There are many ways to identify a liar, but most of them happen subconsciously. You can be safe with using an integrity test for hiring your employees but it is also important to know how to read people when you come face-to-face with them. By being aware of these tells, you'll be better equipped to spot a liar during an interview!
1. Liars tend to look up and to the right when they fabricate a story.
According to neuroscientists who have studied lying extensively, liars often do this in order to create a mental picture of their concocted stories in their minds. Liars will often look up and slightly to their right because they rely on the right side of their brain to construct a story. As they're fabricating, they visualize what they want to say and how they want it all to sound in order to be convincing.
2. Liars tend to enumerate specific facts when trying to convince you of their lies.
When people are telling the truth, they tend to explain things in generalities. For example, when you ask someone if they went to the bank yesterday, they'll state that they did or not. When liars are telling falsehoods, however, they try to convince you with specifics because their brains work harder when they tell lies. They go into more detail than usual and may even make up certain things in order to sound more convincing.
3. Liars tend to point a lot when they talk.
When people are lying, their bodies go into fight-or-flight mode and they begin moving around a lot in an attempt to release the tension that's built up inside their bodies during the fabrication process.
4. Liars tend to speak faster when they tell untruths.
Lying is work, and the body wants to get it over with as quickly as possible so that it can relax again. When people are lying, their heart rates go up and they feel stressed, which makes them want to rush through what they have to say.
5. Liars tend to use words like "um" and "ah" more frequently because they are trying to buy themselves time to fabricate their stories.
This is because they don't plan out what they're going to say ahead of time. Instead, liars mostly make things up on the fly, which can be difficult for them.
6. Liars often try to qualify the untruths that come out of their mouths, saying things like "to tell you the truth" or "to be perfectly honest."
This is what's known as bolstering, which liars do in an attempt to make you believe them more. The liar believes that by saying things like this, he or she will appear more believable and trustworthy.
7. Liars often use a lot of hand gestures when they talk because they need to reinforce their lie with movement.
Once again, this is because liars feel that if their body language matches what they're saying, it will make the story they're telling more believable.
8. Liars tend to lean away from you and toward escape routes when they tell falsehoods.
This makes them want to get away from you as fast as they can, which is exhibited subconsciously in their body language.
9. Liars often forget to ask questions when doing so would be appropriate.
If the person you are interviewing neglects to do this, he or she might not be telling the truth about something. This is because liars tend not to build relationships with people because they don't want someone to catch them in a lie.
10. Liars tend to ask questions that are easy to answer because they are trying not to make mistakes when talking to you.
This way the interviewer will think the person was paying attention throughout the interview, even though he or she wasn't really listening at all! If this happens to you, try to notice what kinds of questions the person asked. This will let you know if they really were listening or not.
11. Liars take longer to respond to questions than people who are telling the truth do.
This is because lying takes a lot of work and it's hard for them not to get caught in their own web of deceit. The best thing you can do if this happens is to try to remain calm and patient as you wait for an answer.
If you are interviewing someone and you notice that any of these things are taking place, be careful during the rest of the interview! The person might not be telling you the truth about something, or they could just have a habit of doing one or two of these things when they talk. Either way, it's important to always pay extra attention for the sake of your business.