I recently took a polygraph test with one of the government organizations. My polygraph last two days and I was eventually told that I passed. As it turns out, I never took the job since I was offered something better outside the government. What struck me about my experiences was the complete lack of professionalims from BOTH of the polygraph operators. I can only assume that they knew thier jobs since I eventually passed, but it was obvious that they knew little more than that. Both operators seemed to be very unprofessional in appearance (they were both fat) and mannerisms and this gave me a negative impression of the organization that I was considering working for.

The first operator questioned me about my foreign travels, but appeared to know very little about the places that I had been. I thought that I was being hired for my foreign expertise, but when this operator was stumbling through the names of the countries that I had cited, I feared that this lack of geographic knowledge alone might keep me from passing. I had this image of the operator not knowing enough about me and then just assuming that I was lying because they did not understand what I was talking about. Needless to say, I had to go back a second time.

The second operator seemed a little bit smarter than the first, but this one had an attitude of superiority that put a sour taste in my mouth. Plus, this one clearly was a smoker which is just completely unprofessional if you ask me. The cigarette odor on the opertor's clothes was enough to make me vomit. Add garlic breath to that and you get the picture. I also notice the grime on the computer keyboard in the room which I assumed to be from nicotine stained fingers. I ended up passing the test at this point after the questions were reviewed with me a second time. I know I told the truth, but I simply had  no or little faith in the opertors to do a complete job.

With the level or responsibility that these folks have, you would think the various orgranizations would try to hire the best and the brightest. I get the impression that too many of them are has-beens and rejects or people who are in their twilight years and on the way out. If this is the standard for the profession, it is shameful to say the least!

I do have faith in our Government and I will not mention where I took the test. I would like to think that this was an isolated incident. If you have any comments pro or con, please post them.