Here are some wise words from Amgen’s former CEO, Gordon Binder:

“When George Rathmann interviewed me for the position of chief financial officer, he made no attempt to sugarcoat the seriousness of Amgen’s looming financial crisis. Nor should he have. The company needed a CFO who would be up to the challenge of obtaining private or public funding, and I needed a vivid picture of what lay ahead so that I could hit the ground running.

Some organizations try too hard to impress. They set their sights on a hot prospect and work overtime selling him on the organization even if it means revealing only selective information to paint a rosy picture. That’s a big mistake. A job interview should be a mutual exploration of whether the two parties would make a harmonious match, with full disclosure on both sides.

Do you know the #1 reason that people leave their jobs within six months? It’s feeling blindsided by unrealistic expectations, about either the duties of the job itself, the company, or their role. To be sure, it’s up to job applicants to ask questions until they’re satisfied that they understand what will be expected of them. But some companies make pie-in-the-sky promises—about future promotions, improved facilities and equipment, and so on—that they know aren’t likely to happen anytime soon.

Never try to snow applicants. You might succeed and be sorry you did! When the hard realization settles in that your new hire was misled, whether it was a bald-faced lie or acts of omission, you have lost her for good. The sense of betrayal burns too intensely to be extinguished.

Always tell applicants the whole truth. In that way, if you should make the mistake of offering the job to someone who isn’t right for the position, hopefully, he’ll take himself out of the running sparing you from reaching the same conclusion after the fact. It’s like self-selection but in reverse…”

(From the book Science Lessons by Gordon Binder)