Question to people who have failed the polygraph

[hoselayer211]

For those of you who have failed a polygraph before, I am curious as to whether or not they told you immediately that you failed.

Did they tell you that they thought you were lying or noticed some deception on a question or two and give you a chance to explain? Or did you find out you failed later.

Do most polygraphers tell you if you passed or failed after the interview?



Just curious

Thanks

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

I have been involved in dozens of cases involving criminal polygraphs. In each case, the subject was advised of the results of the test. I believe that is the standard for the industry.

[jccrabby3084]

For those of you who have failed a polygraph before, I am curious as to whether or not they told you immediately that you failed.

Did they tell you that they thought you were lying or noticed some deception on a question or two and give you a chance to explain? Or did you find out you failed later.

Do most polygraphers tell you if you passed or failed after the interview?


I only had to go through one polygraph as part of a pre-employment perrequisite. I was NOT told if I passed or failed it after the interview, but found out later when I got an offer for the job in the mail. Not to say that is the typical case, because this was the only job offer I ever got in the mail, everyone else called, so I can't say if the interviewer lets you know right away.

However, the interviewer did state that it was easier to get a suspect to admit to a crime than it was to do a polygraph for pre-employment. For the most part I sat with the interviewer for about half hour to 45 minutes just talking. He would ask some questions on things and he would pull some questions out of the ones asked to go over in the test itself. I did the test twice, just to see some changes and to see consistency and then I clarified some questions for him and was done.

The reason he said it is tougher for a pre-employment than for a crime is that a person can keep memories for a long time, but the time period is no longer pertinent. As such, he was only interested in the last 5 years of my life, but said it is easy for someone to "trigger" a response to some questions with no relevance to the last 5 years. Such as "Have you ever had sex with a minor", many people may think back to a HS fling when both were minors, but doesn't have relevance to the time period being looked for. Same thing with drug use, one could have tried weed etc as a minor, but hasn't done so in the last 5 years, but can still trigger a response. Best thing to do is to be up front about everything, because I think there is a questioning period before the test and that would go for all polygraphs.

[wre722]

I've done one polygraph thus far, and the interviewer told me after the test that he would be recommending me as a "pass," but the results would then be reviewed by a superior before becoming official. And yes, I did pass.

[edpmedic]

I failed the first, and I was told that there was one deception, and it was recruitment's decision if I would have a second test at a later date. For the second poly, the questions were focused on and derived from the apparent "deception". I passed, so all is well. If you are disqualified, then I would recommend pursuing the appeals process.

[FFighterRob]

A lot of people get notified that they failed to pass the background. They are not told if it was the background investigation, polygraph, or the pych exam they failed. It is unfortunate because they don’t know where the problem lies nor what to do about it.

Good Luck, Capt Rob
nrtc@sonic.net
www.myfireinterview.com
(707)869-1330