Yet another reason to fall in love with yourself: narcissists are far more likely to ace a job interview than are people with more realistic relationship with themselves. A University of Nebraska news release reports that research conducted at the school found that narcissists scored much higher in simulated job interviews than non-narcissists. The researchers examined the effectiveness of the types of behaviors that narcissists exhibit – which would be typically seen as maladjusted – in the narrow context of an interview. The researchers, who videotaped 72 people in a simulated job-applicant setting, found, unsurprisingly, that narcissists were more likely to self-promote. They also found that when expert interviewers challenged applicants, the narcissists started behaving in unexpected ways. While normal individuals backed off of their self-promotion tactics when held accountable, narcissists actually increased their attempts to make themselves look better. Wait, there’s more. In the study’s second part, 222 raters evaluated videos of applicants with similar job skills and varying levels of narcissism. The raters consistently awarded chronic self-promoters – who spoke quickly and at length and who used ingratiation tactics such as smiling, gesturing and complimenting others – far more positive evaluations. Meanwhile, equally qualified applicants who tended to rely on tactical modesty scored lower. Read more from the University of Nebraska.
Health, fitness and lifestyle tips for people over 50 who still like to play hard
Saturday, May 31, 2025
I had a narcistic boss once .. and those of us who worked under him got to the point of avoiding him because he actually was hurting our productivity because he only incorporated his ideas, never listening to anyone else’s ideas. He was new, individually – some of us had upwards of beyond 30 yrs experience. Worst boss I ever had.
That’s just a scary thought. Maybe they should reexamine the whole interview process then. It could explain a lot about the current state of affairs. In my humble opinion, I think some companies would do better by employing the eenie meenie miney moe technique than some of the other methods they are using…