Science Just Confirmed Elon Musk’s Favorite Interview Question Is Brilliant
Every entrepreneur and hiring manager goes into a job interview looking to hire the best person for the job. The problem is research shows they generally fail spectacularly. One Yale professor has even called job interviews as they’re usually conducted “useless.”
The problem isn’t bad intentions. It’s human fallibility. Study after study confirms most bosses just can’t seem to stop themselves from being taken in by overconfident blowhards.
Is there a way to get better at sniffing out BS or even flat-out lying in job interviews (or any other context)? A new study has uncovered a simple, research-validated technique, and funnily enough, it’s exactly how Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk has been interviewing job candidates for years.
No polygraph required.
As psychologist Cody Porter explained in a recent piece for The Conversation, the method was developed for law enforcement and designed as an alternative to the notoriously unreliable lie detector tests you’ve seen on TV cop shows. Instead of hooking up suspects to a stress-measuring machine, Porter and her collaborators suggest a particular interview technique to sniff out liars.
