In my work as business coach and mentor, I engage with many CEOs or company leaders. One of the recurring themes is when they ask for my input on hiring somebody. They want a quick ‘yes or no’ answer.

Now, we all know that hiring is a complex issue; qualifications, experience, initial chemistry and so much more. Then there are ‘environmental’ issues. For example, many of my clients are based in the Jerusalem, which provides a host of cultural issues.

Wading through this mess of computations is David Schulman, whose analysis is featured on the BBC. He gave an interview test to over 800 criminals convicted of white collar crimes and also to thousands of ‘decent people’. Guess what? “The criminals scored uniformly worse in accountability, conscientiousness, and empathy.”

Shulman’s point is subtle but clever.

Most of the time, we determine whether we think someone is honest by our impression of them, for instance, by asking a series of questions during the hiring process, or by how they conduct themselves during everyday business dealings. But, that’s not foolproof.

What I found particularly fascinating was how the BBC went on to cite the work of Nilan Peiris, a VP in a fast growing financial centre. He loves asking a question that will usually generate a small white lie. And here is the punch line:

“And I say, ‘OK, that’s not true. What’s the real reason?…… If they’re able to open up and be honest with us, then that tells us that they’re ready to go on to the next step.”

In other words, honesty is a key part of the process of many interviews. However, it is not something that can be readily measured. (And I have not even discussed those who ‘accidently on purpose’ miss out core information.) As ever, what is essential is that each interview contains a specific test or set of questions that will force the candidate to reveal their strengths on key characteristics.