Elon Musk employs a classic job interview question that exposes dishonest people
Hiring experts use one particular question during job interviews to identify dishonest candidates; Elon Musk has acknowledged using it as well.
The CEO of Tesla and founder of Space X, Elon Musk, acknowledged in 2017 that he asks the same question of every applicant he interviews. «Describe some of the trickiest issues you have tackled and the solutions you came up with.»
He claimed at the 2017 World Government Summit that he filters out liars with the help of this question, and studies on interviewing techniques support his approach.
An interview approach called «Asymmetric Information Management» (AIM) aims to give the interviewee a clear way to show that they are genuinely sharing the truth about their experience by offering specific details.
Based on the job interviewing process, a study published in the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition in December 2020 discovered multiple methods for identifying liars.
It is highly probable that a candidate is telling the truth if they can provide a precise and comprehensive solution to Musk’s open-ended inquiry. One of the study’s authors, Cody Porter, stated in an article that «small details are the lifeblood of forensic investigations and can provide investigators with facts to check and witnesses to question.»
According to Porter, «the investigator will be better able to detect if they are telling the truth or lying if they provide longer, more detailed statements about the event of interest.» «Liars, on the other hand, want to hide their guilt.»
