Apparently we’re all liars when it comes to job interviews.
According to a new survey by the University of Guelph, 100% of respondents (literally everyone surveyed) said they are willing to stretch the truth during a job interview.
The University of Guelph study about lying in job interviews will be published in the "Journal of Personnel Psychology" later this year. Researchers involved in the study presented a group of 775 people with interview scenarios, varying the number of competitors and the ratio of people who would eventually be hired. In all circumstances, participants were asked to imagine that the interview was with a company or other organization that they'd really want to work for.
Responding to questions presented to them online, each of the 775 respondents agreed that — in certain circumstances — they'd be compelled to engage in some level of deception, exaggeration or outright lying during a job interview.
"In our study… 100% of people said they would lie or use deception in one way or another. It seems to be a fairly common thing," reads the study’s findings.
To understand this phenomenon of lying — which, as the study notes, has been established by previous research — it helps to picture yourself running in a foot race. Apparently, most people will do almost anything to cross the finish line first if the prize is something they really covet.
"You're afraid that you might not be as impressive compared to other people in the interview, and also, if you're stumped on a really difficult question, it might make sense to lie rather than say nothing at all," reads the research conclusions.
