By Beverly Weinstein

Of course you should always be truthful. The issue isn’t honesty, it’s more about delivery. Words and positioning are everything. So my advice is to think about how you tell the truth. I never encourage a lie, but once something has been said, it’s become part of what is used to form an opinion of a candidate.

It’s fairly common for someone to blurt out their feelings about why they left a job or why a job didn’t work out. Mostly this is preceded or followed by a statement that goes something like this, “I would never say this on an interview, but I wanted to tell you the truth.”

Recently I asked a candidate why they left one job for another one. “I was really bored working on the same business,” was the answer I got.  Ouch! What if they had said, “I wasn’t feeling challenged,” or “I was looking for a new challenge.” I made the suggestion that they might consider positioning it that way in the future. But, as far as I was concerned, it was something that had already gone into forming my opinion of the person.

The candidates I talk to are almost always in the business of selling and marketing. They spend hours tweaking power points, refining speeches and searching for the right words or the best positioning. They rehearse their pitches before going to see the client, they give speeches while looking at themselves in the mirror. I wonder, why not use the same care when it comes to talking about themselves?

How about if you’ve been fired or “agreed to disagree?” Try to explain it in a single sentence. Use two sentences if you really feel the need. Any more and you start saying things you shouldn’t. Candidates have shared excruciating detail on failed strategies, poor management, and unreasonable goals. Not theirs, but those of the boss they bumped heads with who has fired them. The more information I have, the more questions it raises about the candidate.

What do you say when it comes to money? This is an area where I believe there’s a tendency to “fib,” especially for more junior candidates. Here’s a tale to keep in mind. A few years back, a candidate told me their base salary. It didn’t square with their level of experience or with the norm for their employer. They didn’t get the job either, because my client didn’t think they were worth the salary in comparison to other candidates. Not too long after that I had an occasion to talk to the candidate’s boss. I asked what the salary range was of people working for them. My “fibber” had added $20,000. Fast forward three years and they are in the job market again and knocking at my door. No need for me to confront them, but I’m always going to question their integrity going forward. It’s just much better to say something like, “I would need at least (fill in the blanks) to make a change.” Or if it’s too early to talk about salary,  “I really want to understand if it’s the right opportunity first.” In this case, better to plead the fifth, than to tell a lie.
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