polygraphs?

[jobdreamer]

Are polygraphs really that common these days in the hiring process?

[SIGNAL99COM]

What's better than a polygraph, a PRE-POLYGRAPH!

I once drove 11 hours from Syracuse, NY to Charlotte, NC for a scheduled PRE-POLYGRAPH. It was 50 questions on paper, which asked questions like have you ever been arrested, have you ever smoked weed, have you ever taken prescription drugs that were not prescribed to you, etc.

After I answered all the questions, which took about 20 minutes, two people look it over and question you further on some of your answers. I was asked to explain my answer on the prescription drug question. I explained that I got a sinus infection, and I took my fathers left over medication that he had from his sinus infection a month before. They seemed to understand.

The one that they couldn't get over was the ever smoked weed question. I checked no, because I never have, not even a drag, not a quick one, or a long one. They questioned me on this for 20 minutes, stating how odd it was that someone at the age of 25 have never even tried it. Then they said thank you, we will be in touch.

This pre-polygraph took a total of 45 minutes.

I got back into my car and drove another 11 hours home!

22 hours of driving for a 45 minute pre-polygraph......NEVER AGAIN!

6 years later, and I have still yet to have tried weed and have no plans to. I guess down South, it's a must while growing up.

[Bretti4TIB]

I heard that in some dept. if you answer the infamous question "have you ever tried or smoked pot?" with a "no" they think you are to much of a goody goody. is this true because honestly i have never tried pot before because i never felt the need to.

[SAFD46Truck]

I heard that in some dept. if you answer the infamous question "have you ever tried or smoked pot?" with a "no" they think you are to much of a goody goody. is this true because honestly i have never tried pot before because i never felt the need to.

No that is absolutely NOT TRUE. Good for you for making the decision to stay away from that stuff.

[cellblock]

Polygraphs are junk science. One day you will read about them in history books and wonder why anyone could believe in their results.
As their reliability has been disproven time and agian many agencies have stopped using them. But not all. Many websites, like http://antipolygraph.org/ , have covered ways to "Beat the Box". One thing to be clear on. The "box" isn't what you are trying to beat. It's the operator who interprets the readings and that is who you are trying to beat. My father, a retired cop, was trained to administer the polygraph and has explained how it works or more correctly doesn't work.
For a good read on what a farce this gizmo is check out this article by Bill Ny the Science Guy-
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/featur...N_liedetectors

[Catch22]

My favorite pre-poly question on my list was "have you ever had sex with an animal." When I laughed, the guys informed me, "you'd be amazed how many people answer yes or decline the remainder of the test."

[CALFFBOU]

I heard that in some dept. if you answer the infamous question "have you ever tried or smoked pot?" with a "no" they think you are to much of a goody goody. is this true because honestly i have never tried pot before because i never felt the need to.

Not true. I took a poly test earlier this year and simply checked the box that indicated "I have never tried any type of drug." Never an issue to the Investigator.

I have never really stole anything either. But we discussed taking an item from work, etc. (an envelope)

And the sex with an animal question never came up.

[LVFD301]

I heard that in some dept. if you answer the infamous question "have you ever tried or smoked pot?" with a "no" they think you are to much of a goody goody. is this true because honestly i have never tried pot before because i never felt the need to.

I have never heard of such.

I can tell you - the FBI when hiring for many of their
tech positions, will not automatically disqualify anyone
who answers yes to the pot question. They look at
how long ago you smoked, age, etc.

I suspect it is the same for other agencies also.

[Catch22]

Not true. I took a poly test earlier this year and simply checked the box that indicated "I have never tried any type of drug." Never an issue to the Investigator.

I think I'll get this confirmed, but questions like these are base-line questions. At least on my poly, they asked several questions like this and then hooked me to the machine and asked them again, sometimes mixing them up. It provides them a baseline of what you're telling the truth on (hence their insistance you tell them the truth). Then they'll ask you to lie on a couple to get that baseline. The way it was explained to me is that a polygraph does not detect when you're lying, it only tells when you're telling the truth.

I had several questions where I gave my answer, and then we he hooked me up and asked, I had something pop in my head. All I had to do was explain to him after that round (he asked after each round if there were any questions I might have had an adverse reaction to) what question I had something pop up and what it was. He simply asked it again in a different round. I was also informed I'm not a good lier (which my mom could have told him and save us a bunch of time and money).

[Firefighter2230]

6 years later, and I have still yet to have tried weed and have no plans to. I guess down South, it's a must while growing up.

Not at all welcome to the CFD's hiring process