“We believed him, and he lied.”

John Edwards’ campaign manager said it the other day.  And so have many hiring managers I’ve known in the past.  This morning’s Philadelphia Inquirer subtitled their editorial on the Edwards scandal, “At least the hair still looks good.”  Doesn’t that say it all?

Elections are our national hiring olympics – the Triathalon of Rhetoric, Looks and Resume.

Maybe we can’t get politicians to take assessments before we vote for them but we certainly can do better at predicting workplace behavior in the other people we hire.