The difficult task of assessing whether an employee is telling the truth in an interview

Employers often question employees regarding possible wrongdoing. They must ferret out whether they believe employees are telling the truth. So, I was especially interested in the commentary on the Internet and sports radio on the Jerry Sandusky interview. In the interview with NBC’s Bob Costas, Sandusky, a former football coach with Penn State, proclaimed his innocence. Costas asked Sandusky (this is around 7:53 into the interview), “Are you sexually attracted to young boys, to underage boys?” Sandusky replied, “Am I sexually attracted to underage boys? Sexually attracted? You know . . . I enjoy young people. I, I love to be around them. . . . But no, I’m not sexually attracted to young boys." Thinking about employers' need to assess veracity, I checked one of my favorite books, "Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception" by Pamela Meyer. In determining whether a person is telling the truth, Meyer advocates examining the choice of words and phrasing. She discusses "parrot statements," where a person repeats the question, word for word, which she believes suggests that the person doesn't want to answer the question. Two other keys, according to Meyer, are: 1. protest statements, involving a nonresponsive answer that nothing in the accused's background would show he is capable of deceit, i.e. "I am a good person. Why are you asking me these questions?" and 2. guilt-trip statements, in which the accused tries to avoid the question by attacking the questioner, i.e. “I bet you are not asking any of the executives where they were when the money went missing." It’s a good book. But it’s sad we need it.