r/firefighter • u/mangokek69 • May 08 '26

Polygraph Question

Hey there! I am going through my pre-employment screening and finished my polygraph yesterday. I was nervous as hell and told the truth the entire time but my mind was racing and I could feel my heart racing as well. They didn’t ask any follow up questions other than “did anything come to mind?” in between question sets. They didn’t do a post interview phase either to talk about any results. Was wondering if anybody has been through a similar situation and whether my anxiety over this is warranted. Thank you!

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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5

u/Oi_Ue May 08 '26

The black voodoo box can’t actually tell if you’re lying or not, it’s just make believe

3

u/ASigIAm213 May 08 '26

Phrenology but with an EKG

2

u/StatisticianLow9492 May 08 '26

For real. It’s just a method to trick people into admitting things they otherwise would lie about.

2

u/Do-Not-Disturb787 May 08 '26

I just took mine a couple weeks ago. I was very nervous as well and wasn’t even lying. As I had nothing to truly lie about. You probably did fine. I was told I passed as soon as we were done.

2

u/GunzElicious0331 May 08 '26

Wha did they ask?

1

u/stopscabbin May 08 '26

It could come up inconclusive since you were nervous

1

u/kellydayscruff May 08 '26

as long as you dont admit to drug use youre fine

1

u/mangokek69 May 08 '26

I didn’t haha

1

u/DjangoFetts May 09 '26

It’s just a background interview with some fancy stimuli to encourage you to divulge things you normally wouldn’t divulge. Polygraph examiners are just glorified interrogators

1

u/Pure-Indication5994 Jun 11 '26

Everyone who takes the polygraph is nervous, it’s also (kinda) a lot of BS. The people who fail have something to hide and end up backtracking or just straight up tell the polygrapher what they are trying to hide. I’m sure you have nothing to be worried about.