A job interview question has been found to have the potential to catch liars and billionaire Elon Musk has been using it. According to the New York Post, Tesla and SpaceX in 2017 revealed that he asked the same interview question to all his candidates. The question is “Tell me about some of the most difficult problems you worked on and how you solved them”. Mr Musk claimed that this question helped him catch the liars and now a study has backed his method.

According to the Post, the question falls under the ‘Asymmetric Information Management’ (AIM) interview technique which has been designed to provide interviewee with a way to demonstrate they are speaking the truth by telling in detail about their experience. The AIM approach “enhances verbal lie-detection by encouraging truth-tellers (but not liars) to be forthcoming with information,” the study explained. 

There are several ways to spot a liar, as per the research published in the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. If an applicant answers the question with a detailed response, they’re likelier to tell the truth, unlike someone who gives a vague answer. “Small details are the lifeblood of forensic investigations and can provide investigators with facts to check and witnesses to question,” Cody Porter, one of the study’s authors, wrote.

“If they provide longer, more detailed statements about the event of interest, then the investigator will be better able to detect if they are telling the truth or lying. In contrast, liars wish to conceal their guilt,” explained Ms Porter.

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“This means they are more likely to strategically withhold information in response to the AIM method. Their assumption here is that providing more information will make it easier for the investigator to detect their lie, so instead, they provide less information,” she added.

According to the Post, although Mr Musk uses the AIM method to cut down applicants, he seeks employees who embody “evidence of exceptional ability”. To ensure they match up with their resume, the billionaire said he conducts interviews that allow him to detect if the candidate is really who they say they are. “If there’s a track record of exceptional achievement, then it’s likely that that will continue into the future,” Ms Porter said.