Unguard/ verb trans.: Remove a guard or defense from; expose to attack

This word, unguard is most commonly used during fencing, where two dueling fencers get ready to engage. Although an interview is not where two engage in a similar duel, the metaphor is apt when psychologically the interviewer inveigles the candidate to expose their vulnerabilities and foibles. During job interviews skilled interviewers understand how to ingratiate themselves with you during a friendly exchange and engage you in a conversation that lets you put your guard down. When you get yourself into this unguarded position you are likely to blurt out things that may come back to bite you and result in a less than optimal outcome.

Let me give an example: Recently, one of my VP-level clients was at an interview. He was getting confortable with the setting as they got going for that interview, where my client was vying for a c-level role at that company. The interviewer was a skilled interrogator and in a short time after their conversation got going my client got comfortable with the “friendly” interviewer.

The interviewer soon thereafter started in a direction that would explore my client’s ethical limits. The interviewer mentioned how at certain times there is a need to compromise and get things done to meet deadlines, compliance audits, and to keep the higher-ups on even keel. He told my client about an instance where he had “inadvertently” provided the wrong data so as not to upset the big boss and later corrected it when things had calmed down. He also implied that engaging in such skullduggery was expected in some cases and he laughed as he blurted out this statement as “no big deal.”

Then the interviewer paused and looked at my client in an expectant way to see how he would respond to this admission. My client took the bait and started telling about a couple of instances where he, too, had to save the day by subterfuge and misstatement to an auditor, which resulted in a positive outcome for his company. Once my client started admitting to these past sins the interview suddenly took a different turn. The interviewer lost the smile from his face and his demeanor changed, which was easy to notice for my client. Needless to say that my client did not get to the next stage and was mortified when I explained to him what had happened to him.

These types of traps in an interview are not unusual. They are also not limited to high-level jobs or positions of trust: from an employer’s view all positions they are vying to fill are sacred and deserve the best candidates who bring honesty, integrity, and good judgment to the position. Keeping this in mind, it is best to keep your past sins private and not to expose your clever and creative ways to deal with a challenging situation that requires you to stretch your ethics and moral standards.

So, what interview tips can help you overcome this challenge and avoid getting caught in a “compromising” conversation? Here are my suggestions:

1. Before you get ready for any interview look back and take an inventory of instances where you now realize that you had stretched your own ethics or moral standards to accommodate something or someone.
2. Revisit each instance (hopefully, the list is short) and go through them. For example, in one such case during my own early years my boss had asked me to submit my travel and expense (T&E) report to cover the taxi fare (private taxi to the airport was not allowed then) I paid, by inflating my meal expenses (which did not require a receipt and had a daily ceiling), thus not losing on the fare I paid from my pocket. Looking back I see this as something I did because my boss suggested it. It was only a matter of a few dollars, but this is something that I still view as wrong. So, make an audit of such instances and say to yourself that you are going to keep such transgressions acknowledged, but not use your interview session as a confessional to cleanse yourself of your past misdeeds; this is not the place for it. If you want to cleanse yourself of these misdeeds, there are other ways to do that outside of your job interview.
3. If an interviewer tries to trap you by admitting to some subterfuge that they engaged in do not show your approbation by smiling or by bobbing your head up and down in assent. Openly show your discomfort in how the conversation is proceeding and firmly say to the interviewer: I hope that this was in your early past and that you corrected this as soon as you realized that it was wrong.
4. If you fall prey to this trick and start telling your ethical lapses and escapades, be assured that whatever you disclose and admit to will be viewed as much worse in its reality than you are actually telling because of the normal tendency of people to not brag about such lapses, but to downplay them. Saying nothing is best.
5. Change the topic as you watch the interviewer’s response to your reaction to where they were taking the conversation and decide whether this was done to trap you or to test if you willingly engage in such behaviors or can be easily seduced to embracing such practices. Your predilection for such behavior will come through by virtue of your engagement and energy with which you deliver your story.
6. Depending on how the rest of the interview(s) go you need to make an assessment about the company’s culture (especially if it is your potential boss engaging in such practices) and decide whether this is the place you want to build your career.

Ethical transgressions disclosed in an interview, no mater how “benign,” can be viewed as a character flaw and can get in the way of your interview success. If the interviewer traps you with their own story be cagey of such traps and decide for yourself if you want to work for someone like that or a company that overtly allows such behavior.

Good luck!