荔枝视频

Honesty is the best policy in a job interview, but not everyone is comfortable being truthful about their skills, psychology researchers have found in an extensive study published in . 

Dr. , PhD, associate professor in the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts at 荔枝视频 and Dr. , PhD, associate professor of industrial/organizational psychology at Saint Mary鈥檚 University in Halifax, studied the behaviour of 1,470 North American job applicants during interviews 鈥� a field called 鈥榠mpression management.鈥�

Much research has explored how people promote themselves in job interviews and try to ingratiate themselves with the organization that鈥檚 hiring. Bourdage and Roulin advanced this work by studying the differences between people who engage in honest versus deceptive practices during a job interview.

鈥淪omeone who is more extroverted will be more likely to engage in more of the honest tactics and less in the deceptive tactics. Someone who is more conscientious will also engage in more honest tactics,鈥� says Roulin of the findings. 鈥淭he people who are extroverted are more able to be honest, they have the ability to sell themselves and ingratiate themselves with the interviewer or the organization. Those who are less extroverted may be a bit shy and may not know to promote themselves.鈥�

Further, applicants who use deceptive practices in a job interview 鈥� embellishing their qualifications or offering fake compliments about the organization 鈥� may be younger, have less work experience and fewer qualifications to talk about. They may also be less conscientious and therefore haven鈥檛 put in the time to prepare for the interview. 

鈥淔aking in an interview tends to be someone making up for something,鈥� says Bourdage. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not that you go in and say 鈥業鈥檓 going to fake my way through this interview,鈥� it鈥檚 an adaptive response to 鈥業 don鈥檛 know what I鈥檓 doing, I don鈥檛 have the experience, I am uncomfortable in this situation and this interview is very difficult.鈥欌��

The researchers suggest job applicants do their homework before an interview so they can speak truthfully about themselves and the organization. They found that people who took some training on how to nail an interviews tended to use more honest impression management. 

鈥淭he key going in to an interview is to really prepare so that you can speak honestly about the skills that you have and your high points 鈥� what are your strengths and how do they relate to the job?鈥� says Bourdage. 鈥淎nd, find genuine ways that you fit with that organization as opposed to making up things that you think the organization would want to hear.鈥� 

People who sell themselves in an honest way tend to receive a job offer whereas those who fake it are often 鈥渇ound out鈥� in reference checks and other verification processes. The researchers also found that the interviewer can encourage more honesty from an applicant by having a longer interview and asking specific questions about past behaviour or job-related situations.