In case you’ve never seen the show: Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) and his colleagues in The Lightman Group accept assignments from local and federal law enforcement to assist in investigations, reaching the truth through interpreting micro expressions, facial action coding system, and body language. The show is loosely based on a real person Paul Ekman a renowned psychologist who has been a pioneer in the study of emotions and their relation to facial expressions.

When watching season premier of Lie To Me I caught myself wondering about Cal Lightman’s presence during a job interview: the questions he would ask, the reactions he would trigger. It’s really fascinating, I am actually curios if any hiring manager, business owner or someone in HR department who is also watching this show has been wondering about the same thing as me.

- Could Cal Lightman’s expertise help when hiring someone who is going to handle cash transactions for the business?

- Could Cal Lightman help in assessing integrity when interviewing candidate who is going to have access to the most sensitive intellectual property of the business?

Do we just assume that dishonest executives, fraudulent accountants and lying financial advisors are all fictional characters from the pages of the newspapers?

I think we all know the answer to that.

There are a lot of things people that people don’t do because the

So what would it actually take to have Cal Lightman conducting job interviews. There are few of things that I think about right away: 1.expencive, 2. not always available, 3. liability.

Let’s start with a fee. The fee when you see a psychologist (in his office, by appointment) is around $200 per hour (if someone is looking for the exact number it’s $170 for 50 min appointment according the Alberta Association of Psychologists). Considering that Cal Lightman specializes in a very particular area of physiology, works with a team and probably doesn’t take any assignments that involve less that five figure price tag, it would be probably safe to say that his fee is significantly higher that $200 per hour. Keeping in mind that on average company goes through 5-6 interviews (or more) before making hiring decision the amount of money spent on such specialist would be simply astronomical for most (but not all) of the businesses.

 Is there an alternative solution that many businesses cans easily afford? Yes there is.

The availability: Cal Lightman is a pretty busy guy and it’s unlikely that he will make himself available every time you are trying to get a “reading” on a possible candidate. The liability: Cal Lightmen often doesn’t like to play by the rules and he doesn’t mind pushing the boundaries in order to achieve his goal. As a result employer could be dealing with employment standards and human rights issues.

To sum this all up: The least company can do today is to conduct pre-employment integrity assessment (run between $25-$60 per person) that will give employer powerful information about candidates honesty and/or candidates attitude towards dishonesty, work ethic, potential absenteeism problems and more. Depending on the product used, interview questions that are relevant to the candidate’s assessment and compliant with the rules and regulations can be part of the overall assessment summary. 

Relevant interview questions is a must have and one of the key features. You don’t need to hire Cal Lightman if you know the right questions to ask. People that want to sway away from the truth will be melting right in the front of you.  

We’ve all heard the very common expression: “don’t judge a book by its cover”, it’s an allegorical phrase which means “don’t decide the value of something based on its appearance”. Let’s face it, we will never stop making those judgments simply because “the look” is the very first impression that we have of ether a person or an object. Perhaps the word “judgment” is too strong in this case since it’s more of a “reaction” than anything else. If reaction is good we tend to think of it as “chemistry” if it’s bad then we think that we’ve made a “judgment”. But at the end of the day it’s a reaction.

When it comes to hiring process both employer and a job seeker go though a wide range of different reactions, assumptions and conclusions. Most of them are often based on the “gut feeling” not the actual facts or the information.

The employer will always have the upper hand since it’s the employer who is selecting vs. job seeker is looking to be selected. There for when it comes to the job interview both parties come with a different but challenging goals in mind.

Let me relate this to a particular challenge that many HR managers and business owners have experience: hiring someone who in reality has fewer skills than he (she) listed on the resume. The one particular skill that 89% of employers listed was less that expected proficiency in Microsoft Office skills. Here is the simple solution: if knowing Microsoft Office (all or some of it components) is important for your organization, don’t assume. There is a range of inexpensive online skills testing that can provide employer with very precise information about proficiency lever of each candidate that has taken that still test. When it comes to Microsoft Office skills testing can be conducted on each program separately (Exel, Power Point, Microsoft Word etc) or it can be offered as a bundle it really depends on the requirements.

A word of caution: Recently we’ve encountered a situation when employer decided to treat skills testing as integrity testing at the same time. This is a big (but not uncommon) mistake. You have probably guessed what happened. Potential employee failed Microsoft Exel testing after stating in the resume knowledge of the program. The thing is that many job seekers and even general population doesn’t know how proficient they are in one or the other computer program as long as they are able to use it for their particular purpose.

For example I know how to use Adobe Photoshop to crop some pictures, delete unwanted background or cut and past image from one picture in to another. So technically I know how to use that program. But what would happen if I was to get a job at a graphic design company? You’ve guessed it, I’d be lucky if they kept me as lunch delivery guy.

To sum this all up:

Don’t guess

Test before you assume

And…After looking at the cover do open the book and see what is inside before deciding if you like it or not.

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Do you need help in writing your resume? Are you ready for career change but don’t know what your best qualities are? Need motivation and encouragement for attending job interview? Canada Human Resources Centre can help you during difficult time of transition by providing you with resources that will help you achieve what you want.

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