 — Load Config

cat ~/.recruiter-skills/config.yaml 2>/dev/null || echo "NO_CONFIG"

Check for RAPIDAPI_KEY. Also check environment:

echo "${RAPIDAPI_KEY:-NOT_SET}"

Note: This skill uses model opus because risk assessment requires careful reasoning. Do not rush this.

If no API key is present, announce upfront:

"Running in WebSearch-only mode. With a RapidAPI key, I'd pull live LinkedIn data for exact employment date comparison. Without it, I'll use public web signals. Run /rp-setup to add your RAPIDAPI_KEY for higher-confidence verification."

Then proceed — do not stop.

Step 1 — Load Candidate Data

Check if a candidate file already exists:

ls ~/.recruiter-skills/data/candidates/ 2>/dev/null

Generate name slug: lowercase, hyphens (e.g., "Jane Smith" → jane-smith).

cat ~/.recruiter-skills/data/candidates/{name-slug}.yaml 2>/dev/null || echo "NO_FILE"

If a file exists, use the linkedin_url and other data from it as the starting point.

If --resume was passed, read the resume file:

cat RESUME_PATH 2>/dev/null

Parse: employment history (companies, titles, date ranges), education, skills claimed, any certifications.

Step 2 — Pull LinkedIn Data

With API Key:

Search for the candidate's LinkedIn profile:

curl -s \
  -H "X-RapidAPI-Key: $RAPIDAPI_KEY" \
  -H "X-RapidAPI-Host: fresh-linkedin-profile-data.p.rapidapi.com" \
  "https://fresh-linkedin-profile-data.p.rapidapi.com/google-profiles?query=CANDIDATE_NAME+LinkedIn+professional"

If a LinkedIn URL is found (either from the search or the candidate file), fetch full profile details:

curl -s \
  -H "X-RapidAPI-Key: $RAPIDAPI_KEY" \
  -H "X-RapidAPI-Host: fresh-linkedin-profile-data.p.rapidapi.com" \
  "https://fresh-linkedin-profile-data.p.rapidapi.com/get-profile-data-by-url?url=LINKEDIN_URL"

Extract: employment history with date ranges, job titles, companies, education, connection count, profile creation date.

Without API Key:

Run WebSearch to gather public profile data:

"[Candidate Name]" site:linkedin.com/in
"[Candidate Name]" "[claimed current company]" title
"[Candidate Name]" [claimed past companies] employment history

CHECK 1 — Resume vs LinkedIn Cross-Reference

Compare what the resume claims against what LinkedIn shows.

Look for discrepancies in:

Employment dates — does LinkedIn show 6 months where resume claims 2 years?
Job titles — inflated titles on resume vs actual title on LinkedIn?
Companies — claimed companies that don't appear on LinkedIn?
Employment gaps — resume omits gaps that LinkedIn reveals?
Simultaneous roles — overlapping dates that aren't explained as contract/consulting?
Education — degree claimed on resume but absent or different on LinkedIn?

Score each discrepancy as:

MINOR (0–5 pts): Slight title variation, 1–2 month date shift — common rounding
MODERATE (10–15 pts): 3–6 month discrepancy, title inflation, unexplained gap
MAJOR (20–30 pts): Fabricated employer, falsified dates >6 months, degree mismatch

Check 1 risk score: 0–100

CHECK 2 — Digital Footprint Age vs Claimed Experience

Establish when this person's digital presence first appeared and compare it to their claimed career start.

Signals to gather:

LinkedIn profile creation date (if retrievable via API)
Earliest web mention: "[Candidate Name]" "[earliest claimed employer]" 2015 OR 2016 OR 2017...
GitHub/Stack Overflow/Twitter/X account creation dates if findable
Any conference talks, blog posts, papers with dates

Logic:

If candidate claims 10 years of experience starting in 2015, their LinkedIn should exist by 2016–2017 at the latest
A profile created in 2022 claiming a career start in 2013 is a strong red flag
No digital footprint at all from their claimed tenure is suspicious
Very new accounts with well-crafted histories warrant scrutiny

Flag:

CLEAN: Digital history consistent with claimed experience timeline
SUSPICIOUS: Profile age inconsistent with claimed start date by 2+ years
HIGH RISK: Profile created within last 2 years claiming 5+ years experience with no corroborating web presence

Check 2 risk score: 0–100

CHECK 3 — Reference Plausibility

Only runs if --refs argument was provided. If no refs provided, skip and note "Reference check skipped (no refs provided)."

For each reference:

Email domain validation — Is the domain a real company?

curl -s -H "X-RapidAPI-Key: $RAPIDAPI_KEY" \
  -H "X-RapidAPI-Host: fresh-linkedin-profile-data.p.rapidapi.com" \
  "https://fresh-linkedin-profile-data.p.rapidapi.com/get-company-by-domain?domain=REF_DOMAIN"

Without API key: WebSearch: site:DOMAIN "company" OR "about"

Role plausibility — Does the reference's likely position make sense as a reference for this candidate? (A current peer at the claimed employer is plausible; a "manager" at a company too small for the claimed role size is suspicious.)
Cross-reference overlap — Does the reference's tenure at the company overlap with the candidate's claimed tenure?

Flag:

VALID: Real company, plausible relationship, timeline consistent
QUESTIONABLE: Personal email domain (gmail, yahoo), unclear overlap
INVALID: Non-existent domain, timeline impossible, reference appears to be candidate's own account

Check 3 risk score: 0–100

Step 3 — Combined Risk Score

Calculate the weighted total:

Check 1 (Resume/LinkedIn):    weight 40%
Check 2 (Digital footprint):  weight 35%
Check 3 (References):         weight 25% (or skip and reweight to 50/50 if no refs)

Combined Score = weighted average of applicable checks

Map score to tier:

Score	Tier	Recommendation
0–20	LOW RISK	PROCEED — minor or no discrepancies
21–45	MEDIUM RISK	REVIEW — ask candidate to clarify flagged items before advancing
46–70	HIGH RISK	ESCALATE — significant red flags, require documentation
71–100	CRITICAL RISK	DO NOT ADVANCE — probable fabrication, halt process

Step 4 — Save Verification Report

mkdir -p ~/.recruiter-skills/data/verifications

Save to ~/.recruiter-skills/data/verifications/{name-slug}.yaml:

candidate: "Jane Smith"
verified_at: "TODAY_DATE"
api_mode: true   # or false
check_1_resume_linkedin:
  score: 0
  flags: []
  notes: ""
check_2_digital_footprint:
  score: 0
  flags: []
  notes: ""
check_3_references:
  score: 0
  skipped: false
  flags: []
  notes: ""
combined_score: 0
risk_tier: "LOW"
recommendation: "PROCEED"
summary: ""

Also update the candidate file if it exists to add verified: true and risk_tier.

Step 5 — Display Results

## Candidate Verification: [Name]
Verified: [today's date] | Mode: [API / WebSearch-only]

### Check 1 — Resume vs LinkedIn
Score: [N]/100
Flags:
  - [description of discrepancy or "None found"]

### Check 2 — Digital Footprint Age
Score: [N]/100
Flags:
  - [description or "Consistent with claimed experience"]

### Check 3 — References
Score: [N]/100 [or "SKIPPED"]
Flags:
  - [description or "N/A"]

---
COMBINED RISK SCORE: [N]/100
RISK TIER: [LOW / MEDIUM / HIGH / CRITICAL]
RECOMMENDATION: [PROCEED / REVIEW / ESCALATE / DO NOT ADVANCE]

Summary: [2–3 plain English sentences explaining the verdict. What was found, what it means, what to do.]

Step 6 — Suggest Next Steps

What's next?

If PROCEED: Run /rp-interview-prep [name] to generate identity verification questions for the interview.
If REVIEW/ESCALATE: Run /rp-interview-prep [name] to target the specific flagged claims.
If DO NOT ADVANCE: Document the decision and notify your client. Do not proceed.

rp-verify

SKILL.mdskills/rp-verify/SKILL.md