The Executive Update

Go Ahead! Lie to Me!

I am not a great fan of network television but up until last year there was an interesting crime show called Lie to Me, in which Tim Roth played Dr. Cal Lightman, a consulting psychologist who had the uncanny ability to be able to tell when people were lying through their facial expressions. I always thought such a super-human lie detector was wasting his abilities on crime solving; he should be a hiring manager!

This premise of the television series is actually based on science. The main character uses the Facial Action Coding System, which was developed by a team of psychologist to standardize the physical characteristics of emotion. There is a science to detecting lies, including in a job interview. For a better understanding of how to spot liars, I suggest you read Spy the Lie, which was written by three former CIA analysts. These three former interrogators have some real insights about human deception.

First of all, understand that most people are prone to believe everyone. No one likes to think of the other party as a liar. No one feels comfortable judging other people, and even law enforcement officials tend to take statements at face value. However, if you watch carefully, you can use telltales that may indicate when you shouldn’t trust what the other party is saying.

If you are looking to catch someone in a dishonest act or a lie, most of what you need to know comes out in the first five seconds of asking the hard question, “Did you do this?” If the person is innocent, chances are they will respond in straightforward language. If the other party is guilty, he or she will go to extremes to prove his innocence, such as the man who insisted he walk his inquisitor to the trunk of his car to see the carton of Bibles he had for his church as a way to reinforce his denial that he stole $40 from a coworker. (Her later confessed to stealing the cash.)

Then there’s the misdirection tactic, where rather than answering a direct question, the liar will provide the truth to a question that wasn’t asked. The example from the book cites Vice President Dick Cheney dropping the “F” bomb on Senator Patrick Leahy on the Senate floor. Although the legislative session was not recorded, a number of reporters heard it, and when asked about the incident later, Vice President Cheney replied, “That’s not the kind of language I usually use” – classic non-denial, denial. Liars also will repeat a question to buy time, or they will flip the question around and use it to accuse or misdirect the questioner.

Although there are many physical cues for lying, averting eye contact isn’t one of them. More telling are behaviors such as hiding the mouth or hiding the eyes, throat-clearing, swallowing, and biting or puckering the lips. There also is what the authors call “anchor point movement,” where the subject shifts his or her weight, such as fidgeting in the chair, to reduce anxiety. Grooming gestures like straightening a tie or brushing the hair can be a signal of anxiety. And, of course, nervous perspiration is also a dead giveaway.

So how can you apply these insights in a job interview? Here are some thoughts:

1. Ask some direct questions and watch for signs of deceptive behavior and responses within the first five seconds.

2. Remember that if they answer a question immediately and plainly, chances are they are telling the truth.

3. Liars will often respond to a question with another truthful statement that casts them in a more favorable light.

4. Liars also will repeat a question as a stall for time. They also will start attacking their inquisitor to cover up, or they will try to butter them up with compliments.

5. Nonverbal cues can be instructive, so watch for hiding the mouth and eyes, throat clearing or swallowing, grooming gestures, and fidgeting.

So try your own lie detector test the next time you find yourself interviewing a candidate. You might find the results enlightening.

Ask the Coach: Screening the Screeners

It’s been a while since we shared insight from our weekly hosts Ask the Coach calls with NETSHARE members. Here is an excerpt from this week’s session with career transition coach and career management consultant Randy Block.

When going through the interview process, you will have to run the screening gauntlet, negotiating your way past the various pre-screeners that stand in the way between you and the hiring manager. The first screener will more than likely be the third-party recruiter who will make the initial contact and conduct the initial telephone interview. If you are armed with the right attitude and the right questions, you can learn a lot about the prospective position and position yourself to move to the next step in the screening process.

When you get that call from the third-party recruiter, one of the first questions you need to ask is “How long have you been working on this search?” There are two answers that should immediately raise red flags for you:

1. We just started. This should be a red flag because the first few candidates are rarely hired. Early in the search process the company typically does not have a sufficient sense of urgency to make a hire. Chances are the hiring managers want to see what kind of talent is available first.

2. We have been working on this for a long time. Ask a follow-up question about how many candidates actually have been interviewed. If the number is high, then the position may be too difficult to fill for some reason, either because the criteria are too narrow or there is some other challenge. And if the search has been going on for a time, the recruiter may be about to be fired.

When doing an initial screening interview, you should ask about the recruiter’s track record with the hiring company. You want to get a sense of how close their relationship is with the company and if they have worked with them before. This will give you a better sense as to whether the recruiter really has an inside track into what the company is really looking for.

Be sure to ask if they have already presented candidates for the open position. If they have, ask in general terms about what the company liked and didn’t like about the candidates. Also be sure to ask about the screening process and how it progresses through phone screening to in-person screening with the recruiter, in person with hiring manager, and in person with hiring manager’s boss. The recruiter should have this information. Also be sure to ask about the next steps and when they will be done screening candidates. Be sure to schedule a follow-up call for the next day.

As an interesting side note, recruiters are using video screenings more frequently. Research shows that about 20 percent of screening interviews are now being done over Skype. Be sure to treat every interview, including telephone screenings, as if they were face-to-face interviews.