How to judge if the candidate is not being honest?

During many workshops that we conduct for Recruiters on engaging effectively with candidates, we get quite a few questions around how to judge whether the candidate is being completely honest about his/her interest.

Many a time, the Candidate tends to keep talking with the Recruiter just to find out what’s their market value or some even make efforts to get to the interview level just to get an offer letter to negotiate with their current employers.

Recruiters want to know how they can, if they can, judge whether the Candidate is genuine or not when they are in discussions on the phone.

The answer is simple – It is extremely difficult to identify if someone is lying or not stating the complete truth.  Then what can be done about such situations Recruiters ask?

While our answers are always focused on – if you have engaged well with the candidates there is a good likelihood that they will be upfront with you.

However, there could be potentially some techniques, which can be used through trick questioning. Some examples below:

Recruiter: “Hi Candidate, Can you tell me one thing you like about your Job and one thing you Hate with respect to Role, Boss, Team, Environment and Salary?

Most of the time the Candidate’s answer will be impulsive and hence most likely the truth…

If the Candidate says Role – then chances of his lying are 60% (because role is not such a critical aspect for many)

If the Candidate says Boss – then chances of his lying are 20% (because Boss is usually the reason job change happens)

If the Candidate says Team – then chances of his lying are 80% (because Team is seldom the reason for job change)

If the Candidate says Environment – then chances of his lying are 80% (because environment is least critical for job change)

If the Candidate says Salary – then chances of his lying are 20% (usually people wont say salary, but if they do, then there is high likelihood he/she wants to change)

The above is mostly hypothesis but based on general experience over a period.