Alicia is a mother, an administrator, a cook, a part-time event organizer, a guitarist at night, and a blogger. Will the real Alicia please stand up?

Alicia could duck the which-self question by asserting unchangeable inborn traits: I am the same as my feelings. If I suppress or alter my urges I am being untrue to myself. I am not being authentic.

Wrong! Throw out the superficial thinking. If you enjoy improving yourself, isn’t that a form of “being yourself”? Remember too that each of us has all kinds of urges, some of which are lofty and admirable while others are base and unattractive.

Don’t make the mistake of pretending you’re stuck with one identity – that’s not who you are.

During an interview setting, the person who is looking for a job play the role of the job seeker. The stranger across an interviewing desk is playing the role of interviewer.

Playing the role most appropriate to you at a given time, and playing it effectively enough to get you the job you deserve, isn’t dishonest. To do less courts unemployment – or underemployment.

So, forget about being “natural” too. Is combed hair natural? Shaved legs? Trimmed beard? Polished shoes? How about covering a cough in public? Or not scratching where you itch?

Being natural in a job interview is fine as long as you don’t use your desire to be natural as an excuse to display or blurt out negative characteristics.

Never treat a job interview as a confessional in which you’re charged with disclosing imperfections and indiscretions that don’t relate to your future job performance. Nor should you treat a job interview as social dialogue in which you share cultural, sociological, political, sexual, or other viewpoints. In other words, DO NOT download your personal beliefs on interviewers in the name of “being yourself” or “being natural” – or, for that matter, “being honest”.

Society cannot survive totally natural behavior. Neither can your unrefined behavior survive at job interviews. To really know someone in a brief encounter at 15, 30 or 60 minutes is simply impossible. If you insist on being natural, an employer may pass you over because of your unkempt beard, unshined shoes, or because you don’t feel like smiling that day.

The price for ignoring self-improvement is too high. All the things you’ve done to date – your identification of your competencies and skills, your job-lead management, your resume, your cover letter – are pointless if you fail to deliver a job interview that delivers a job offer.

Source: Kennedy, Joyce Lain Job Interviews For Dummies, 13-14. Wiley Publishing, Inc. 2008

Bottom line: Show your seriousness in the job interview by making an effort to BE YOUR BEST. No one is asking you to lie to be your best and interviewers certainly appreciate sincerity but there is no need to be “brutally” honest about everything just because you want to be yourself.