There are thousands of books on how to impress in a job interview, from what to wear to how to act.

But the best advice when interviewing for a job is to be yourself and not try to hide what you are bad at.

Psychologists from University College London found honest people are up to three times more likely to get their dream job when up against other high-ranking applicants.

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When heading into a nerve-racking job interview, it's often tempting to lie to make sure you're the perfect fit. But a new study suggests that simple being yourself is the best way to secure a job offer as long as you are a good candidate (stock image)

SELF-VERIFICATION The research focused on the concept of 'self-verification'. This refers to an individual's drive to be known and understood by others accurately and authentically. The new paper shows, for the first time, that self-verification can have important effects in short-term social interactions, such as in the hiring process. It revealed that job candidates change their language use based on their self-verification drive. People with a strong self-verification drive communicated in a more fluid way about themselves, and were ultimately perceived as more authentic and less misrepresentative. The team say that these perceptions ultimately explain why high-self-verifying candidate can flourish on the job market. Advertisement

These people don’t avoid questions to cover up weaknesses and are unafraid to show their true personality.

The example given is Anne Hathaway’s character in The Devil Wears Prada, who lands a job at an elite fashion magazine despite admitting she is neither skinny nor glamorous and has little interest in fashion.

This is because employers use interviews to figure out if people are being false, which suggests they may be exaggerating their abilities.

Co-author Dr SunYoung Lee, from UCL, said: ‘People are often encouraged to only present the best aspects of themselves at interview so they appear more attractive to employers, but what we’ve found is that high-quality candidates – the top 10 per cent – fare much better when they present who they really are.’

Lead author Dr Celia Moore, from Bocconi University in Italy, said: ‘In a job interview, we often try to present ourselves as perfect. Our study proves this instinct wrong.

‘Interviewers perceive an overly polished self-representation as inauthentic and potentially misrepresentative.’

The advice does not apply to poorer candidates, whose honest answers may simply ‘bolster interviewers’ misgivings’ and strengthen their case for rejection.

These people can cut their chances of getting a job by six per cent, but for those who are well-qualified for a job, being yourself works well.

The authors define this ‘self-verification’ strategy as answering questions directly and completely, not covering up any aspect of your work history and displaying self-knowledge and self-insight.

'In the job interview settings, the self-verification drive relates to the specific motivation to be honest about one's personality and work style when interviewing for a job,' Dr Lee told MailOnline.

'It's also about a motivation to find a workplace where people will accept the person for who he/she is, and to have recruiters know who one really is than have them expect too much of the person.

'My findings suggest that strong self-verification helps job outcomes not for all types of candidates, but specifically for high-quality candidates.'

Carrying out two studies, they found top lawyers interviewed the US military were three times more likely to get the job when striving to be authentic in their interview.

Highly-qualified international teachers, 1,240 of whom were studied, increased their chances of a job offer by 11 per cent.

Both sets of people were in the top 25 per cent, when asked in a questionnaire how motivated they were to behave honestly in interview situations.

The study found that high-quality candidates who strive to be truthful during job interviews significantly increase the likelihood of getting the role. But the researchers also found that low-quality candidates fare worse in interviews if they are authentic (stock image)

The study, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, reports that up to 92 per cent of people actively misrepresent themselves in job interviews. The authors state:

‘The short-term gains of landing a job create a powerful incentive for job applicants to be dishonest and fake.’

Employers seem not to link fake behaviour in interviews with this ‘active misrepresentation’ but take it as a sign of ‘omissive representation’.

It means they see people who behave dishonestly as more likely to cover up weaknesses or hide their true skill level.

Dr Moore said: ‘Ultimately, if you are a high-quality candidate, you can be yourself on the job market. You can be honest and authentic. And if you are, you will be more likely to get a job.’

It may just be a case of starting in your interview as you mean to go on, as previous research shows people who hide their true selves risk burnout and depression. Bosses are on the look-out to see if people behave consistently so they can be trusted.