Telling lies in an interview

People will sometimes ask me, “How do you know when someone that you are interviewing is telling the truth?”

There are a few ways that can help tell if someone is lying.  There are baiting questions, confirmation questions and clarification questions but a lot of it can be done by observation of body language.

This includes watching for the following:

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Watch their eyes.  People often look away in order to concentrate or remember details.  If eye movements change such as rapid blinking, changing eye contact, or someone becoming focussed on staring you in the eye, it could be an attempt to counter-act the looking away factor and convince you of the lie.

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People who are lying often fidget more than the common person. Make sure you don’t confuse restless leg etc as potential lying behavior.  Fidgeting when lying is usually readjusting in one’s seat continuously or awkward hand motions during speaking.

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Watch for the facial touching. People who are uncomfortable or being dishonest tend to cover their mouth or touch their nose when they tell a lie.  I knew a sales guy who would always stroke his chin when he was lying to a customer or prospect.

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People who are lying tend to use a lot more words than people who are telling the truth. This is usually because they feel the need to convince the listener of what they’re saying, rather than just giving the answer.

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People who tell lies often use fewer words than people telling the truth.  I see it most when someone is trying to pretend they were a larger contributor than they really were.  They don’t give full answers because they were not fully involved and do not want to expose their lack of knowledge on a certain project.

Farewell,

Mike