Lies, damned lies... and interviews

Research suggests that in any ten- to 15-minute job interview, “candidates tell two to three lies, on average”, says Rachel Feintzeig. Who’s surprised? “Even as children we’re socialised to tell white lies” to oil the wheels of life. “Job interviews are simply a high-stakes extension of that dynamic.” Of course, mistruths exist on a spectrum: from “slight exaggerations” – such as bigging up language or IT skills – to “complete fabrications”. Men tend to lie more about their accomplishments, while women “lie more about others”, often in an attempt to communicate how much they like the interviewer. Almost everyone laughs “at jokes they don’t find funny” and twists their interests to fit the job position. Companies are hardly blameless in all this. Many “cherry-pick the corporate cheerleaders” to conduct interviews, so as to give the impression they have a fabulous company culture. Indeed, you might say the whole situation is designed to encourage lying. Candidates must put their best foot forward, and managers need to sell the job. The upshot, says the psychologist Robert Feldman, is a sort of conspiracy – “both sides want the lie to be true”.

As president of the New York Stock Exchange, Stacey Cunningham is “the face of a symbol of American capitalism”. That brings “prestige”, said the FT. But last week she was “reminded it can also mean taking tough knocks”. Her management of the recent “delisting” of Chinese companies has been slammed as cack-handed. First the NYSE said it would delist three Chinese telecoms firms to comply with a White House order. Days later, it reversed the decision – only to backtrack again following a call from Trump’s treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin. The episode is a “rare misstep” for Cunningham, 46, who joined the NYSE as an intern. When you make a mistake, “you own it, you fix it, you move on”, she once said, citing lessons learned as a trader. Sound advice.