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Posted by George W. Maschke
 - Jun 14, 2001, 07:59 AM
Quote from: concerned on Jun 13, 2001, 03:38 PM
I just took a polygraph exam for employment with the secret service and failed. If I apply to another federal agency that does not require a pre-employment poly exam, should I tell them of my polygraph experience and would they find out about my exam even if I did not mention it?

For starters, if you answered the relevant questions truthfully during your Secret Service polygraph interrogation and were falsely accused of deception, you should contest the polygrapher's determination. See Chapter 5 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector for ideas on how to go about this.

When applying for employment with an agency that does not require polygraph screening, I suggest you not volunteer any information about the Secret Service polygraph unless directly asked about it.
Posted by Burger
 - Jun 14, 2001, 03:00 AM
Just an observation. If the agency you are applying for doesn't use polygraph, there is a reason. Either they have no or little faith in it, or don't have an examiner available.  I suppose there are other possible reasons out there, but I think those would be the top two.  If asked you should be confident and state the fact that the polygraph accuracy really depends on the competency of the examiner, and then is no better than chance. Do some research into the agency you are looking at. Find out why they don't use the polygraph. You will be much better prepared to eliminate any fears a prospective employer may have about you, if you know their beliefs about the polygraph issue. If I'm not mistaken, police departments nationwide are having trouble filling openings. At a recent recruiting seminar, I heard the instructor advising that it was the potential employee's market.  If you're willing to relocate, you will find a good department that appreciates your history, verified by a competent background investigator, not a bunch of wires and rubber tubes. Hope this helps. ;)
Posted by Nate
 - Jun 13, 2001, 08:39 PM
It depends.  If the new agency you are applying for asks you to sign a waiver or release of information forms for back ground investigations then they can and normally will look at "why" you didn't get selected by a past agency.  Keep in mind that I failed a polygraph test for one police department, then applied for a different one and signed release of info forms.  They let me take the polygraph test for them and I passed (the coin fell on heads).  I'm now starting the police academy July 9th for this Police Department.  If you applied on the federal level and are applying for another federal job then I would assume that they could look at the polygraph anyhow because it is for the same employer.  George and Gino let me know if this advice is not correct I but know on the "municipal" level this is true (at least in my case it was).
Posted by concerned
 - Jun 13, 2001, 03:38 PM
I just took a polygraph exam for employment with the secret service and failed. If I apply to another federal agency that does not require a pre-employment poly exam, should I tell them of my polygraph experience and would they find out about my exam even if I did not mention it?