Job Interview Questions

How to Lie at the Interview and Get Away With It!

Are There Telltale Signs?
Some lies are fairly easy to detect. At the height of the war in Iraq, for example, a TV news account showed an Iraqi spokesman proclaiming that there were “no American infidels in the city of Baghdad” just as U.S. tanks drove past him.

However without such bold physical evidence, it’s hard for your interviewer to spot many lies. In fact, many experts say it can be a delusion for an interviewer to think lying can be detected in a person’s mannerisms. Fidgeting, stuttering or avoiding eye contact could simply be symptoms of nervousness about the interview rather than indicators of intent to deceive.  Remember this when you go in for your interview.

Practiced liars often show no such signs. “Really good liars often behave in the opposite way and appear unnaturally calm and make fewer gestures with their body,” says Daniel R. Fisher, a psychologist who heads the assessment practice for Worklab Consulting LLC, a New York-based management-consulting firm. “People who are lying often slow down to think about their answers, using fewer gestures and maintaining eye contact as they concentrate on putting together a plausible falsehood.”

Some interviewees tell lies that they have ingrained in their life story—identities and legends of their own creation—and thus aren’t fabricating on the spot, says Rosen. “They put it on their resume and talk about it and tell their friends about it, and it becomes part of their personality, because they’ve told it so often,” he says. “To them, it’s second nature—they’re not sitting there making it up.”  The point of this is that you MUST make sure you rehearse and rehearse your story just as if an actor memorizes their lines until it becomes second nature.

Studies by Paul Ekman, a psychology professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California Medical School in San Francisco, have repeatedly shown that people are poor intuitive judges of truth and deception. “Most people cannot tell from demeanor whether someone is lying or telling the truth—but most people think they can,” say Ekman, author of 13 books, including Telling Lies (W.W. Norton, 2001). Over the years Ekman has tested about 6,000 people—among them college students, police officers, judges, lawyers, psychiatrists, and agents of the FBI, the CIA and the Drug Enforcement Administration—to determine if they can tell if someone is lying. He has found, he says, that “95 percent of them are close to chance—they’d do just as well flipping a coin.”  Knowing this puts you in the power position when you go in for an interview.  Especially if you think you’re a bad liar.  Guess what?  As long as your rehearsed your story and know it inside and out you’re going to easily fool your interviewer(s).

If a prospective employer is worried that you didn't actually earn the degree you say you did they will ask you probing questions. In order to verify someone actually attended a particular school, they will most likely ask you questions that only someone who went to the school would know."

If they’re unsure you actually possess the skills and credentials reflected in your resume, they will ask you questions relating to those skills. If the job requires technical knowledge, such as accounting or computer skills, be sure that you CAN answer those questions no matter how technical or detailed they might be.

The technical part of the interview is so important for you to ace. If you can’t answer technical questions, then you're done.  Be prepared to answer questions such as how you would handle a particular problem, or questions regarding particular projects you worked on in the past can help establish if you’re right for the job.

HR people are trained to look for lies, exaggerations and inconsistencies. So rehearse as many times as necessary before your interview so your story is airtight

Below is what HR people are told to look for during an interview as signs that you’re lying.  The information below is the standard information that HR people are taught.

By themselves, each of these behaviors can just be signs of stress, or even a person's natural mannerisms. One can occur by chance, but when two or more of these behaviors suddenly appear at a moment when lying could be expedient. For example, when you ask a salesman how reliable that used car is, it suggests he's lying.

Here's the top eight list of suspicious behaviors:

1. A change in the voices pitch.
2. A change in the rate of speech.
3. A sudden increase in the number of "ums" and "ahs."
4. A change in eye contact. Normally, one makes eye contact one-quarter to one-half of the time. If suddenly, at the convenient moment to lie, he's staring at you or looking away, beware.
5. Turning his body away from you, even if just slightly.
6. Suddenly being able to see the white on the top and bottom of a person's eyes, not just the sides.
7. A hand reaching, even if momentarily, to cover part of the face, especially the mouth.
8. Nervous movement of feet or legs.

Of course, in order to notice a change, you need a baseline. So you must first watch the person when talking about innocuous issues.

A Mixed Signal

Also look for mixed signals. When someone's telling the truth, her words, her face and her body language are all congruent. For example, if a person is honestly saying that she likes you, her face is usually relaxed, offering a gentle smile and warm eyes. Her body is calm and open. But when she's lying, something is usually inconsistent. In the most obvious case, she may be saying she likes you, but she's not smiling. She may even have a clenched fist. Better liars can muster a smile, but it doesn't look natural. Even better liars can put on a convincing smile, but their eyes aren't smiling. Still better liars can control their entire face, but their bodies seem closed or cold. Look for mismatches between words and body language.

When you've gotten a signal -- a change in body language or a mixed signal that the person may be lying -- ask for more information about the same topic. Are those same lying signs apparent? That can confirm your suspicion.

Of course, there's no foolproof way to detect lying. Some people are terrific at covering themselves up, especially if they are naturally emotionally flat or have practiced their lying skills over many years -- certain political leaders come to mind. But if you look for behavior changes and mixed signals at lying-expedient moments, you will improve your BS detector.

Make sure you’re aware of how you carry yourself and what your body language conveys.

See how sneaky Corporate America can be when it comes to the hiring process? Yes they have no problem letting white collar criminals at World Com, Enron and others rob you of your retirement and pension! 

Employment History
Checking references can help fill in any gaps or date discrepancies found in your employment history. Even though many employers are fearful of giving out too much information, most will verify the dates you worked for them.

Prospective employers think that by doing a good job of checking references, they think that they’ll be able to verify if you’re telling the truth about your employment history..

Prospective employers thing that it’s a good idea to have more than one person interview a candidate. Afterwards, everyone who interviewed you will get together and compare notes to find inconsistencies. For this reason make sure you have your story down perfectly.  Any misstep here and you’re done!

The Job Application

Many times, a prospective employer will have you provide a resume AND fill out a job application in order to try to trip you up. Usually the application will contain a statement that points out the existence of any untruthful information may lead to your termination if discovered. Make absolutely sure that your resume and application synch up perfectly.

Remember, in today's economic climate, hiring and retaining the best employees is a top priority. Companies take this process very, very seriously.

·         Be prepared to provide several references. They will use this to check on your employment history.

·         They will contact all previous employers that you put down so make sure you’re airtight.

·         Be prepared to be interviewed by more then one person

·         Be prepared to answer questions that directly relate to the job.

·         Be prepared to complete a job application, and make sure you understand that giving false information on the application is grounds for termination.

Chances are, your next resume submission will be checked and cross-checked via your Social Security record (which gives the exact dates that employee contributions begin and end at every single company you’ve ever worked for). Your police record (or lack of one) and a complete rundown of your credit history (including monthly payments) will be reviewed. There will also be a thorough check into your references (making sure the people you use as references actually have the job titles they claim) and an in-depth look at your educational background.

Before starting your job search, you may want to stop off at www.qspace.com and instantly check your credit rating ($34.95) at all three of the major agencies. Viewing your results before your potential employer does may be worth your time and money.

What if your background checks out just fine? Have you overcome all of the hiring hurdles? Don’t get too excited yet. Many companies are delving even further these days. ReviewNet (www.reviewnet.net) is a company thriving by testing applicants virtually (by computer) to detect above average or less than virtual skills.

The company’s tests give applicants the ability to take the Internet-based quiz from a computer at home or at the potential employer’s site. The test is timed, and an evaluation lets the person giving the test know how much time it took the test taker to complete the multiple answer quiz. Then ReviewNet gives the company that is administering the test all answers that are correct or nearly correct. Even a non technical person has the ability to hire qualified applicants or disqualify those who don’t make the grade. ReviewNet also has a phone service where a qualified tester (who is a specialist in that particular technology) will call an applicant and give the oral part of the test.  This means that you’d BETTER have your information fresh in your mind and make sure your have some good reference books and cheat sheets near you that detail key terms, phrases, definitions and anything else that may assist you in getting through the process.

I f you're eager to write a great resume, and cover letter to help you ace the job interview and get the job click here! 

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