There is so much pressure in a job interview: the employer wants to fill a position, and the potential
employee wants a job! Because of this high intensity, people are prone to saying the oddest things. If
you are the person doing the hiring, how do you objectively evaluate the potential candidate to
determine if nerves are at play, or if there is truly an issue worth examining?
Take this example from an actual interview: “I am an alcoholic. I mean, workaholic.”
Many people doing the hiring would assume the candidate was joking and ignore a comment like this;
perhaps even chalk it up to interview nerves. Some people would laugh it off and maybe follow up with
something like, “Ha! Ha! I am TOO! Workaholic, I mean!” (wink, wink, nudge nudge).
In this particular interview, however, the Freudian slip coupled with additional red flags in this interview
gave my client pause. The candidate’s speech was slurred, they complained about their past boss having
an alcohol problem, and they also pointed out that their counterpart was fired for drinking on the job.
So how do you evaluate a candidate like this one?
If all evidence is telling you it wasn’t a Freudian slip, think about the potential risk this person brings to
you and your company. There is a theme in this interview that has nothing to do with the job at hand, so
it likely isn’t just a slip, or nerves talking. At the end of the day, your gut knows best, and moving along
to the next candidate is probably the wisest course of action.