Should I tell the truth on my CV?

One of my next books is called Should I Tell the Truth?

So I was interested this morning to read about a top executive at InterContinental Hotels being fired for having lied about the qualifications on his CV.

Patrick Imbardelli had worked for 25 years in the hotel industy. He had claimed to have three qualifications - a bachelor of business degree from the University of Victoria in Australia, and a BSc and a masters of business administration, both from Cornell University in the US.

In fact, he had only attended classes at both universities in the 1980s - but he never received any qualifications!

To me, this says two things. Firstly, of course it's bad to be caught lying on your CV. Secondly though, it illustrates how easy it is to get away with lying. He had managed to lie about his qualifications for 25 years and risen to nearly the very top of his industry! It was only because he was about to rise to the main board of InterContinental Hotels that he got caught out - if he'd had a more ordinary career, he would probably have got away with it for life.

So if there's a lesson here - it's either not to lie or not to get caught anyway!

Liar, liar

Psychologists are often asked to help the police detect liars. And, contrary to what some so-called experts say, there is no reliable way to detect lies from just eye movements or whether you touch your nose or anything like that.

However, here's an interesting bit of research for you. Police officers instructed to pick out 'who you believe is thinking hard' tended to spot liars versus truth-tellers more accurately than when they were asked to spot 'who you think is lying'.

And, if you want to put the pressure on, then increase the cognitive demand for the person you think is lying. A study by Professor Aldert Vrij at the University of Portsmouth found that it's easier to spot liars when you ask them to recite the elements of their story in reverse order than in normal order.

So there you have it. Look for someone who is thinking hard. And if you think they are thinking hard, get them to tell you their (alleged?) tale again - backwards.

Happy lie spotting!