Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Critics are questioning why the FBI still relies on polygraph tests to determine whether job applicants are fit to be agents, The Sacramento Bee reports.
Many experts have concluded polygraph testing is not an accurate way to determine whether someone is lying, especially during a job interview, the Bee wrote.
Records examined by the Bee found that 30% of about 13,000 annual job applicants fail the job screening. Of those, 40% failed because of the polygraph test.
Polygraphs are especially prone to errors when questions are vague, like they are in job interviews.
“I was called a lazy, lying, drug dealing junkie by a man who doesn’t know me , my stellar background or my societal contributions,” wrote one black applicant in Baltimore, who said he was told he qualified for a job except for his polygraph test failure. “Just because I am young and black does not automatically denote that I have ever used any illegal drugs.”
