I'm not going to take Paul's side, completely, but every HR manager I know has mentioned, that they extensively research the background of applicants. Every grad school admissions officer had a pretty solid idea of who I was before they returned my call. We live in an era when most admissions committees and HR groups simply don't return calls or e-mails if they aren't interested. You accidentally signaled to Paul that you were interested in him by returning the call. He handled this situation poorly, but he's reflective of the current hiring atmosphere - you only get a callback if someone's interested. And it's expected, based on that response, that someone in management will do some background. It's Paul's job to make a good first impression, but HR has to sell itself as competent and educated, too. ETA here. Don't work for this company, don't hire Paul.