Who would you prefer to hire -- someone who tells you they are lazy or someone who tells you they work hard all day, every day?

Are you implying that the hard worker is lying? I don’t understand the question.

I’d rather hire a “lazy” person who is effective in excelling in the most efficient manner than some who works hard, day in and day out, but isn’t, in the end, productive.

Completely depends on the job. Production work (think factories) would be better suited to the hard work/all day type whereas more creative or flexible work will (or at least may) suit the lazy type.

@augustian
I worked with a man who, when he was a university student, had a job in a metal working business. It was piece work and required the worker to produce a minimum number of pieces per shift. Being the extremely intelligent but “lazy” person he is, he figured out how to do 2 pieces at a time. He finished his day in 4 hours.

@Syz, the hard worker may not be lying, but he is probably exaggerating. Either the lazy person is telling the truth or doesn’t want the job. Should the lazy person be hired just because s/he is perceived as honest? Well, that person may be honest, but if s/he does want the job, s/he probably isn’t very bright. I’ll take the exaggerating hard worker.

I wouldn’t hire anyone dumb enough to say they are lazy during a job interview.

I’d ask the lazy person what kinds of tasks he didn’t like doing. If those tasks were integral to the work, then he clearly should not be chosen.

But when you have 19 applicants who swear that they work hard all-day, every-day, and then this one guy, I’m likely to at least hear him out.

I don’t trust hardworking people. They seem a little too unimaginative to me. I’ll take a lazy person any day. I know they’ll do a good job, because they will always be trying to find the most efficient way to do it!

Of course, I am the consummate lazy person. Look at how much time I spend here! I figured out how to train my employees so well, they do almost everything. I just need to sit around waiting for emergencies, and then I can ride in on my white horse, save the day, and come back to fluther.

I’ve hired both. Most of the ‘hard-workers’ turned out NOT to be hard working. I’d go with the person who seems more realistic and honest. I consider myself lazy, but I work hard.

Good inventions always come from us lazy people who dont feel like doing the “hard work” so we figure out a simpler way to do it.
Work smart, not hard.

It really depends on what kind of job I’m hiring them for, and how productive they are when they’re not being lazy.

I’ve worked with people who were busy busy busy, always on task, but never got anything done, and people who were always daydreaming and web surfing but who somehow managed to get a lot done. Given that choice, I’d definitely take the latter.

There’s also a sweet spot for laziness: the person who says, “this is stupid busy work,” and figures out how to do things more efficiently. It takes a certain amount of inherent laziness to get frustrated with busy work in the first place; the industrious types just do the work, while the lazy people figure out a way to get the work done without having to expend so much effort.

Yup. Necessity is the mother of invention?
I think Lazy would give Necessity a run for her money.

We have a saying in my line of work:

“Work smarter, not harder.”

Buttkissers generally turn out to be problem employees.

I don’t think being a hard worker is exactly the same thing as being a butt kisser.

And I don’t agree with this argument that being lazy naturally leads to greater creativity or efficiency either. I think that’s wishful thinking. I’m lazy and I know for a fact that I would rather be staring off into space thinking about nothing than creating anything or improving efficiency.

Look I’m all about honesty, but did anyone on this thread actually get the job they have now by saying they are “lazy” at their job interview?

I dunno, I mean maybe somebody did, but that would probably be the exception rather than the rule, right?

I don’t think I would hire anyone who said they were lazy OR that they “work hard all day every day.”

Come on. I’m not that stupid. I didn’t tell them that in the interview. I will say this. I’m horribly lazy, and they still think I’m the best at this job they ever had.

When you’re staring off into space, woolgathering, I’ll bet something’s happening. And who can say if it will be valuable or not.

Back before the internet, I used to steal time to be online and to learn the internet when it was still difficult. No one knew it would become so important then. Well, turns out that what was goofing off for me was actually great for my employer.

I don’t know how many times that might happen, but I bet it’s a lot.