When an
interviewer presses you to reveal confidential information about a present or
former employer, you may feel it’s a no-win situation. If you cooperate, you could be judged
untrustworthy. If you don’t, you may
irritate the interviewer and seem obstinate, uncooperative or overly
suspicious.
ANSWER: Your interviewer may press you for this
information for two reasons.
First, many
companies use interviews to research the competition. It’s a perfect set-up. Here in their own lair, is an insider from
the enemy camp who can reveal prized information on the competition’s plans,
research, financial condition, etc.
Second, the
company may be testing your integrity to see if you can be cajoled or bullied
into revealing confidential data.
What to do?
The answer here is easy. Never reveal anything truly confidential about a present
or former employer. By all means,
explain your reticence diplomatically. For example, “I certainly want to be as
open as I can about that. But I also
wish to respect the rights of those who have trusted me with their most
sensitive information, just as you would hope to be able to trust any of your
key people when talking with a competitor…”
And certainly
you can allude to your finest achievements in specific ways that don’t reveal
the combination to the company safe.
But be guided
by the golden rule. If you were the owner of your present company, would you
feel it ethically wrong for the information to be given to your
competitors? If so, steadfastly refuse
to reveal it.
Remember that
this question pits your desire to be cooperative against your integrity. Faced with any such choice, always choose
integrity. It is a far more valuable
commodity than whatever information the company may pry from you. Moreover, once you surrender the information,
your stock goes down. They will surely
lose respect for you.
One President
we know always presses candidates unmercifully for confidential information. If
he doesn’t get it, he grows visibly annoyed, relentlessly inquisitive, it’s all
an act. He couldn’t care less about the
information. This is his way of testing the candidate’s moral fiber. Only those who hold fast are hired.
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