Issue 50: How to Interview Like a Liar (Without Actually Lying… Please)
Three suspiciously effective habits that great candidates share with extremely convincing liars.2026 - Week 10 ⏪ Let’s start with a quick clarification. You should not lie in job interviews. Lying is unethical, risky, and if you get caught, you will spend the rest of the meeting pretending the Zoom froze. That said. If you observe people who are very good at lying, you’ll notice something unsettling. They are excellent communicators. Clear. Focused. Strategic. In fact, many honest interview candidates could dramatically improve their chances of getting hired if they borrowed a few techniques from people who are trying to convince someone of something that may or may not be true. Again. We are recommending the communication tactics, not the lying. Work In ProgMess has lawyers now. Thing #1: Good liars focus on the other person Bad interviewees walk into interviews thinking: How do I show them how impressive I am? Good liars think something very different: What does this person want to believe? Great candidates think similarly. They walk in asking: What problem is this company trying to solve? Then they shape their answers around that. They do not dump their entire résumé on the table like a yard sale. They listen. They connect their experiences directly to the thing the interviewer actually cares about. Because interviews are not autobiography readings. They are persuasion exercises. Thing #2: Good liars tell detailed stories Liars know a secret about human brains. Details make things believable. Not big claims. Not buzzwords. Details. Bad interview answers sound like this: “I’m a strong leader and a hard worker.” This statement has been delivered by approximately 9.7 billion humans. Good answers sound like this: “Last spring two people quit our robotics team a week before regionals. I reorganized our build schedule and we finished the robot at 1:40 a.m. the night before competition.” Specific moments create credibility. Stories beat adjectives every time. Thing #3: Good liars stop talking This is where most candidates self-destruct. People who lie know something important. The longer you talk, the more opportunities you create to contradict yourself. So good liars do something brilliant. They say the thing. They give a short story. Then they stop. Meanwhile nervous candidates keep adding: More explanation. A great interview answer usually takes about 30–60 seconds. Then silence. Which feels terrifying. But works. The uncomfortable truth Ironically, the strongest interview candidates often sound more convincing than honest candidates who are telling the truth. Not because they’re dishonest. Because they understand communication. They focus on the listener. In other words, they interview like very convincing liars. Except everything they said actually happened. Which is generally considered a best practice. ✅ Yep, that's it💬 Worth Sitting WithIf your interview answers include phrases like: I'm passionate about leveraging my skill set.
Or
I'm a team player who thrives in dynamic environments.
Congratulations.
You are currently interviewing like a motivational poster.
Which is a different problem entirely.
❓ A Question to CarryAre you lying to yourself? Or are you nailing interviews? Still in Progmess. Find us on all the Socials! |
