Interview Questions: Are You Too Trusting?

How much should you trust a potential employer? You might be surprised to learn the number of lies that are told or information that is purposely omitted on both sides of the job interview table every day. Job candidates lie and employers know this and take precautions. Employers often run background checks or search for information about you on the web before you come in. But chances are, if you still have an interview they have found no glaring discrepancies in your identity or background. Although, from the moment you walk into a job interview you and the employer are both starting from positions of trust.

The employer's position of trust:

Most employers do not ask you for identification at the first job interview. They trust that you are who you say you are.Many employers do not contact previous employers to verify everything on your resume before an interview. For the moment, they trust that your resume is truthful.Most employers do not hook up candidates to a lie detector during a first job interview or request applicants take an oath. They trust that what you say will be the truth.

The candidate's position of trust: But employers can also be deceiving. What should you watch out for? What do you need to trust as a job candidate? During an initial interview you expect the interviewer to be truthful about the position, the company and if and when pay is discussed, the amount.

Most job candidates do not ask to interview employees at the company they are considering. Job candidates usually have few means to verify that a job description is truthful and complete. You must trust what the employer tells you.Most job candidates do not ask to review the current books and profit loss statements of the company where they interview. They trust what the employer is telling them about the company.Most job candidates do not request all offers be in writing. Job candidates trust that the employer will pay them what they say they will.

An employer can usually verify verbal and written statements made by job candidates. On the other hand, you might have a more difficult time verifying what an employer is telling you. Most employers want happy employees but most of them are also in the business of getting as much as they can for as little expense as possible and the case of labor is no exception.

Most employers do not lie about the position pay amount. Employers will not fabricate about the pay for a job. Pay is stated in exact terms or numbers for the amount of time worked. Employers know if they tell job candidates how much pay they will receive and their actual paycheck is less, the employer will instantly lose the trust of the employee and might lose the employee.

However, this is critical: While pay is fairly straight forward, the duties and responsibilities of the position are another story. Almost no matter what a job description states, the actual daily duties and responsibilities can be much different or far more. Many employers do not accurately describe the tasks required for a position in help wanted postings or in job interviews. Many new employees, especially in management positions, are soon overwhelmed within in the first few months of employment. These fresh employees will seldom complain as they do not want to rock the boat.

With the exception of people who accept interim positions of employment while they wait for jobs to become available in their fields or are temporarily working part-time, most job candidates do not accept a job with the intention of leaving anytime soon. The majority of new hires plan to stay on the job longer than a year. Yet surveys have shown most employees are dissatisfied with their jobs after only one year. One of the most common complaints is the job is not what they thought it was going to be. What that usually means is these employees did not accurately assess the job or they were deceived and are being overworked.

Discover the smokescreen tactics employers use to shroud job descriptions and exactly what you can do to uncover an accurate picture of the day to day duties and responsibilities of a job. Find out what interview questions you should be asking. Copyright 2011 by Phil Baker. Freely distribute this article but please leave article, author name, copyright info, and links intact.