Polygraph testing – more commonly known as lie detector tests – is a type of interview conducted with scientific machinery in order to determine somebody’s honesty or trustworthiness. If your company is in the process of hiring new employees, then it would be worthwhile to consider integrating polygraphs into your pre-employment screening. Read this article to see how your business might benefit from the use of polygraph testing services from Polygraph Truths.
These scientific instruments are commonly used in criminal cases or interrogations, but they can also prove incredibly useful during recruitment procedures. During these interviews, the interviewee is asked a set of questions. The validity of the interviewee’s answers is measured based on physiological responses such as one’s breathing, pulse, heart rate, perspiration and skin conductivity.
Why would I need polygraph testing?
In business, we are often forced to place our trust in others. When it comes to teamwork and task delegation, colleagues, peers and employers are expected to communicate openly and honestly with each other. Maintaining consistency and efficacy in your business means having the best people on the job. But how can you ensure that your co-workers are the best people for the job?
Screening your potential hires is a vital component of achieving your deliverables, minimizing turnover and streamlining the hiring process. While trust is an optimistic attitude, it involves a certain level of risk that many businesses cannot afford. In order to ensure that your good nature and positive attitude is not being taken advantage of, you have to take additional measures.
While regular screening processes are effective, there are many hidden nuances that the human eye and ear cannot perceive. Employers and recruitment officers cannot simply rely on someone’s curriculum vitae, reference letters or referrals. This is why Polygraph Truths uses tried and tested screening methods to provide bio-indicators that will help to discern the undetected lies or omissions of prospective employees.
What is pre-employment polygraph testing?
This is a tool for employers who are scouting new hires. While applicants go through rigorous checks and interviews before they are hired, there is always the concern that they are hiding something. Using photoshop or other digital software, applicants are easily able to forge their curriculum vitae, provide fake reference letters or forge false documents.
In a competitive job market, it is not unlikely to come across deceitful applicants. Certain desperate people will not provide you with true reflections of themselves or their work ethic, and it is likely that they could fool you in the interview too. Thus, it is recommended that you use a polygraph as a means to scrutinize between honest and dishonest candidates.
What sort of results do polygraph tests yield?
Pre-employment polygraph testing allows you to determine whether these applicants are hiding problematic histories that cannot be detected by paper trails. You can avoid jeopardizing your business by asking them questions related to criminal activity and their work history. Polygraphs could expose the following problems:
- Syndicate affiliations
- Drug abuse
- Alcohol abuse
- Gambling history
- Falsified background information
- Fraud
- Assault
- Theft
- Misconduct
- Financial problems
- Malpractice
Pre-employment screenings generally involve multiple aspects such as verifications and credentials screenings, medical exams, sex offender screenings, credit history checks, aptitude tests, criminal record screenings and emotional intelligence tests. The hiring process can be time-consuming, and the time it takes to train new employees thereafter is doubly laborious. To ensure that you don’t waste time and money on the wrong applicant, you should consider conducting a polygraph test in the early stages of the screening process.
If you’re concerned that your standard screening processes are not sufficient, then Polygraph Truths can provide an additional level of surety. While credentials and verifications offer documented assurance, there is always the chance that prior problems or complications went undocumented. Human resource practitioners might find that these tests will allow them to scope the personality traits of potential employees while double-checking any unverified claims they may make about their general behaviour.
What are the advantages of polygraph testing?
Using science methodologies and behavioural monitoring tools, interviewers can determine the trustworthiness of their candidates and mitigate the risk involved in the employment process. These pre-employment polygraph testing services are customised to your specific company or trader. Questions will be framed according to the industry in which you function and the position for which you are hiring, and will help you to determine which applicant is right for the job.
Below is a list of the advantages of the polygraph testing offered by Polygraph Truths:
Unbiased fact – Trained examiners in polygraph testing can provide more accurate information than recruiters who determine trustworthiness in relation to personality indicators, appearance or behaviour. These assessments are conducted by impartial professionals, so they are more likely to yield fair and unbiased results. These tests use scientific evidence instead of assumption.
Polygraphs set a precedent – Using polygraphs to ensure honesty amongst new hires will send a message to all of your co-workers and employees. This will give your office a reputation for maintaining high levels of trust and transparency. Furthermore, it will demonstrate the emphasis which your company places on open communication and integrity.
Choose the best candidate – Above and beyond a person’s curriculum vitae and interview, social skills, communication skills and emotional maturity are significant criteria that impact office dynamics and professional ability. Polygraphs can be a surefire way to determine whether a candidate tends to tell white lies without having to place them in a work context. However small these lies may be, they can severely impact your business and your bottom line. Weeding out the liars during the application process can prevent further disruptive behaviour in the workplace.
Surety – In the event that you cannot secure supporting evidence or witness testimony to any suspicions you might have, then polygraph tests can offer you some clarity. Ambiguity can be distressing for any business owner or employer. Hence, it’s best to finalize these issues before you hire anyone.
How can I be sure that polygraph tests are reliable?
Polygraph Truths uses tried and tested methods to achieve the best results. This a professional service with great customer reviews. Below is a list of reasons why you can trust polygraph tests:
Scientific assurance – Polygraph machines make use of medical instruments that can measure physiological reactions. The polygraph machine combines the cardio-sphygmograph, the pneumograph, and the galvanograph into one machine. These components measure heart rate, blood rate, respiratory rate and perspiration. Transducers then convert any recorded data into digital signals that determine truth or lie.
Professional conduction – Polygraphs are conducted in accordance with the regulated standards of Polygraph Truths. Polygraph Truths conducts their testing with professionals who follow strict codes as determined by the American Polygraph Association. These professionals are qualified within industries such as forensic psychology or criminology.
Confidential – Polygraph Truths offers assessments that are aligned to people’s constitutional rights. Whatever data is collected in polygraph tests remains confidential. Employees or potential employees are made aware of their rights to privacy and their right to not incriminate themselves before the examination. However, this information will only be private unless the company policy states that they intend to use polygraphs in disciplinary hearings or investigations, for periodic screenings perhaps.
Alignment with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (the CCMA) – Polygraphs are only conducted once certain conditions from the CCMA have been fulfilled. It is a voluntary, non-discriminatory process that requires interviewees to consent beforehand in a written or contractual agreement. Polygraph Truths’ privacy policy ensures its clients that the data from its tests will not be abused. Finally, employees can request an interpreter during the test, and they can also request the presence of a third party – so long as they do not interfere.
What can be expected from polygraph testing?
Polygraph tests will not use any trick questions or surprise questions. All of the questions will be simple yes or no questions, and the interviewee will be told what they are beforehand. Interviewees will be asked relevant, irrelevant and control questions. For example, you will be asked your name, age and date as a means to differentiate between physiological responses to the truth and lies.
The test will not cause any physical pain and interviewees are not at risk of being injured in any way. Interviewees can expect to have their blood pressure measured in the same way that doctors or nurses measure patients’ blood. The polygraphist conducting the assessment will have no involvement in the interviewee’s selection process thereafter. They will only provide the data to their client.
Below are some examples of questions that you might be expected to answer in a polygraph test for your pre-employment screening:
- Have you ever been fired for misconduct?
- Have you ever stolen company property?
- Have you ever been convicted of a crime?
- Have you ever placed any false information on your employment applications?
- Are you addicted to any substances?
- Have you deliberately omitted information from your employment applications?
- Have you ever been a suspect in a police investigation?
- Have you ever committed identity fraud?
- Have you ever embezzled money?
- Have you ever assaulted another person?
- Are you associated with any gangs?
- Have you ever been involved in illegal gambling?
- Have you ever forged a document?
- Is the information on your CV entirely true?
- Have you ever been charged with sexual harassment in the workplace?
- Have you ever committed a hate crime against someone because of their race, sexuality, disability or gender?
- Have you used drugs in the last year?
- Have any of your previous employers given you bad references before?
- Additional uses of polygraph testing
Polygraph Truths offers 3 other types of screenings, each tailored to the context and nature of the situation. Below is a list of additional situations when Polygraph Truths can offer you assistance:
Periodic screening – this is a preventative, proactive measure. Employers can initiate periodic screening if they suspect misconduct from individuals in the workplace. Period screening can prevent employees from attempting fraudulent behaviour in the future, thereby shielding your enterprise from theft or malpractice.
Infidelity screening – If you’re concerned that your partner has been unfaithful to you but you lack evidence to prove your claims, then this polygraph test will offer physiological answers. If they have in fact been lying about an affair or cheating scandal, the test will reveal their indiscretions. This will allow you to consider which steps you want to take ain your relationship.
Incident-specific screening – This type of testing is framed around specific accidents. These types of tests are generally used by law enforcement agencies or police investigators. Polygraphists will examine the interviewee’s connection to the accident and the validity of their testimony. This can also be very useful when applied to nearby witnesses with contradictory statements.
Contact Polygraph Truths for a free consultation!
If you’re concerned that someone is breaking your trust, and you’d like to take matters into your own hands, then you should consider contacting Polygraph Truths. This service will clarify any ambiguity in your business or household. You can rest assured that these services are of the best quality, using scientific methods and professional polygraphists. Polygraph Truths offers their services in Polokwane, Durban If you’d like a free consultation before you move forward with testing, then click here.
