Trust, on both sides, will have to be a part of the recruiting process at various levels and in various stages no matter your process.
You can't get away from relying on a candidate's self-assessment. - Andy Grove, High Output Management
We’d like to think we work in an industry that attracts mainly honest people that value the pursuit of accuracy and truth and don’t compromise their integrity. Regardless if that’s true, as an interviewer you would do well to always begin by giving people the benefit of the doubt and take a candidate’s self-representation at face value to start. Investigate your interviewee’s past with grace, and the truth will likely be revealed as your discussions deepen. Starting out on the attack because you are making assumptions is never acceptable or necessary.
You must make the candidate feel that honesty will be rewarded. In fact, you may take the approach of broaching the topic of trust right off the bat when you first sit down with a candidate to go over his résumé. By offering trust, you’ll receive trust, and hopefully therefore honesty. This is suggested by an old principle of leadership. The best leaders are known for the ability to gather a large amount of others’ trust very quickly. They do this in part by extending trust before it is truly deserved, as they must.
Explain to your interviewee that you expect him to give an objective, fair interpretation of his skill level and that in return you will respect him and his work completely, see the value in all his contributions, and not put him down. You making a show of placing a burden of integrity on his shoulders is more likely to generate a feeling of responsibility to do right by you in return, as a reward for your candor and courtesy, than if the topic is never addressed. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch out for exceptions. Trust, but verify. Hold anyone who violates your trust accountable.
One questionable practice that has been observed in the wild is a very subtle misdirection regarding the details in the name of the university where a candidate obtained his degree. For example, a résumé may not contain the full name of the university, leaving ambiguity regarding the specific campus of account within a larger system. The truth may have to be derived from a piece of fine print specifying the city or state, or you may not find your answer in the résumé at all and you’ll have to ask for it. In many cases, one campus is not as prestigious or rigorous as another. It’s quite likely that this makes no difference at all in the quality of the candidate, but as hiring manager you’ll expect honesty and you must do your research to make a judgment call.
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