Honesty

Is honesty really the best policy? I submit that it is not. Ever since companies have made the move to computer-controlled hiring programs and surveys, honesty in applicants has become a liability. Gone are the days of an employer “feeling out” a prospective employee through interviews. These days, the interview is a formality. An attempt to rate a person on a human level by another human, but it is the soulless, intuitionless machine that we trust to make decisions.

Am I being too melodramatic? I doubt it. For example, I just completed my “interview” with a major security company. I arrived in a suit and tie a few minutes early as we’re told and taught to. I had previously filled out an application online and completed the questionnaire that goes with it, that list of statements with response choices ranging from “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree”. The computer passed me through. When I arrived at the designated place, I was greeted by a secretary who sat me in a conference room and handed me yet another “assessment”. I answered every question truthfully and honestly. As this was a security company, the questions were about honesty, integrity, criminal history, drug use, and the like. I have never used any illegal drugs, nor do I have a criminal history. My personal integrity is very important to me. Confident in myself and my answers, I turned in the assessment. I then waited about 15 minutes while a computer scored my assessment. The manager came to collect me for the human part of the interview.

It lasted all of five minutes.

He asked about a couple of my responses, and a general “How much should an employee be allowed to steal before he’s fired” question. Then he sighed, and told me the computer had scored my responses as “not recommended for employment.” When I asked why, he told me that he didn’t know, the computer won’t divulge the reasons behind its decisions. I got the impression that had the decision been up to him, I would have had at least a shot at a real interview. He looked apologetic and told me that his hands were tied. Company policy states that if the computer returns “not recommended”, then that person is right out.

One of the first clichés that we learn is “Honesty is the best policy.” I believe that many of the world’s problems would be solved if people would just be honest. Personal integrity and honor should be important to everyone. Sadly, this is not the case.

We live in a world where greed and dishonesty are the norm. But it goes beyond that. Greed and dishonesty are accepted, expected, and even encouraged. Anything to get ahead, to gain an advantage.

Honest people are at a huge disadvantage in such a world. People work and sweat for years, and invest that hard-earned money to provide for themselves in retirement, and Bernie Madoff takes it for himself. Athletes work and train to give the best performance they can, to excel in the field of human physical achievement, and Barry Bond’s steroids set records.

A truly honest, honorable man tries to feed his family, and the computer rejects him for his honest answers.
What has happened to us?