NOTICE TO JOB SEEKERS: Sometimes exaggeration is not only acceptable, it's expected.

Although I wouldn't suggest exaggerating about your level of experience or knowledge of a particularly important job requirement, I will say that exaggeration is expected and encouraged to some very common sense questions during an interview.

A colleague of mine recently conducted a phone interview in which her final question was, "On a scale of one to ten, what is your interest level in this position?" To which the candidate oh so cheerfully replied, "about a seven."

A SEVEN?!?

Now, I have a question for this candidate: Why on earth would you low-ball an answer to such an obvious question?

Perhaps, she was thinking, "If I say 10, she'll think I'm just exaggerating to get the job." To which I say, "So What?" There's no way to prove that you're exaggerating and furthermore, if the interviewer suspects as much, it only communicates to her that you're exaggerating because you really want the job!

Needless to say, this candidate will not be getting a call back, whereas the handful of other qualified candidates that said, "10" no doubt will.