2021

Preface 

As the second quarter of 2022 beckons, things appear to be fast returning to normal and everyone is gradually settling back into work. Organizations in Canada are fast embracing the new normal and adopting more flexible workplace practices. In the new normal, employee health concerns have remained a major subject at management meetings.  

Yet, things aren’t quite so normal. The now not-so-new sheriff in town is COVID-19, which has taken the world by storm and surpassed other health conditions that have plagued the work environment and workplace performance over the years, such as stress, heart-related ailments, sleep problems, allergies, body pain and depressive mood (McGregor et al., 2018). COVID quickly gained top-of-mind status with most employees who, by the nature of their employment, must report physically to work.  

Now into its third year as a significant health concern, COVID-19 has affected the world of work perhaps more than any other development in the modern era (Pieh et al., 2021). Its highly contagious nature, along with its tendency to periodically mutate into even more contagious variants, continually stretches the limits of modern medicine as the world struggles to find a solution. The ceaseless pressure to maintain productivity and profitability as the world begins to embrace the new normal presents new challenges with consequences that extend beyond the workplace.  

Workplace absenteeism and presenteeism  

The life of the modern-day business manager is not an easy one. They have a lot to contend with. While absenteeism remains a common disruptor to workplace activity, its parallel component, presenteeism, reintroduces itself as a clear and present danger for all organizations – particularly in the wake of COVID-19. Whilst absenteeism refers to a worker’s absence from work due to illness (either personally or as a caretaker for a sick dependent), presenteeism describes a situation where a legitimately ill person continues to physically come to the workplace (Howard et al., 2012). Where such an illness is as infectious as COVID-19, the consequences are not only monumental but extend beyond the workplace and assume a societal challenge of paradigmatic proportion.  

Presenteeism during COVID-19 

The costs and risk factors associated with workers coming into work while sick with COVID-19 are an enormous and relatively novel situation that organizations are forced to cope with. Where health conditions are non-contagious, sickness presenteeism has been observed to have some benefits to ailing staff, as the work environment offers structure, builds self-esteem and provides opportunities for social engagement and support (Kinman & Grant, 2022). Nonetheless, there is evidence that suggests that working while ill can delay, rather than expedite, the process of recovery, thus increasing the risk of future health problems and sickness absence (Skagen, 2016; Kinman & Grant, 2022).  

Inherent factors that encourage presenteeism  

Unfortunately, the pressures associated with having to turn up at work, especially in non-remote, in-person work sectors like retail, construction and hospitality, compel workers to take difficult decisions and go to work despite their ill health. They may also face the risk of lost hourly wages or even unemployment if they stay home sick.  

“Unhealthy” workplace culture can also be a factor. Employees may be gaslighted into self-doubt and question the seriousness of their own conditions because they are reluctant to let down their managers and colleagues. This may be a particular concern in situations where staffing levels are low or organizations are faced with other challenges that threaten their survival (Kinman, 2019). Workers may fear that their managers and colleagues do not consider them sufficiently unwell to necessitate time off from work if their symptoms are mild. This further constrains workers to put on a brave face and face the challenge of working during illness, unwittingly spreading it to other colleagues. The unfortunate long-term consequences, beyond prevailing a contagion that could otherwise be averted, includes reports that some people have continued to experience symptoms such as chronic fatigue, weakness, low productivity and cognitive difficulties several months later (Wise, 2020).  

Summary, reflections and further research direction 

The simple solution to stalling workplace presenteeism would be to encourage sick employees to stay at home and call in sick when they observe that they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, however mild (Pieh et al., 2021). Unfortunately, in the real world, things are never quite so simple. Therefore, sacrifices have to be made by both employees, who should conscientiously concede to reduced income during their periods of ill health, and managers, who should consider introducing half-pay conditions for workers performing in-person roles whose absenteeism is demonstrably a result of COVID-19-related illness. This demonstrates a sense of fairness to the affected employee and is a gesture of encouragement to avert the spread of the disease.  

Workplace presenteeism has a negative impact on employees, their co-workers and the community. It can exacerbate health problems and increase long-term sickness absence for the worker, increase accidents and injuries for the worker and co-workers, and transmit contagious illness to the community in which the workplace is embedded (Kinman, 2019) 

Tade Owodunni is a doctoral student in Business Administration at Royal Roads University, a Nigerian-trained lawyer, corporate governance practitioner and certified compliance and ethics professional. He emerged as the best graduating student (Nigeria) from his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program at Business School Netherlands in 2018. Tade’s research interests include corporate governance themes, small business growth and career development subjects.  

References

Howard, K. J., Howard, J. T., & Smyth, A. F. (2012). The problem of absenteeism and presenteeism in the workplace. In Handbook of occupational health and wellness (pp. 151-179). Springer, Boston, MA. 

Kinman, G. (2019). Sickness presenteeism at work: prevalence, costs and management. 

Kinman, G., & Grant, C. (2021). Presenteeism during the COVID-19 pandemic: risks and solutions. Occupational medicine, 71(6-7), 243-244.  

McGregor, A., Ashbury, F., Caputi, P., & Iverson, D. (2018). A preliminary investigation of health and work-environment factors on presenteeism in the workplace. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 60(12), e671-e678. 

Pieh, C., Budimir, S., Delgadillo, J., Barkham, M., Fontaine, J. R., & Probst, T. (2021). Mental health during COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom. Psychosomatic medicine, 83(4), 328-337.  

Skagen, K., & Collins, A. M. (2016). The consequences of sickness presenteeism on health and wellbeing over time: a systematic review. Social Science & Medicine, 161, 169-177. 

Wise, J. (2020). Long covid: doctors call for research and surveillance to capture disease. bmj, 370. 

In her book Pathways for Remembering and Recognizing Indigenous Thought in Education: Philosophies of Iethi’nihsténha Ohwentsia’kékha (Land), Sandra Styres explains that the purpose of stories is to make sense of “one’s place in the past in order to be in the present” (Styres 2017, 50). This use of stories, or storying (Styres, 2011), for people to understand themselves, their relationships and their connections to others, places and concepts is a philosophical perspective that can support career development work.

Storying is more than the person’s self-making (Savickas, 2012), it includes the context the person brings to each experience through responsibility and relationship “to family, community, nations, and the environment” (Firman, 2005, 226-227). Or, as Styres puts it, “storying refers to how we describe in story our experiences through personal, community, national, and global narratives” (Styres, 2008 as cited in Styres, 2011, 718).

When we tell our story (Offet-Gartner, 2011) we learn from our telling. We tell our stories in circles (Little Bear, 2012), where each time we tell the same story we add “depth and dimension” (Styres, 2017, 186) to it. As we tell our stories we are actively building our connections to not only our physical, intellectual, spiritual, and emotional selves, but our connections to our family and communities (Pidgeon, 2014) and all the holistic individuals within those groups, each with their own physical, intellectual, spiritual and emotional selves. This, then, is the impact of storying: the construction of the holistic self.

Styres concept of storying is “circular, iterative, and relational” (Styres 2017, 38). When it applies to career development, storying requires three parts: story, circularity and awareness of relationships. Story, or narrative, is a core aspect of modern career development practice (McIlveen & Patton, 2007) and Peavy has identified how we link our experiences together through stories and create “an evolving biographical narrative under continuous revision” (Peavy, 1995, 1-2). For Anishinaabek (Peltier, 2018) and Niitsitapi (Marule, 2012) peoples as well as many other Indigenous peoples, the story is not just a narrative but is derived from observation and critical reflection.

Circularity, or iterativeness, is embraced by Western career development professionals who focus on experiential learning (Kolb & Kolb, 2009, Jarvis, 2006). It is a concept that is especially important for career development because we learn from the telling, and learn again from the retelling later (Styres, Haig-Brown, & Blimkie, 2013); with every revisit to the story the person brings their prior experiences to bear (Styres, 2017) on the retelling. This circularity (Akan, 1999) enables a great deal of reflection and personal growth.

The awareness of relationships is an aspect which is not centred as much as it should be in career development. Krumbotlz (2009) and others touch on the importance of relationships to clients, but it is rarely with the complexity and centrality of relationships that is seen in the Indigenous paradigm (Kovach, 2020, Peltier, 2018, Held, 2019). From Saulteaux (Akan, 1999), to Oneida (Antone, 2003), Okanagan (Cohen, 2001), Mi’kmaq (Pidgeon, 2014) and Mohawk (Styres, 2017), the “self-in-relationship” (Styres, 2017, 56) concept is central to the understanding of humans for Indigenous peoples in what is now Canada. From this perspective the relationship is not simply of a familial or romantic nature, but a relationship with the land, nature, our family, community and nation, and those who came before and those who will follow (Chartrand, 2012, p. 148).

The exploration of storying as a career development method, and the Indigenous philosophical paradigm, may open future directions for career development and counselling research and practice.

Noah Arney is a Master of Education student in Educational Research at the University of Calgary. He is a Certified Career Development Professional with over 10 years of experience in student affairs. He is a Career Services Co-ordinator with Thompson Rivers University. His research focuses on Indigenous students’ perception of work-integrated learning.

References

Akan, L. (1999). Pimosatamowin Sikaw Kakeequaywin: Walking and talking. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 23(1), 16–39.

Antone, E. (2003). Culturally Framing Aboriginal Literacy and Learning. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 27(1), 7–15.

Bear, L. L. (2012). Traditional knowledge and humanities: A perspective by a blackfoot. Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 39(4), 518–527. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6253.2012.01742.x

Chartrand, R. (2012). Anishinaabe Pedagogy. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 35(1), 144.

Cohen, B. (2001). The Spider’s Web: Creativity and survival in dynamic balance. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 25(2), 140–148. Firman, B. (2005). Renewing Aboriginal Education through Relationship and Community (Issue July). UBC.

Held, M. B. E. (2019). Decolonizing Research Paradigms in the Context of Settler Colonialism: An Unsettling, Mutual, and Collaborative Effort. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406918821574

Jarvis, P. (2006). Towards a comprehensive theory of human learning. London: Routledge.

Kolb, A. Y., & Kolb, D. A. (2009). The learning way: Meta-cognitive aspects of experiential learning. Simulation and Gaming, 40(3), 297–327. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878108325713

Kovach, M. (2020). Conversation Method in Indigenous Research. First Peoples Child & Family Review, 5(1), 39–48. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.7202/1069060ar

Krumboltz, J. D. (2009). The happenstance learning theory. Journal of Career Assessment, 17(2), 135–154. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069072708328861

Marule, T. R. (2012). Niitsitapi Relational and Experiential Theories in Education. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 35(1), 131.

McIlveen, P., & Patton, W. (2007). Narrative career counselling: Theory and exemplars of practice. Australian Psychologist, 42(3). https://doi.org/10.1080/00050060701405592

Offet-Gartner, K. (2011). Rewriting HerStory: Aboriginal women reclaim education as a tool for personal and community, health and well-being. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 30, 1499–1506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.10.290

Peltier, C. (2018). An Application of Two-Eyed Seeing: Indigenous Research Methods With Participatory Action Research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 17(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406918812346

Pidgeon, M. (2014). Moving Beyond Good Intentions: Indigenizing higher education in British Columbia universities through institutional responsibility and accountability. Journal of American Indian Education, 53(2), 7–28.

Peavy, R. V. (1995). Constructivist career counseling. ERIC Digest. ERIC Clearinghouse on Counseling and Student Services Greensboro NC., Canadian Guidance and Counselling Foundation Ottawa (Ontario)., 1–6.

Savickas, M. (2012). Life design: A paradigm for career intervention in the 21st century. Journal of Counseling and Development, 90(1), 13–19. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1556- 6676.2012.00002.x

Styres, S. D. (2017). Pathways for Remembering and Recognizing Indigenous Thought in Education: Philosophies of Iethi’nihsténha Ohwentsia’kékha (land). University of Toronto Press.

Styres, S. D. (2011). Land as first teacher: A philosophical journeying. Reflective Practice, 12(6), 717–731. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2011.601083

Styres, S. D., Haig-Brown, C., & Blimkie, M. (2013). Towards a pedagogy of land: The urban context. Canadian Journal of Education, 36(2), 34.

Careers occupy a central place in people’s lives, and career decisions focus on finding a job that meets financial, social recognition and well-being needs (Blustein, 2008; Gati and Tal, 2008, Milot-Lapointe, 2017). To meet these needs, people choose careers that are in line with their interests and their goals (Gati, Krausz and Osipow, 1996; Milot-Lapointe, 2017). However, this choice can be difficult, and a person may feel incapable of making the right decision, a phenomenon referred to as career indecision (Amir, Gati and Kleiman, 2008; Forner, 2007; Osipow, 1999). 

Choosing a satisfying career cannot be done in a linear and rational manner alone; emotions and intuition must also be taken into account (Falardeau, 2007; Gelatt, 1989). Career decision-making requires a space for reflection, imagination and creativity so that information and ideas can be structured and restructured based on a subjective perception of reality (Gelatt, 1989). This process must be rooted in both the rational and the intuitive dimensions (Lecomte and Savard, 2008, 2009). The former includes rationality, reflection and introspection, while the latter includes intuition, emotions, creativity and imagination (Falardeau, 2007; Gelatt, 1989; Young, Domene and Valach, 2015). Falardeau (2007) explains that decision-making cannot be strictly rational and linear given the importance of emotions in the process: [translation] “people don’t make decisions just with their heads, but also, and especially, with their hearts.” (p. 76). 

We may then ask ourselves what could facilitate contact and make it easier to express and shine a light on the intuitive dimension. While facilitating introspection, art provides access to intuition and emotions and has the potential to play a part in reflection regarding career decisions (Gladding, 2012; Hamel and Labrèche, 2015). This form of expression fosters communication that goes beyond words and facilitates the expression of what is felt (Hamel and Labrèche, 2015). Art – a creative activity – gives free rein to emotions and imagination and, through reflection, introspection and expression, opens a door to the subject’s unconscious, including intuition: something that other approaches cannot do (Gladding, 2012). 

Art therapy draws on art in its approach (Hamel and Labrèche, 2015; Hinz, 2020). In counselling, this practice helps address self-esteem, anxiety, problem-solving skills and the matter of identity (Gladding, 2012; Hamel and Labrèche, 2015). These difficulties are also recognized as factors in career indecision, leading to the idea that such an approach could be used to work on the factors hindering decision-making in career counselling. In addition, art therapy fosters contact with the emotions, the development of intuition, creativity and imagination in a space for introspection and reflection (Gladding, 2012; Henderson, 1999; Hamel and Labrèche, 2015); these elements are essential to decision-making (Falardeau, 2007; Gelatt, 1989). 

Could art therapy facilitate decision-making in career counselling? This seems to be a worthwhile avenue to explore in the field of counselling. A qualitative phenomenological method (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009) will allow us to explore the experience of professionals who turn to art therapy as part of the career counselling decision-making process. 

Hélène Brisebois is a student in the Master’s in Counselling program at Université de Sherbrooke. Her thesis looks at the use of art therapy as a part of the decision-making process in career counselling. 

References 

Amir, T., Gati, I. and Kleiman, T. (2008). Understanding and interpreting career decision-making difficulties. Journal of Career Assessment, 16(3), 281-309. 

Blustein, D.L. (2008). The role of work in psychological health and wellbeing. American Psychologist, 63(4), 228-240. 

Falardeau, I. (2007). Sortir de l’indécision [Overcoming Indecision] Québec, Quebec: Septembre éditeur. 

Forner, Y. (2007). L’indécision de carrière des adolescents [Career Indecision in Adolescents]. Le travail humain, 70(3), 213-234. 

Gati, I., Krausz, M. and Osipow, S.H. (1996). A taxonomy of difficulties in career decision-making. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 43(4), 510-526. 

Gati, I. and Tal, S. (2008). Decision-making models and career guidance. In J. Athanasou and R. Van Esbroeck (dir.), International handbook of career guidance (p. 157-185). Berlin, Germany: Springer. 

Gelatt, H.B. (1989). Positive uncertainty: A new decision-making framework for counseling. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 36(2), 252-256. 

Gladding, S.T. (2012). Art in counseling. In C.A. Malchiodi (dir.), Handbook of art therapy (p. 263-274). (2nd ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Press. 

Hamel, J. and Labrèche, J. (2015). Art Thérapie : Mettre des mots sur les maux et des couleurs sur les douleurs [Art therapy: Applying words to hurt and colours to pain]. Livre de référence pour comprendre et pratiquer [Reference book for understanding and practicing]. Paris, France : Larousse. 

Henderson, S.J. (1999). The use of Animal Imagery in Counseling. American Journal of Art Therapy, 38(1), 20-26. 

Hinz, L.D. (2020). Expressive Therapies Continuum: A Framework for Using Art in Therapy. (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. 

Lecomte, C. and Savard, R. (2008). Counseling de carrière: enjeu d’orientation et d’insertion professionnelle [Career counselling: professional guidance and integration challenges] Unpublished paper. 

Lecomte, C. and Savard, R. (2009). Counseling de carrière avec ses enjeux d’orientation, de réorientation, d’insertion, de réinsertion, d’adaptation et de réadaptation [Career counselling and the orientation, reorientation, integration, reintegration, adaptation and rehabilitation challenges that go with it]. Unpublished paper. 

Milot-Lapointe, F. (2017). Effet du counseling de carrière individuel sur l’indécision de carrière et sur la détresse psychologique : influence des composantes d’intervention et de l’alliance de travail [Effect of individual career counselling on career indecision and psychological distress: influence of intervention components and working alliance]. Doctoral dissertation in education, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke. 

Osipow, S.H. (1999). Assessing career indecision. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 55, 147-154. 

Young, R.A., Domene, J.F. and Valach, L. (2015). Counseling and Action: Toward Life-Enhancing Work, Relationship and Identity. New York, NY: Springer. 

Recently, while teaching a workshop on reflective career planning, a student asked a question that left me without words: “If racism and discrimination exist within hiring panels, what are you doing about it?” This question was posed by a student who was in the process of applying for a job and who continued to experience rejection despite her employable credentials. She was feeling hurt, angry and ultimately was experiencing the beginning stages of disenfranchisement. Her question left me thinking about how career development practitioners uphold racism and systems of oppression and how we can better support those who experience this type of discrimination. 

Individuals who are navigating their career development during pivotal stages of transition, such as high school and university students, often begin with ambitious ideas and plans (Brown & Segrist, 2016). As students start to experience the realities of transitioning into the workforce, their aspirations decrease. Racialized students experience the largest decrease in aspirations as they often are faced with higher rates of rejection, unemployment and increased interactions with sociocultural barriers (Brown & Segrist, 2016). It is well understood that inequities exist for racialized and marginalized people. Discrimination remains dominant on hiring panels (Zschirnt & Ruedin, 2016) and corporate policies on equity, diversity and inclusion often feel like more symbolic declarations than practical applications. As students’ aspirations decrease, their self-efficacy often decreases as well, which can result in feelings of disenfranchisement and overall lower cultural identity (Byars-Winston, 2010). 

Career development is not only defined as the process of supporting individuals to find an occupation, it can be defined as “the process of assisting individuals in the development of a life career with the focus on the definition of worker role and how the role interacts with other life roles” (Tovar-Murray et al., 2012). Career development has a larger focus on change management and life-role adaptability (Bocciardi et al., 2017). With this in mind, working with students by addressing the barriers that exist is then an essential part of effective career development, as it creates a stronger focus on how to adapt to one’s career and life roles. Without appropriate awareness sociocultural barriers, individuals will likely experience lower career decision self-efficacy and lower vocation outcome expectancy (Conkel-Ziebell et al., 2019). 

Ignoring the barriers only perpetuates the inequities that occur for populations who experience marginalization. Social cognitive career theory and self-management model in career counselling suggest that inquiring about individuals’ experiences and beliefs with career aspirations and discrimination are effective practice when working with people of colour (Conkel-Ziebell et al., 2019). Engaging in conversations about attitudes toward career decision-making and experiences of discrimination will likely support students in developing strategies for coping with the barriers they face (Conkel-Ziebell et al., 2019) and create a more equitable relationship between the practitioner and participant. Building a stronger awareness of sociocultural barriers, as well as engaging in inquiries about participant’s attitudes toward their career aspirations, can support stronger self-efficacy and greater ability to manage barriers they may face. 

“If racism and discrimination exist within hiring panels, what are you doing about it”? To answer my student’s earlier question, I can respond by acknowledging the struggle, inquiring about experiences with discrimination and racism, and further inquiring how to better support students through this. I hope to bring greater awareness to the inequities that exist to better support my students in building greater self-efficacy in managing their careers and life transitions. 

Caileigh Wilson is currently working on her MA in Counselling Psychology at Simon Fraser University. She is conducting research both in career development and mental health and exploring the access barriers that exist for refugees resettling in Canada. Caileigh also works as a career development practitioner at Simon Fraser University. 

References 

Bocciardi, F., Caputo, A., Fregonese, C., Langher, V., & Sartori, R. (2017). Career adaptability as a strategic competence for career development: An exploratory study of its key predictors. European Journal of Training and Development, 41(1), 67–82. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-07-2016-0049 

Brown, D. L., & Segrist, D. (2016). African American Career Aspirations: Examining the Relative Influence of Internalized Racism. Journal of Career Development, 43(2), 177– 189. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845315586256 

Byars-Winston, A. (2010). The Vocational Significance of Black Identity: Cultural Formulation Approach to Career Assessment and Career Counseling. Journal of Career Development, 37(1), 441–464. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845309345847 

Conkel-Ziebell, J. L., Gushue, G. V., & Turner, S. L. (2019). Anticipation of racism and sexism: Factors related to setting career goals for urban youth of color. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 66(5), 588–599. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000357 

Tovar-Murray, D., Jenifer, E. S., Andrusyk, J., D’Angelo, R., & King, T. (2012). Racism- Related Stress and Ethnic Identity as Determinants of African American College Students’ Career Aspirations. The Career Development Quarterly, 60(3), 254–262. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-0045.2012.00021.x 

Zschirnt, E., & Ruedin, D. (2016). Ethnic discrimination in hiring decisions: A meta-analysis of correspondence tests 1990–2015. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 42(7), 1115– 1134. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2015.1133279 

People are naturally driven to put their best foot forward during a job interview. There are times, however, when people perceive that being entirely honest will hurt their chances of securing the job, or they cannot provide a high-quality response to the interview questions. In these situations, some candidates may resort to a set of strategies called “deceptive impression management” because they believe it will help them succeed in the interview (Levashina & Campion, 2007).

Deceptive impression management describes candidates’ distortion of responses to the interview questions (Levashina & Campion, 2006). These tactics can include minor exaggerations of skills, pretending to share values with the interviewer or covering up negative details about oneself when asked directly. In fewer instances, candidates may even lie and invent fictional stories (Bourdage et al., 2018). These tactics may not be rooted in malicious intent (Ellingson & McFarland, 2011); rather, the evaluative nature of job interviews can pressure candidates into distorting their answers as a natural social response (Marcus, 2009). It is unclear, however, if deceptive impression management actually benefits candidates as they believe it will.

The inherent purpose of resorting to deceptive impression management is to be evaluated more favourably in a job interview (Levashina & Campion, 2006). This perceived benefit of deception may, however, be an inaccurate assumption made by job candidates who see the need to engage in such strategies. Some studies have discovered that deceptive impression management is related to better interview evaluations (e.g. Ingold et al., 2015), whereas others have found the opposite relation (e.g. Swider et al., 2011). Thus, there is mixed evidence regarding the extent to which deceptive impression management predicts better interview evaluations.

To enhance the understanding of deceptive impression management and interview evaluations, our research team conducted a meta-analytic study – currently in-press at the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, Special Issue: Emerging Research in Industrial-Organizational Psychology in Canada. We compiled all existing studies that contained data on the relation between deceptive impression management and interview evaluations. Across 27 different studies, we discovered that deceptive impression management has, on average, almost zero association with interview evaluations (Ho et al., in press). In comparison, our analysis of existing studies indicates that honest forms of impression management (i.e. truthfully promoting one’s skills or fit with the company) are associated with better interview evaluations. These results therefore suggest that although candidates feel pressured to distort their responses during interviews, these deceptive strategies typically will not help them in the end, whereas honest tactics will.

Although deceptive impression management may be a tempting response to a tough interview question or a perceived gap in the skill requirements, job candidates do have better options. For one, our study demonstrated that engaging in honest tactics – being completely truthful about what skills one possesses – is more likely to result in a favourable impression during the interview (Ho et al., in press). What career counsellors can take away from our research is that they should train and encourage candidates to only use honest impression management tactics in job interviews, due to its demonstrated effectiveness.

Career counsellors can further emphasize that even when candidates feel pressured or tempted to distort their responses, they should focus on highlighting the skills they do have and demonstrate their willingness to learn. Candidates do not want to end up in a situation where they embellished their skills and end up being a poor fit for the job (Charbonneau et al., in press). As such, whereas lying does not improve one’s chances of securing the job, honesty may in fact be the best policy.

Jordan Ho is a PhD candidate in Industrial-Organizational Psychology at the University of Guelph. Jordan is interested in methods of improving the fairness of personnel selection practices, including research on intersectionality, stigma and hiring discrimination.

References

Bourdage, J. S., Roulin, N., Tarraf, R. (2018). “I (might be) just that good”: Honest and deceptive impression management in employment interviews. Personnel Psychology, 71, 597– 632. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12285

Charbonneau, B. D., Powell, D. M., Spence, J. R., & Lyons, S. T. (in press). Unintended consequences of interview faking: Impact on perceived fit and affective outcomes. Personnel Assessment and Decisions.

Ellingson, J. E., & McFarland, L. A. (2011). Understanding faking behavior through the lens of motivation: An application of VIE theory. Human Performance, 24, 322–337. https://doi.org/10.1080/08959285.201.597477

Ho, J. L., Powell, D. M., & Stanley, D. J. (in press). The relation between deceptive impression management and employment interview ratings: A meta-analysis. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science. https://doi.org/10.1037/cbs0000223

Ingold, P. V., Kleinmann, M., König, C. J., & Melchers, K. G. (2015). Shall we continue or stop disapproving of self-presentation? Evidence on impression management and faking in a selection context and their relation to job performance. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 24, 420–432. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2014.915215

Levashina, J., & Campion, M. A. (2006). A model of faking likelihood in the employment interview. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 14, 299–316. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2389.2006.00353.x

Levashina, J., & Campion, M. A. (2007). Measuring faking in the employment interview: Development and validation of an interview faking behavior scale. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1638–1656. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.92.6.1638

Marcus, B. (2009). ‘Faking’ from the applicant’s perspective: A theory of self‐presentation in personnel selection settings. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 17, 417–430. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2389.2009.00483.x

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