Why do NTs favor sociopathy over honesty?!?

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Why do I need to be a sociopath to get a job?
Why does corporate America keep shooting itself in the foot?
Don't they realize how ineffective job interviews are?
Why can't they value honesty?

Am I a weirdo who doesn't deserve employment because I am uncomfortable at acting and lying through BS questions?

What makes you think that you need to be a sociopath to get a job? I am not a sociopath, and I have a job.
What makes you think that corporate America keeps shooting itself in the foot? There are many American businesses that are doing just fine.
What makes you think that job interviews are ineffective? Hiring people without an interview is like buying a car without a test drive.
What makes you think they don't value honesty? You may actually be honestly mistaken in your assumptions.

It could be that they don't like the way you behave during interviews.

You need sociopathic traits to get a job these days. An internship would be a test drive, a job interview is a pointless social game. Job interviews are only good at determining if someone is good at lying and acting. They should only be used to hire salesman.

Last edited by RushKing on 11 Feb 2012, 11:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Actually I agree with him that corporate America is a really screwed up place to be right now. And until you've worked in a large corporate job for a very long time, you don't have any room to comment. Further, I don't feel if you're going to be helpful in helping him change his self damaging assumptions, then your comments are best kept to yourself. That being said, there are decent jobs out there if you want to get one. It takes a lot of time and effort to find a good "fit". However, there are a lot of jobs that require you to keep your emotions and thoughts at the door. And you're right that a lot lot lot of people who do well n the corporate world are extremely judgmental and narrowminded people just like everyone else if you have any sense of honest intuition about you at all, but yes they do well and get by by mostly keeping their negative or critical personal opinions about others or the environment to themselves. Because most people don't like to be 'called out" and that type of environment is very large and you have to be willing to see eye to eye with many types of people to "get the job done" with lots of times minimal information and communication.......despite your personal opinions of them or their character. So basically you have to acknowledge that this is a fact of working with large groups of people and figure out for yourself if you're wiiling to do that. Otherwise, you can possibly find a small business or some other type of work environment that might be better for you. But then again, that's going to be more hit and miss and you wil probably have to be WILLING to interview several places until you find the right fit for you. I hope this helps!

Wrong on all counts.

You need technical and social skills to get a job.

An internship may be a longer test drive than an interview, but there is no alternative for an interview, as it demonstrate how good a candidate is at being sociable and how well they can think and speak extemporaneously. Honesty is always the best policy, but you don't have to tell them everything - especially your beliefs concerning hiring and the interview process. Besides, if I remember your previous posts on this topic correctly, you're not really looking for an internship (which pays nothing), but an apprenticeship (which provides training) in an engineering field - and that is just not going to happen.

Yes, candidates must be salespeople who are capable of selling themselves.

There is no way that anyone is going to hire you without an interview, so I strongly suggest that you work on your interview skills, and stop complaining about how the hiring process is not being done your way.

I've been working as an electrical engineer for the same global corporation for about 20 years.


My comments are not only helpful, but they are based in real-world corporate practices, including my experience as part of the interview committee where I work. And no, I will not keep my opinions to myself, especially when the person needing the advice is completely wrong in his assumptions.


In other words, he should conform to the norm and stop whining about it. Well put.

It is not that NT has evolved to have a preference for sociopaths, but that sociopaths have evolved to mimic traits that NTs have a preference for.

When I was trying to secure a job a while back, inevitably at places that typically had high turn over rates, I would be honest on my application that I was only looking for a temporary job. Usually on the order of 2-8 months for summer or the duration of the school year.

I would always be told the same thing,"We're looking for someone more permanent."

Of course most people actually only stayed in those jobs for a few months. I under understood why they wouldn't rather hire someone who was honest about how long they intended to be there. Instead, they preferred to hire individuals who would just stop showing up for work one day.

Not just sociopaths, but any person who really wants to be employed has to learn how to tell the truth in such a way that the potential employer believes that he has heard exactly what he wanted to hear. That's called "Salesmanship".

Last edited by Fnord on 12 Feb 2012, 12:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

But not everyone is born with "Salesmanship", I am awkward and will always be awkward. I shouldn't have to be a salesman to get a job completely unrelated.

The hiring process is flawed.

Yes, you should. Otherwise, you won't be hired. It's just that simple.


Do you have a better idea? Let's see it, then...

I generally think businesses should do internships more often, so they can judge by the work rather than fluff.

Last edited by RushKing on 12 Feb 2012, 12:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

You can't get a job because you have aspergers and the system is screwed up.
It's not that corporations will only hire sociopaths,it's that aspies have horrible interview skills.

For NT's the first impression is everything and if you don't look confident and send off strange social signals then they think that your rude.
Of course this is unfair and I am not defending corporate America in any way.
I can't get a job either!

Yes ... more unpaid interns ... that would save the company a lot of money ... and make it easier to get rid of people they don't like.



Seriously, I took acting lessons, just so I would have the appropriate interview skills, and I've been continuously employed since 1990.

We could have a law that says they have to make the decision after a certain amount of time and that they can't have one if the positions are already filled up.

The owner of the company I work for now used the interview process to get to know me. He asked probing questions that had nothing to do with the job to get me to relax. He was very personable and wanted to get an idea of my personal traits, future goals, and views on life, and he was really good about getting people to talk about themselves. He looked for people that fit the job description and the goals of the company, and he was an amazing lie and BS detector, so he placed quite specific emphasis on getting through all that crud to uncover the real person he was interviewing.

Interviews also work both ways. It's not just the prospective employer interviewing the employee. If you are going to a job interview, consider that you are also interviewing the company. Ask questions about the corporate environment, how people interact, what kind of expectations are in place, etc. A job interview is all about matching employees to employers, and that is a two-way street. If you are feeling uncomfortable during the interview, then that might not be the place for you. I am not a salesman, nor do I like the salesman mentality - if I feel that's how a company runs things, then I run the other way. The more picky I am, the more interviews I go on, but I'd rather go on more interviews during the shopping around process than go through more later after I've wasted a couple years in a job working for a company I didn't like.

...you usually aren't. Even autistic people will look confident when they are and not look confident when they aren't.