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104 SNAKES IN SUITS
can be gleaned by watching current employees who exhibit outstanding
performance records. However, when the job is new and there are
no incumbents, supervisors and human resources professionals create
the lists based on research from other, similar companies. Once there
is a clear sense of what is wanted in the job applicant, then each candidate
can be evaluated through detailed probing and questioning by
interviewers.
This process is especially effective for technical jobs or those that
can be quantified such as those found in research and development.
But as one moves up the corporate ladder into jobs with greater scope
and less clear responsibilities, the task becomes more difficult.
“Strategic planning,” “critical thinking,” “freedom to act,” “leadership,”
and other variables must be added to the list—and these are
much more difficult to quantify. This makes selecting the most qualified
job candidate difficult, and “gut feel” or “chemistry” begins to
take on more of a role in decision making about who is the best candidate
for the job. This is most evident during face-to-face interviewing,
exactly the place where the psychopath shines. The less clearly
defined—or higher level—the job, the easier it is for a psychopath to
be hired.
It is common knowledge among executive recruiters that 15 percent
or more of the résumés they receive contain distortions or outright
lies. Psychopaths, whose personalities are defined by chronic
lying, among other things, are quite adept at creating written
documentation—résumés, letters of recommendation, citations, and
awards—out of whole cloth. They can fabricate a work history
custom-tailored to the job requirements, and back it up with phony
references, job samples, and appropriate jargon.
Psychopaths have an advantage in person as well as on paper.
They can talk a good game during the interview, coming across as
smooth, talented, bright, sensitive, self-confident, and assertive.
Their storytelling abilities reinforce their résumé “data,” and the
whole package they present can be quite compelling. Unfortunately,
if hiring decisions are based on easily faked résumés and unstruc-