The Lies We Tell — Double Deception in Recruitment
Ian Watson |
614 words | 3 minutes
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Matt was nervous. Most people are under the circumstances. Matt sat in front of the recruitment specialist, hoping that he'd end up with the job that was on offer. It was a step up from what he had done in the past—in pay, responsibility and influence.
Daniel, the Recruitment Manager, pushed a folded piece of paper and a pencil across the table to Matt and then did something appalling. He lied.
“Please answer the questions for this personality test there are no right or wrong answers”, Daniel reassured Matt.
Mind you, Daniel had no intention of lying nor did he even realise that he had, at the time. "There are no right or wrongs answers", is a lie that many managers and human resources professionals use from time to time. The personality tests that are conducted in workplaces throughout the world in job interviews have no answer that is intrinsically correct—as you might find in a high school mathematics exam.
However, the presence of a series of questions that are included as part of the selection process for an employment role makes a lie of Daniel's reassurance.
Deception in Recruitment
If a recruitment test of any kind is used in the context of an employee selection process, there is an intention to use it to justify the selection of a particular candidate and to exclude others. It has already been decided by the interviewer, recruitment expert or organisation that a specific personality is required for the role (or, conversely, that particular personality profiles are to be avoided). This simple truth means that for the organisation, responses on the personality test are, in fact, right or wrong.
Looking at personality tests from the candidate experiencing the job interview process, there are also right and wrong answers. In our example, Matt desperately wants the job but does not necessarily know what personality profile Daniel is looking for, nor does Matt know what responses he needs to give to present the 'right' personality profile for the job. Additionally, he knows that he should be honest during a job interview. When nervous, the tension created by the need, to be frank, and also the desire to meet the needs of the interviewer is unlikely to help Matt through the selection process nor help Daniel find the right candidate.
Set aside for now whether there is any validity in using Myers-Briggs, Keirsey, DISC or any other personality test or temperament sorter in a job interview, the simple message is that there are lies in the workplace that we use to smooth the path or appease people, but they are still lies.
A Lucid Manager will make every effort to assist Matt through the interview process and would also be aware that there is a right or wrong answer to every question in a job interview—the solution that demonstrates suitability for the job.
A formalised job interview is counter-productive human interaction with limited predictive quality when it comes to getting to know a person. The artificial nature of the job interview does, however, prevent this process from being rational. Useful job interviews should be based on the presumption of equality between the recruiter and the applicant to espouse genuine conversations between the parties. It is the task of the recruiter to make the candidate feel comfortable and treat them as an equal conversation partner. Only this way will you be able to get to know the person on the other side of the table.
For more information and critique of personality profiles, confirmation bias and the Forer effect check out Peter's essay, Know Thyself. Also check out Peter's article on recruitment, arguing that every business gets the employees they deserve.
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