I don’t like to lie, I avoid it as much as possible but I think there is one time when it is better to embellish reality: when talking to a future employer.
I had a couple job interviews this year and I came to the conclusion that being completely honest will (sadly) lower your chances of getting a job. Before getting farther I need to clarify that I’m not encouraging people to lie nor to give false informations about themselves. What is needed here is that you turn every negative point to a positive one, which may require to “force” reality a little bit and to intentionally forget some details.
I tried what I call the “full honesty” interview which is to respond to the interviewer’s questions in my “natural” way. Just telling the true story and being myself during the interview. That also means that I’m counting on the fact that the interviewer will appreciate my complete honesty over my weaknesses (from my experience, most of them don’t). I didn’t get any job. The interviewers are obviously not there to meet “weak” people nor to understand your personality, they want to get the best ones, the ones that will help the company to reach success. If I analysed myself while doing these interviews I would say that I looked like a stressed and emotionally unstable person. I just speak as I would with anyone else, the casual way. I speak relatively fast, I switch constantly between subjects and I don’t filter what comes out of my mouth (I’m not talking about swearing here but about the fact that I don’t omit details that would make me look bad). That may look interesting from some point of view, but not from the employer’s.
If I remember the interviews from which I got the job, I was rather in a “just look good” mode. What I mean by that is to put your own person aside and just answer the questions in a neutral way that makes you look good to the interviewer. You don’t have to show your personality traits, whether you consider them good or bad, unless it could present a huge advantage over others applicants. You don’t have to say what they don’t ask you about either, keep out bad information about yourself when you’re not asked for it. They can’t judge you for what they don’t know about you. Make sure that what the employer sees is the best way he can see you.
The interview is just the step to get the job, so show that you’re the one for it even if it means to leave out some aspects of yourself for a short moment. After you get the job, you can start being the real yourself as long as you do the job correctly.