Relative to a targeted polygraph exam, which is used to determine involvement in a specific event, a pre-employment polygraph exam isn’t as pointed or focused. The entire goal of the pre-employment polygraph test is to assess the credibility and honesty of the candidate.

Credibility and honesty are terms that are subject to interpretation. That means it isn’t possible to ask people if they are honest or if they have integrity and get a reliable answer, since these words can have personal, changing interpretations. The goal of this type of exam is instead to try and predict the future behavior of the candidate in the workplace. This helps prevent entry to people who may cause damage to the organization in the future.

In line with the above, in pre-employment polygraph screening exams we try to examine incidents and actions from the person’s past. We do this based on the inference that a person who hasn’t broken any rules or laws, and hasn’t inflicted damage to previous work environments in which he or she was employed, will abstain from these negative actions in the workplace in the future.

Often it may be difficult to check a person who doesn’t have a significant work history, since there isn’t enough to go on when assessing past work conduct. Because of this difficulty, and because it’s wise to get as much background as possible on every candidate in order to provide the organization with the most comprehensive analysis possible, we offer additional pre-employment screening tools. One of these tools is a personal questionnaire.

This questionnaire, which is filled out by the candidate prior to the polygraph exam, is comprehensive and includes questions that touch on different aspects of the candidates’ life, on work history, interfaces with the law (if applicable), economic situation, etc. The candidates’ answers are kept private, and are used to help the polygraph specialist  adequately prepare for the interview that comes before the polygraph exam, prepare the right questions for the polygraph, and to air out any irregular topics that come up in the questionnaire answers.

The process of filling out the questionnaire has no extra cost, and is offered to every organization as part of the pre-employment screening process.