How to Answer Interview Question: Would you lie for the company?
Mining tons of information about you is the job of hiring managers. They do this by using well-chosen questions. These questions are usually direct and simple and sometimes you may want to give a direct answer. However, they are tricky questions.
These questions are well designed to reveal information about you that you may not even know about yourself. To uncover some behaviors that may bring inconsistencies at work, hiring managers ask questions like “would you lie for the company?
Would you lie for the company? What a question. A question like this puts you off balance and makes you wonder what to say. Aside from our professional lives, there has been a situation like this, where you had to choose between your integrity and loyalty.
In a professional environment, especially during an interview, you are put to the test. There is no room for “let me think about it overnight”, you have to respond on the spot and that can be very uncomfortable.
Not to worry, we’ve got you covered. Here you will understand why hiring managers ask this question, how you should respond to this question and what to avoid when giving your answers.
Why do interviewers ask “would you lie for the company?”
For the interviewer, this is just one of the many behavioral questions they ask to go deeper into your personality. They want to know what makes you tick and how you will handle future situations. So what is the interviewer is looking for are various qualities you are expected to possess.
The first is Integrity which basically refers to your quality of being honest and having very good moral principles. Ensure that you highlight this quality to the interviewer.
The second would be your willingness to do business lawfully since the interviewer intends to hire you he would definitely judge you on the quality of being legal all the time or if in a tricky situation you might take the second road.
Lastly, the interviewer, being well aware of the fact that this is a tricky question that may throw you off balance wants to judge whether you can handle pressure with utmost confidence.
Would you lie for the company? How to answer
Choose your integrity
Your integrity is more important than loyalty to the company. When you are asked “would you lie for the company?” the first thing that should come to mind is maintaining honesty. So as an applicant, do not fall into the trap of trying to please the interviewer by putting loyalty in front of integrity. It will depict you in a negative way. Even if you have been doing well with other questions, a wrong notion here may not land you the job.
Maintaining a positive attitude
This is one such quality you should ensure to maintain throughout the interview. The question may catch you off guard but don’t let it make you nervous. If you maintain a positive attitude when giving your response to this question will ensure that you are calm and will not show that you are uncomfortable in any way about the question.
In addition to choosing integrity and maintaining a positive attitude, you should also add that you will not do anything to the company and that you are willing to keep the company’s secrets as long as its operation is legal.
Mistakes to avoid
Do not say yes
Yes in this case is a wrong answer. There is no other way to explain it. It will only tell the interviewer that you are a liar and if you can lie to save the company, you can lie to save yourself when you commit an offense. Moreover, lying never stops, you have to lie to keep covering the truth.
Do not give direct answers
Direct answers like NO or NEVER is the correct thing to say but it is usually not the best. What you should do is back up your answer with explanations. For instance, your response can be like this “as an individual, one of the most important things to me is my integrity and honesty, and trust is built on that. However, I will not say anything to destroy the company’s image as long as it operates within the law”
Do not compromise your integrity
No matter the pressure from the interviewer or the guilt that might be played in your head by the response of the interviewer, do not fall for the trick. It’s all about your truth-telling skills. So maintain your integrity, it will tell your potential employer that you are trustworthy.
Do not be combative or visibly uncomfortable
Do not use a stern voice to answer the question and do not change your countenance at soon as you hear the question. Also, do not repeat the question. All of these will give a bad impression about your stability as a person.
Final thoughts
The interviewer’s arsenal is filled with questions that are tricky and delicate. One of these interview questions is “would you lie for the company?” your response should be an opportunity to show that you will always tell the truth no matter the situation. So be a smart, confident, and positive applicant and be honest.