How much does delusion help in job interviews and dating?

Job interviews and dating have many things in common (it could be argued that dating with the goal of marriage is job interviewing) but an interesting thing occurred to me recently...

In both cases, the interviewer (or examiner) is often judging the other person completely on their word and ensuing behavior. For instance, if you ask someone to describe their performance in some endeavor, most of the time the only clues you have as to whether or not the person answering the question is answering truthfully are their words, their behavior, and their body language. But, a delusional person can give a completely untrue answer in a totally convincing manner and make the other person believe they're telling the truth. They're not lying IMHO, they're just sharing their own confusion on the matter. And, they're so confused that their "truth" is actually completely false.

Consequently, I believe that delusion can be very good for job interviews and dating.

a reply to: Profusion

Behaviors tend to come in "packages". So if you observe one behavior, it usually will indicate that other related behaviors are present.

Armed with this knowledge, its relatively easy to tell what someone is made of over a 15 minute conversation. Especially someone who is trained and adept at behavioral interviewing.

In my experience... this may work for job interviews... HOWEVER...

If you misrepresent yourself to a woman... in any way, shape or form... they WILL find out.

I am not sure how they do it, but the CIA should hire all of them...

Delusion only goes so far, without substance.

BTW; NEVER try this on a redhead. You will end up buried to your neck in a fire-ant colony.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: Profusion

Behaviors tend to come in "packages". So if you observe one behavior, it usually will indicate that other related behaviors are present.

Armed with this knowledge, its relatively easy to tell what someone is made of over a 15 minute conversation. Especially someone who is trained and adept at behavioral interviewing.

That's a very good point. But, you're assuming that that fact is a significant factor in most job interviews and dating situations.

First of all, based on my experience, probably over 95% of people in management positions have no clue about what you just wrote. I'm sure you've heard of the Peter Principle:

What is the 'Peter Principle'
The Peter principle is an observation that in an organizational hierarchy, every employee will rise or get promoted to his or her level of incompetence. The Peter Principle is based on the notion that employees will get promoted as long as they are competent, but at some point will fail to get promoted beyond a certain job because it has become too challenging for them.
Peter Principle

Most people are not chosen to be managers based on their expertise at management functions (including things such as what you just wrote). They're just as likely to be fooled by delusion as the average person off the street.

And, when you're talking about dating with the goal of marriage, then you are talking about the average person off the street. And, IMHO, over 99% of people engaged in that have no idea about what you just wrote.

So, what you just wrote is true if you're talking about someone who is an expert in management or psychology. But, how many of them are around? Relatively speaking, it's just a handful.

Even then, what you wrote is a controversial stance. I knew an HR expert who used to always say that job interviews can never be trusted, ever. No matter what. Why? They believed that people are too easy to fool, all the time, period.

originally posted by: madmac5150
In my experience... this may work for job interviews... HOWEVER...

If you misrepresent yourself to a woman... in any way, shape or form... they WILL find out.

I am not sure how they do it, but the CIA should hire all of them...

Delusion only goes so far, without substance.

BTW; NEVER try this on a redhead. You will end up buried to your neck in a fire-ant colony.

You're writing as if delusion is a choice. Delusion is mental illness, it is not a choice.

a reply to: Profusion

well, i was answering from my perspective.

In my experience of managing managers, its hard to find an adequate skill set to be able to understand business metrics, HR requirements (regulatory related stuff) AND be able to have insight into human nature. More often than not you just hope you can teach them something. Anything.

Misrepresenting facts and intentional use of logical fallacy is common in untalented people and con artists. Misrepresenting facts is actually considered fraud in most organizations.

a reply to: madmac5150

If you happen to run into a red-head named Ashley, just back away slowly.........

originally posted by: darkwarrior
Misrepresenting facts and intentional use of logical fallacy is common in untalented people and con artists. Misrepresenting facts is actually considered fraud in most organizations.

Delusional people genuinely believe that their confused/false version of the world is the real world.

Delusional disorder, previously called paranoid disorder, is a type of serious mental illness called a "psychosis" in which a person cannot tell what is real from what is imagined.
Mental Health and Delusional Disorder

As I wrote in the original post:

They're not lying IMHO, they're just sharing their own confusion on the matter. And, they're so confused that their "truth" is actually completely false.

a reply to: Profusion

Do you mean to say that everyone who is Dating or going to a Job Interview is Delusional at some level? Or are you saying that they merely deploy mental illness whenever they so choose to get their desired outcome? Not an attack, just confused....

a reply to: Profusion

I am married to a redhead named "Tina"... and I tread softly... she has a loaded 12 Ga. under the bed

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: Profusion

well, i was answering from my perspective.

In my experience of managing managers, its hard to find an adequate skill set to be able to understand business metrics, HR requirements (regulatory related stuff) AND be able to have insight into human nature. More often than not you just hope you can teach them something. Anything.

Bonus Points for THIS! ^^^


I haven't laughed this hard in awhile!!!

I interview a lot of software engineers... most of them straight out of college and going for intern positions... You'd be surprised how many people start the delusions in their resume.

When I interview them I dig deep into every single thing in their resume that they claim to be knowledgeable in, and test them. I check off everything when they pass or fail. Then I hire them based on how honest they were in their resume, and of course how they answered the stuff they actually knew. And other factors...

Point of my post... don't be delusional, it doesn't help.

But I think with tech. jobs it is easier to test someone on what they do and do not know.