Jun 11, 2013 | Blog

2013 Strategic Talent Acquisition Conference Part 2: The Human Lie Detector

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Talent acquisition professionals are always on the search for the right candidate for the right spot.  Does the candidate possess the right skills and experience?  Will she fit with the firm’s culture?  With tight deadlines and fierce competition, what are the best tools to determine if the candidate will be a good match?  Today attendees at the 2013 Strategic Talent Acquisition Conference heard from The Human Lie Detector author and Director of SVA Training, Steven Van Aperen. 

 

Van Aperen shared some interesting statistics from a recent Harvard study like although both men and women lie with equal frequency, women tend to lie to make someone feel better while men lie to make themselves look better.   Women utilize 14-16 areas of their brain in evaluation whereas men use only 4-6 areas.   Sharing how observation of the candidate can help determine culture fit and integrity, Van Aperen detailed what to look for in a candidate to determine truthfulness like content and structure, body language, use of verbal language and paralinguistic delivery. 

 

Van Aperen engaged the audience displaying photos of famous lies and liars and explaining the gestures and non verbal behaviors to look out for.   He also ran through a short exercise showcasing poker gambling tells and teaching which signals showed high confidence versus low confidence and pulled attendees from the audience to see some examples first hand.

 

Talent acquisition professionals were instructed to keep their heads out of their notes when interviewing and to keep the focus on watching the candidate and their behaviors.  They were warned to ask properly formed direct questions.   When candidates answer a question with a question or offer an evasive response or avoid a direct answer to the inquiry, continue to ask the same direct question and get your truthful answer. 

 

There is a lot of great content coming up at STA 2013 and for members who were unable to attend, feel free to follow us on twitter (@Human_Capital) and watch for tweets with the hashtag #hcievents.