feedShould we present ourselves more honestly?
I’m over five years removed from my last job interview, and I’m pretty happy about that. A big part of me hopes that I never have to go through the long and terrible process of applying and interviewing for a job again. Maybe some people get kind of a twisted thrill out of the process but, for me, it’s always been a painful slog filled with repetitive tasks and capped off by that ultimate show of awkwardness: the job interview.
Lying during the interview process it’s so common it’s almost not worth talking about. Some studies peg “the rate of lying on resumes or in job interviews at 20 to 44 percent. That includes lies about past degrees, jobs and responsibilities.” And that’s just outright lying — the kind that you really probably shouldn’t do, because it’s not entirely ethical. And it can get you fired.
Add to that, though, all the casual lying that occurs as part of the process. These are omissions, small mistruths and skillfully engineered negatives that become positives. Job education practically recommends applicants do this kind of lying: how many strategies for answering typical job interview questions recommend being straight-up? Almost none of them. Otherwise people would be answering that damned “What’s your biggest weakness?” question with honest answers like “punctuality”, “personal hygiene” or “a tendency toward white-hot rage.”
That never happens.
The job interview — and the whole hiring process, really — has become a game of deception and often lies. And Generation Y is the first generation to really embrace that. Because, hell, we’ve been trained to approach it as such by our boomer parents and our Gen X siblings and friends. It’s become a simple formula: play the game, win the company over, get the job.
The problem, of course, is that it never ends there. You have to go on to work at the job, and it’s there that conflicts arise. Because your employer will inevitably find out that you’re not quite so proficient in HTML/CSS, that your biggest weakness is NOT that you’re ‘a perfectionist’, that you’re not really a “self-starter with excellent communication skills” and that your “three years of management experience” really amounts to two years of summer camp and a string of nights where you were the designated driver to a group of very, very drunk friends.
And that tie you were wearing during the interview? A clip-on. That you borrowed from your dad. Then spilled coffee on.
I ask the question in the title of the post: Should we present ourselves more honestly? Wouldn’t it be better if job interviews were more like conversations, rather than performances, and we just lay our true personalities and views on the table? If they’re compatible with the company’s aims and vision, then you’re a strong candidate. If you don’t quite ‘fit’, you shake hands and move on. No trained responses, no fancy buzzword-heavy language, no creative spinning of experience — just down-to-the-brass-tacks conversation about the things both parties are passionate about it.
I think this would help us a lot as a generation. Gen Ys get a bad rap because we surprise employers. We’ve been taught to interview in a tell-them-what-they-want-to-hear kind of way, which doesn’t often gel with our true attitudes and work styles. So the employer has no real idea what they’re getting into when they hire one of us.
I already know the answer to my question, though: No. We can’t present ourselves more honestly. Because the other candidates won’t. They’ll continue to lie. So while we’re saying that we don’t really like to work before 10 a.m., they’ll be claiming they love to start the day at 4 a.m. with a 10-mile run and a stint at the soup kitchen. There’s just no balance.
I wish I had more answers. Is it smarter hiring managers? Is something rotten in the world of HR? Are some companies taking alternative approaches to the old interview equation? Let me know if you have any thoughts.
Photo by ld. Licensed under Creative Commons
Tags: honesty, job interviews, lying, professionalism, recruiting, resume
Haven’t there been a number of high profile firings over lying on resumes and in interviews already? I think a number of them are the subject of legal action now. One of the more high profile ones was a prospective head football coach at Notre Dame.
Yep, but I’m not sure that will really curb things much. For most people, small lies and misinformation can easily be justified — if it gets you the job, then why NOT do it? Even if it comes back and eventually causes you to lose the position, you could (probably rightly) convince yourself that you wouldn’t have obtained the job at all were you honest in the first place.
It’s a tough situation. I wish there were easier answers.
I’ve played with the idea of how an honest interview would go and its similar to what you said.
“To be honest I just want to make as much money as I can, doing work that I love. If I don’t love it, then I want as much money for as little actual work as possible. Ever heard of the 10-80-10 phenomenon? 10% of workers will succeed in any position you put them in. 80% are there to get a steady paycheck, and the other 10% exist only to bring as many people down as possible. Instead of pretending to be the good 10%, I readily admit to being in the majority. Oh yeah, how much time do I get to slack on any given day?”
I don’t know if there’s a cure to this problem. Everyone’s just doing their best to get by. You are really hitting on something when you say that we can’t seem to stick around long enough to get to the good stuff. I guess there’s this fear that since we don’t like what we are currently doing, we might not like what we end up doing even when we finally get to the good stuff.
Here’s a strategy for being honest in interviews – actually at work and in anything in life – be prepared to take care of yourself. Have I ever tried this? No. Because I racked up mountains of consumer debt and never had a savings. Recently, I changed that and when my current job really started to go downhill, I quit. Now I’m looking at a job hunt and because I have some financial security (not much, but enough) I do intend to be honest in my interviews – because interviews *should* be a conversation, not a test. My lying about my work style or why I want a job will not do anyone any good and there are a few employers that understand that. Those are the people you want to work for! There will always be those stupid questions – what’s your greatest weakness – but really, if your “greatest weakness” is that you like to start work at 10 a.m. and can’t make it in by 9, you are likely a kick-ass employee. Most of the people I manage can’t make it in by 9 but that’s nowhere *near* their biggest weakness. You can probably spin that question. And when I say spin, I don’t mean lie – you can make a difference by how you talk to people. You can say “my biggest weakness is probably a tendency to work late into the night so early mornings are rough for me. Is there any flexibility in the start to the work day?” That makes the employer think about how rigid their rules are. And let’s be honest, if you are the kind of person who just can’t make it in by 9 and it’s mandatory that you do, you won’t succeed at that job.
I think you have to consider if anything you’re after is worth giving up who you really are – and then make sure you have your own way of supporting yourself (financially, emotionally, etc.) to make sure you don’t have to compromise who you are. You won’t ever fit in with any company (or any relationship) by trying to be something you’re not.