Everyone has a strong story. But what do you see behind it?
In a job interview, you often hear a well-prepared story. That is not necessarily a lie. But it is not automatically behaviour either.
Anyone can prepare for a job interview. Not everyone can hide how they behave.
In 2007, Levashina and Campion developed a scale to measure faking in employment interviews. In their survey research, at least 93% of participants reported using one or more tactics in a recent interview to present themselves more favourably. That can range from putting an achievement in the best possible light to deliberately leaving information out.
One important point: making a good impression is not the same thing as lying. But it does make the classic interview vulnerable, especially when a recruiter is mainly judging how convincingly someone tells their story.
A strong answer can simply be a well-rehearsed one
A candidate who has listened to three podcasts about the STAR method can sound exceptionally polished. A candidate who pauses may be carefully thinking, weighing options and solving the problem.
Yet the first person often gets the benefit of the doubt. That is not a recruiter failure. It is a logical outcome of an interview that relies heavily on self-report.
Impression management lives in the form, not only the content
Researchers distinguish between honest and deceptive forms of impression management. The distinction matters.
- Honest highlighting: a candidate deliberately chooses relevant examples and explains strengths clearly.
- Shaping the image: a candidate frames answers to better fit what they think the organisation wants to hear.
- Deception: a candidate exaggerates, invents or leaves out relevant information.
A recruiter cannot always separate those three perfectly. So no, the answer is not to distrust candidates. The answer is to depend less on one good story.
Also look at what people do
That is exactly why Assess4me works with game-based assessments. Not to catch a candidate out, but to add another layer of observation alongside the interview.
When someone tackles a realistic challenge, you can observe how they make choices when there is no perfect answer ready, approach problems when information is incomplete or changing, respond to feedback and try a different approach, and keep going when the first solution does not work.
These are not magic truths about a person. And they never replace a human conversation. But they give recruiters a second source of insight that does not completely depend on how smoothly someone can sell themselves.
The interview gets better when it does not have to carry everything
Use the interview for context, motivation, nuance and mutual fit. Use behaviour to test what you would otherwise only have to believe.
Because the best candidate is not always the one with the best story. Sometimes it is the person who, when things get difficult, shows you what sits behind it.