Fortunately, certain pre-employment character evaluations help you avoid hiring liars. By liars, I suggest applicants who attempt to appear'better or different' than they truly are. Sure, every applicant seeks to make a fantastic impression. But applicants that go out of their way to fool you may create expensive problems - should you employ them.

If you hire a liar or deceiver, that person may (A) not acknowledge their weaknesses or deficiencies in their own work or (B) not follow your instructions and directives. Such Issues
- harm productivity
- increase costs
- decrease profits
- create a poor work environment

Thus, beware: Liars in your own payroll can harm your business's financial success - and your success as a supervisor.

GUIDELINE for PRE-EMPLOYMENT TEST into SPOT LYING by JOB APPLICANT

In my novel,"HIRE THE BEST - & AVOID THE REST," I wrote:"Whatever behavior you see from an applicant during your screening process is likely the very best behavior you ever will see from that person!"

Cases: If an applicant acts mannerly during your screening procedure, the person will behave that mannerly or worse - if you employ the person. Or, if an applicant acts unmannerly throughout your screening process, you can expect that person to behave unmannerly or worse - if you hire that person.

Likewise within my research to make two pre-employment evaluations I discovered that applicants who attempt to lie on my evaluation - which is, response dishonestly or inaccurately about himself - are likely to
A. Not follow directions or directives their supervisor gives them
B. Not tell their boss difficulties they experience on-the-job - that often Leads to costly problems

USEFUL METHOD PRE-EMPLOYMENT TEST CAN USE TO "CATCH" LYING JOB APPLICANTS:

I incorporated a practical, logical, scientific method to make lie/dishonesty scales in two pre-employment tests I created. Both are personality tests used for hiring examinations. Especially, in the two pre-employment tests, I left an"Accuracy" or Honesty scale. Those scales show if an applicant is trying to"fool" the evaluation, i.e., answer dishonestly/inaccurately regarding himself.

How can these pre-employment personality evaluations find out if a candidate is trying to answer dishonestly or"inaccurately" about himself? I use multiple questions - interspersed throughout the evaluations - which inquire truism questions. A truism is a small weakness or difficulty 100 percent of humans have. My Accuracy/Honesty questions see if the candidate will acknowledge those truisms or small weaknesses. Applicants are also warned that these personality tests will find out if they try to answer untruthfully.

I will not disclose the particular truism questions used on the personality tests. However, here is a good instance of a truism query: Did you ever tell a lie? Obviously, everyone has told lies. (The only exception are angels - but it is suspicious angels apply for jobs at your company!) An honest applicant will answer,"Yes." But a possibly dishonest applicant attempting to"fool" the test - i.e., provide responses that inaccurately portray him as'better or different' than he actually is - will answer,"No" to such a question.

LOUSY METHOD SOME PRE-EMPLOYMENT TESTS USE - UNSUCCESSFULLY - TO "CATCH" LIARS

Fact = I often receive phone calls from supervisors who tell me they used a pre-employment test (but not tests I generated ), hired somebody, and later detected the individual acted significantly differently than the evaluation called. So, I inquire the way that test attempted - unsuccessfully - to"catch" liars who try to fool that test." I get two typical answers. First, that so-called test did not have any section that aimed to"grab" liars. So, the manager was ignorant that a pre-employment personality test must"grab" liars.

Or, second, those so-called tests asked basically the same question a number of ways - and then saw if applicant consistently answered the same way each time. However, this is a dumb, illogical and unscientific way to try to"catch" a liar. Reason: A liar easily can consistently lie. For example, imagine answering "Yes" to these questions: (a) Is your name Bill Gates? , (b) Are you founder of the world's biggest software company? , and (c) Are you one of the world's wealthiest people? Those three questions are the same question asked three different ways. Such'tests' would infer that the consistent answers'prove' the applicant was truthful. But the consistent answers would not correlate with honesty.

Lesson for you = If anyone says a pre-employment personality test uncovers lying job applicants by seeing if applicants answer similar questions the same way, you ought to (A) laugh at that dumb, illogical, unscientific claim, (B) not use that pre-employment test.

EXPENSIVE PROBLEMS A GOOD PRE-EMPLOYMENT PERSONALITY TEST HELPS YOU AVOID

When you give an applicant a pre-hire personality test, make sure the test will"catch" applicants who try to lie or"fool" the test by giving answers to make himself seem'better or different' than he truly is.

If you hire an applicant who lies on a pre-employment personality test, you may need to deal with two expensive problems. That lying person may
1. not follow directives or instructions you tell them to use to do their work
2. not tell you when they have problems doing their work
3. create a lousy work environment for other employees, because of "1" and "2"

When managers call to tell me they hired an applicant that my pre-employment personality tests warned them was a liar, they report those three problems. I resist saying,"You ought to have listened to my evaluation's results along with my guidance." Instead, I try to comfort the manager by saying,"Well, you learn from experience." Then, the manager sighs - and then replies,"Well, Dr. Mercer, that was a very expensive experience! I should have listened to your evaluation and to your information."

Remember = If you want to hire hard-working, productive, low-turnover employees, make sure pre-employment personality tests you use"catch" lying, deceptive applicants. Fortunately, a scientific, logical method is used in certain pre-employment tests to"catch" those liars.