a photo of Deborah Powell
Deborah Powell

New University of Guelph research about our likelihood to “exaggerate the truth” during job interviews was recnetly featured in several national news outlets.

An article highlighting the research first appeared on CBCNews.ca, and on Yahoo! News.

CTVNews.ca also interviewed U of G team about the research.

The article highlighted the findings of a soon-to-be-published paper co-authored by Prof. Deborah Powell, of U of G’s industrial and organizational psychology graduate program, and PhD candidate Jordan Ho.

The study found that 100 per cent of respondents would lie, exaggerate or stretch the truth in one way or another in certain job interview situations.

For example, the respondents reported they were more likely to use deception in scenarios where there were fewer people competing against them for a job.

The Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychology program at U of G specializes in how people behave at work, and is focused on research and practice in the field.

Powell’s research is most concerned with personnel selection and finding fair methods of hiring the best employees.