Never Lie During a Job Interview

Over 30 million Americans are now unemployed thanks to our collective once-in-a-lifetime experience with the worldwide pandemic of COVID19. Organizations have been forced to quickly transition to remote working, contemplate shuttering, or cutting employees. Needless to say, the job market is very competitive.

Job candidates in this COVID19 world are searching for new positions while some have decided to reinvent, recreate, or re-imagine their professional careers. Either way, the job interview is looming. Knowing the competition will be tough, it may be tempting to exaggerate or even lie about prior work experience, accomplishments, or background. Think carefully before doing this and contemplate the ramifications.

Lying during a job interview is a very touchy subject. A simple Google search on the topic will produce pages of articles citing what can and can’t be lied about during an interview as well as what some consider “acceptable” lies. Some articles feel lying is just fine while others try to carefully thread the needle. The line between truth and falsehood is as thin as that between exaggeration and embellish!

I encourage all of my clients to base everything said in a job interview solely in the truth. It’s too risky to be caught in a lie.

Lying during a job interview is a very high-risk proposition even though we all know people who successfully do it. University of Massachusetts researchers found that “an overwhelming 81 percent of people have lied about themselves at some point during the job interview.” Social media now tells the story of our lives both good and bad and recruiters have become very adept at digging deep into a candidate’s online history.  Today it is very common for candidates to neglect to “scrub” their multiple social media sites of negative personal information or job information that doesn’t match their stated words. A good recruiter can find and spot these personal and professional inconsistencies.

All interviewers are not created equal. The lucky candidate may engage with a hiring manager who is a terrible interviewer. In this case, the fabrications they tell may be ignored. A savvy hiring manager can usually spot the lies having the candidate squirming as they purposely indulge in extended, painful questioning of a statement they doubt to be truthful. This only causes the exaggeration to expand, digging a deeper hole for the candidate to dig out from. Not a comfortable or safe position to be in!

A good interviewer will watch the candidate’s body language. The candidate, if lying, will display certain “tells” giving away the fib. Fidgeting or tapping the feet when asked a difficult question can be indicative of fibbing. Lack of eye contact, looking away after being questioned or a change of vocal pitch, higher or lower may signify a falsehood. Granted, these can also occur simply due to a candidate’s nervousness in the job interview situation. I am specifically referring to instances within the context of the job interview where a distinct behavior change occurs following a specific difficult question. An experienced interviewer will notice these differences and may explore them further and that can expose a candidate’s lie.

Being fired from a job is the most difficult of subjects for job candidates. I want to touch on this just a bit since it is so controversial. There are many opinions as to how this should be handled. Years ago, job applications had this question printed on the application and it required a check for yes or no. This is no longer the case. It is rare that a hiring manager will come out and ask if you were fired from your previous position. Instead they may inquire about the glaring gap on your resume — so you will need an explanation based in truth ready to discuss!

There are many reasons to be fired in corporate America today. The continuum can range anywhere from embezzling to new management to the fact that your personality doesn’t mesh well with the manager. Being fired doesn’t make the candidate a bad person and all hiring managers today recognize this as well as the multitude of reasons (valid or not) involved with firing someone. Should this topic be discussed, it’s important to redirect the conversation to the future and the new challenge you are looking forward to within the new company. Keep the conversation positive. No detailed complaints regarding the past manager, etc. Being fired is a delicate issue to be handled uniquely for each person. Your job interview coach can help with shaping this discussion and answering awkward inquiries.

Lying during a job interview gives the interviewer a set of expectations of skills that the candidate will not be able to deliver. If a candidate relays that they led a team to a 95% increase in sales, then they better know that (and more) will be expected in the new role. Lying breaks the implicit trust the manager extended to the candidate. The manager will definitely wonder what else you lied about. Not being the proficient, stellar, skilled producer you claimed to be, exposes your lie not only to the manager but to your new colleagues. You could lose the job. A huge consequence for that little lie! Word travels fast inter-industry and getting a new job could take even longer.  

Every individual has their own story to tell during the job interview. Being a proficient liar during a job interview requires strategy and practice and is a complete waste of time. That’s a lot of energy that could be applied to practicing interesting professional work stories, better describing your skills and abilities, as well as why you should be chosen for the position.  We all have to make the choice to lie or not in a job interview.  My advice is to always speak from a basis of truth.

I offer a completely free 30 minute introductory job interview coaching session. Contact me today to prepare for your tomorrow!