2023年经济学人 招聘过程中的欺骗

Business

商业版块

Bartleby

巴托比专栏

Hire, liar¹

招聘与欺骗

Job candidates are not the only ones prone² to exaggeration and a lack of realism.

容易言过其实且不注重实际的不只是应聘工作的人。

Hiring processes can be thought of as a battle between candour and dishonesty.

招聘可以被看作是坦诚和不诚实之间的一场战斗。

You might imagine this is a simple fight between truth-seeking firms and self-promoting candidates, and to a certain extent it is.

你可能会认为这是寻求真相的公司和自我推销的应聘者之间的一场简单斗争，在某种程度上的确如此。

But companies themselves are prone to bend reality out of shape in ways that are self-defeating.

但企业本身往往会扭曲现实并弄巧成拙。

Start with the obvious culprits: job applicants³.

先从明显的罪魁祸首说起：求职者。

The point of a CV or a LinkedIn profile is to massage⁴ reality into the most appealing shape possible.

简历或领英个人资料的用处是将现实塑造成最具吸引力的形象。

Everyone beyond a certain level of experience is a transformational leader personally responsible for generating millions in revenue; the world economy would be about 15 times bigger than it actually is if all such claims were true.

超过一定经验水平的人都是能带来革新的领导者，全凭个人创造了数百万美元的收入，如果这些说法都是真的，那么世界经济规模将是实际规模的15倍左右。

The average Briton spends four and a half hours a day watching TV and online videos.

英国人平均每天花四个半小时看电视和网络视频。

But the average job candidate uses their spare time only for worthy⁵ purposes, like volunteering in soup kitchens or teaching orphans⁶ to code.

但普通求职者只把业余时间用于有价值的事，比如在施舍处做志愿者，或者教孤儿编程。

The cover letter is so open in its insincerity ( When I saw the advertisement for this job, I almost fainted with excitement ) that people are starting not to bother with it.

求职信的缺乏真诚已经到了开诚布公的地步(当我看到这份工作的招聘广告时，我几乎兴奋得晕倒了)，以至于人们变得根本懒得去读它。

At the interview stage one task facing the firm's recruiters is to winkle out the truth of what a person actually contributed to a project.

在面试阶段，公司招聘人员的一项任务是努力弄清某个人到底对项目做出了什么贡献。

Those hoary⁷ questions about a candidate's weaknesses and failures are there for a reason; no one will bring them up unprompted.

关于应聘者有何缺点和失败经历的老掉牙的问题是有存在必要的，毕竟没有人会在没有提问的情况下主动谈起这些话题。

Cognitive⁸ and behavioural tests are useful in part because they are harder for applicants to game.

认知和行为测试之所以有用，在一定程度上是因为申请者更难在这上面钻空子。

But a tendency to stretch the truth infects companies as well as applicants.

但是，歪曲事实的倾向不仅影响应聘者，也影响公司。

The typical firm will write a job description that invariably describes the work environment as fast-paced and innovative⁹, and then lays out a set of improbable requirements for the ideal candidate, someone who almost by definition does not exist.

典型的公司会写一份工作描述，工作环境一定是快节奏和充满创新氛围的，然后对理想的候选人提出一系列不可能达到的要求，符合要求的人几乎是不可能存在的。

Sometimes -- as when ads demand more years of experience in a programming language than that language has existed for -- these requirements include an ability to go back and alter the course of history.

有时(比如要求对某种编程语言的经验比该语言存在的时间还长)要达到这些要求，需要有回到过去、改写历史的能力。

Industrialised hiring processes can often reward mindless exaggeration.

工业化的招聘流程往往会奖励盲目的夸大其词。

Services that scan your resume when you are making an application mark you down if your CV does not match the keywords that appear in the original job advertisement.

如果你的简历与招聘广告中的关键字不匹配，当你申请工作时，扫描简历的机器会给你扣分。

The message is clear: to get through to the next stage, you have to contort yourself to meet corporate¹⁰ expectations.

信息很明确：为了能进入下一阶段，你必须扭曲自己，以满足公司的期望。

Substance can matter less to recruiters than form.

对招聘者来说，实质可能不如形式重要。

One software engineer says she got a 90%-plus response rate with a spoof¹¹ CV showing apparent spells at Microsoft and Instagram but also boasting, among other things, that she had increased team-bonding by organising the company potato-sack race and spread Herpes STD to 60% of intern¹² team .

一位软件工程师说，她的一份恶搞简历达到了90%以上的回复率，简历上明显地写道她在微软和Instagram工作过一段时间，但她还吹嘘说，她通过组织公司的跳麻袋比赛而增强了团队凝聚力，并将性传播的疱疹传染给了60%的实习生。

References are so prone to inaccuracy that many firms have a policy of not giving them, fearing legal action from defamed candidates or deceived employers.

推荐信非常容易失真，以至于许多公司都有不提供推荐信的规定，担心受到诽谤的求职者或被欺骗的雇主会提起法律诉讼。

Too few firms offer an accurate account of what a position actually involves.

很少有公司能准确地描述一个职位的实际工作内容。

Tracey Franklin, the chief HR officer for Moderna, a fast-growing drugmaker and an interviewee in this week's episode of Boss Class (our new podcast) is a fan of "realistic job previews" (RJPs).

特蕾西·富兰克林是一家快速发展的制药公司莫德纳的首席人力资源官，也是本周《老板课堂》（我们新推出的播客节目）的受访者，她很推崇"真实工作预览"(RJP)。

These are meant to give prospective¹³ recruits a genuine sense of the negatives and positives of the job, as well as a clear idea of the company's corporate culture.

这种预览是为了让应聘者对工作中的消极和积极方面有真实的感受，也对公司的企业文化有清晰的认识。

One effective tactic¹⁴ is to lay out, in text or video, what a typical day in the role would look like.

一种有效的办法是以文本或视频形式展示这个岗位的员工的普通一天是什么样子。

Such honesty can be its own reward.

这种诚实本身就会带来回报。

Research has long suggested that RJPs lead to lower turnover¹⁵ and higher employee satisfaction.

长期以来，研究表明，RJP可以降低员工流动性，提高员工满意度。

A paper in 2011 by David Earnest of Towson University and his co-authors concluded that favourable¹⁶ perceptions of the organisation's honesty are the best explanation for why.

2011年，汤森大学的大卫·欧内斯特与其合著者在一篇论文中得出结论，人们对诚实公司有好感是RJP达到这些效果的最佳解释。

The incentives¹⁷ on both sides of the hiring process lean naturally towards glossing¹⁸ reality.

招聘与应聘双方自然都更倾向于粉饰现实。

If candidates were to give genuinely truthful¹⁹ answers (I have a habit of making basic but calamitous²⁰ errors), many would rule themselves out of jobs.

如果应聘者必须给出完全真实的答案(我有犯基础但具灾难性错误的习惯)，那么许多人会直接放弃找工作。

And if firms were to give a warts-and-all description of themselves, many would end up deterring²¹ good applicants.

如果公司不能隐瞒自己的任何缺点，那么优秀的申请者可能会望而却步。

But a process designed to uncover the truth about job applicants would run a lot more smoothly²² if firms were also honest about themselves.

但是，如果公司自身能做到诚实，那么旨在揭示求职者真面目的招聘过程也会顺利得多。

1 liar   

n.说谎的人

参考例句：

• I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了，一个又偷又骗的家伙！
• She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。

2 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

3 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

4 massage   

n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据

参考例句：

• He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
• Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。

5 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

6 orphans   

孤儿( orphan的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The poor orphans were kept on short commons. 贫苦的孤儿们吃不饱饭。
• Their uncle was declared guardian to the orphans. 这些孤儿的叔父成为他们的监护人。

7 hoary   

adj.古老的；鬓发斑白的

参考例句：

• They discussed the hoary old problem.他们讨论老问题。
• Without a word spoken,he hurried away,with his hoary head bending low.他什么也没说，低着白发苍苍的头，匆匆地走了。

8 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

9 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

10 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

11 spoof   

n.诳骗，愚弄，戏弄

参考例句：

• The show was a spoof of college life.那戏是对大学生活的讽刺。
• That is Tim Robbins's spoof documentary about a presidential campaign.那是蒂姆·罗宾斯关于总统选举的讽刺纪录片。

12 intern   

v.拘禁，软禁；n.实习生

参考例句：

• I worked as an intern in that firm last summer.去年夏天我在那家商行实习。
• The intern bandaged the cut as the nurse looked on.这位实习生在护士的照看下给病人包扎伤口。

13 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

14 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

15 turnover   

n.人员流动率，人事变动率；营业额，成交量

参考例句：

• The store greatly reduced the prices to make a quick turnover.这家商店实行大减价以迅速周转资金。
• Our turnover actually increased last year.去年我们的营业额竟然增加了。

16 favourable   

adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的

参考例句：

• The company will lend you money on very favourable terms.这家公司将以非常优惠的条件借钱给你。
• We found that most people are favourable to the idea.我们发现大多数人同意这个意见。

17 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

18 glossing   

v.注解( gloss的现在分词 )；掩饰（错误）；粉饰；把…搪塞过去

参考例句：

• The rights and wrongs in any controversy should be clarified without compromise or glossing over. 有争论的问题，要把是非弄明白，不要调和敷衍。 来自互联网

19 truthful   

adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的

参考例句：

• You can count on him for a truthful report of the accident.你放心，他会对事故作出如实的报告的。
• I don't think you are being entirely truthful.我认为你并没全讲真话。

20 calamitous   

adj.灾难的，悲惨的；多灾多难；惨重

参考例句：

• We are exposed to the most calamitous accidents. 我们遭受着极大的灾难。 来自辞典例句
• Light reveals the subtle alteration of things, the sly or calamitous impermanence or mortal life. 事物的细微变动，人生的狡猾，倏忽无常，一一都在光中显露出来。 来自辞典例句

21 deterring   

v.阻止，制止( deter的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• However, investors say are a number of issues deterring business. 然而，投资者表示，有很多问题让他们却步。 来自互联网
• It's an effective way of deterring potential does online, the logic goes. 逻辑上这是抑制潜在线上威胁的有效方法。 来自互联网

22 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。