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Bank Fraud Newsletter September, 1996

Investigator's Corner

by David E. Zulawski and Douglas E. Wicklander


Pre-Employment Interviewing Pt. 2

Last month, Investigator's Corner introduced the idea of the loss prevention interview for applicants. Preparation for the interview began with establishing a behavioral normal for the applicant. The norm established a baseline for the applicant's behavior under the circumstances and pressures of the job interview.

In this column we will examine how truthful people and untruthful people react behaviorally. Unfortunately, no single verbal or physical behavior always indicates whether someone is telling the truth. One person may scarcely be able to make eye contact whereas another will look you square in the eye while telling a lie. Moreover, when lying, an applicant may engage in different behaviors depending on the circumstances surrounding the questioning.

Evaluating behavior therefore requires that interviewers compare observed behavior to the behavior of the population as a whole and against the applicant's own behavioral norm.

Cautions

Behavior can be a powerful aid in assessing honesty, but behavior is often altered by factors other than deception. Recognizing these internal and external factors can help you avoid incorrect judgments about an applicant's veracity.

One of these factors is fear of being disbelieved. Interviewers, who express disbelief, either directly or indirectly, raise the possibility that their own actions are the reasons for changes in the applicant's behavior.

Another factor is the applicant's racial, ethnic, geographic, and financial background. Culture is a strong teacher. Our position in life, resources and ethnic background play a strong role in how we learn to interact others (e.g., how we protect our personal space, how often we smile, and whether we make contact with each other) These differences have nothing to do with deception, but simply reflect the way we have been taught to interact in the world.

Many other factors influence behavior. Interviewers should recognize that differences often mask similarities. For example, the colors of dress used at funerals around the world are as varied as the rainbow. The differences in colors worn to funerals mask the similarity of intent-to mark the passing of loved ones from this world.

Intelligence and formal education also may be a factor. Someone less intelligent may delay responding to a question. Formal education may result in a person's being highly and less prone to use gestures.

Types of Lies

Applicants may chose to lie in various ways. Verbal clues to deception depend on the type of deception attempted.

There are five forms of lies:

1. Denial - Giving a false answer to a direct question is the most stressful of all lies, so much so that most people will attempt other forms of deception. Denial creates an imbalance in the mind that psychologists refer to as dissonance. On the one hand liars practicing denial have a need to protect themselves from the consequences of discovery. On the other hand they must also consider the prohibitions against lying they have received from society, religion, and parent's. The mental conflict creates avoidance behavior.

2. Omission - The most common form of deception is omission or evasion. The applicant does not really tell a lie, just omit information that they do not want to communicate. Stress is limited because they are not directly lying to the interviewer and there is limited exposure if they are discovered withholding information. The answers, "I forgot." or "I didn't think it was important at the moment" leave the interviewer to prove that the information was intentionally withheld.

3. Fabrication - Making up a story is the most difficult type of lie to attempt. Here applicants need good memories and must be quick thinkers. They must constantly test the lie against what has already been told. Fabrication may be discovered when interviewers compare stories against the investigation or when inconsistencies in sequence or detail appear during the retelling. Unfortunately for the liars, phony stories are anchored only at the beginning and the end. When applicants are asked to begin in the middle or move forward or backward in the retelling they often lose the sequence of events as previously told.

4. Exaggeration - This form of lie is often employed during pre-employment interviews. The applicants exaggerate work experience, responsibilities, education and other factors. Careful questioning to reveal their knowledge often reveals this form of deception.

5. Minimization - This type of deception is used to downplay problems faced with previous employers for example, "Well, they were not really unhappy with my work." What does that mean? Was the employer happy or not? Again, careful questioning will determine the truth. People use various behaviors to help with deception. Comparing the applicant's behavior norm to behavior later in the interview can help the interview identify areas of possible concern.

Pauses

Interviewers may recognize unusual delays in the response to questions of simple fact recall. Most of us can quickly recall certain information (e.g., our date of birth) from memory without pausing.. A delay would probably indicate an attempt at deception, because we would need time to check the information against the rest of the story or to consider it in relation to the lies we have chosen to tell. Liars need time to assess their exposure to the detection. Truth tellers do not, because they are simply recalling a memory linked to truth.

However, simply delaying an answer does not always mean a lie is about to be told. The interviewer must consider the response based on the question asked. If the question is, "Tell me who was the best supervisor you ever had and the reasons why?" a delay would certainly be appropriate. If the applicant had several jobs and supervisors, it will take time to recall each one and make a selection. On the other hand a delay in answering the question, " Have you ever been fired from a job?", probably indicates deception. The question calls for a simple yes or no response. A delay indicates weighing of the pros and cons of an affirmative or negative response.

Qualifiers

People attempting deception may use qualifiers to answer questions.

Careful listening will uncover them. Here are some examples:

• "Not really."
• "To the best of my knowledge."
• "If memory serves."
• "At this point in time that is all I remember." T

These qualifiers and others can conceal deception. They signify lies of omission and help applicants avoid topics they do not wish to discuss.

Repeating the Question

Some interviewers focus on the suspects who repeat questions before answering. This practice may or may not indicate lying. It depends on the topic, type of question and the context in which it is asked.

When applicants are asked, "Have you ever been fired from any of the jobs you listed on your application?", an immediate truthful denial would be anticipated. An applicant attempting deception needs time to review his or her exposure and decide whether to admit to being fired or not. Repeating the question provides a delay to make the decision.

Asked what their most challenging work assignment was, however, applicants need time to review all the listed jobs and may repeat the question simply to fill the silence before answering.

Behavior, both verbal and physical, varies tremendously. A complete discussion of the topic is beyond the scope of this column. Anyone interested might want to begin with Telling Lies, by Dr. Paul Ekman. Dr. Ekman is one of the foremost researchers in behavior and deception.

Using behavior to assess truthfulness provides many benefits. First, it provides observations that help focus background investigations on areas where derogatory information may be being concealed. Second, it directs the questioning by the interviewer. Finally, it helps identify when and where an applicant is attempting deception.

In next month's column we will conclude the discussion of the pre-employment interview by addressing topics to be explored, the interviewer's questions, and the style of presentation.




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