7 Types of Interview Bias

By www.scalepeo.com.

Learn how your biases affect your hiring decisions.

  1. Stereotyping
    • Making generalized opinions about how people from a protected class such as sex, religion, age, rate, etc. appear, think, act, feel or respond. For example, assuming a male would prefer being employed in a construction job over a teaching job.
  2. Inconsistency
    • Using different sets of questions to interview for the same job position amongst different individuals. For example, asking only male candidates about their critical thinking abilities and not asking female candidates the same question.
  3. First Impression
    • When the interviewer takes the first thing they notice about the candidate and forms their opinion regarding the applicant on the first impression. This bias may benefit or harm the candidate’s changes of selection.
  4. Halo/Horn Effect
    • If the interviewer finds one good train, he or she will favor the candidate (halo). When the interviewer finds on negative trait, he or she will see that to be a disqualifier for the position (horn).
  5. Contrast Effect
    • When candidates are compared against each other rather than evaluated based on the job requirements. If the interview pool consists of a number of outstanding candidates, an average candidate will not be selected. But in a standard pool, the average candidate may appear to be highly qualified.
  6. “Similar to Me”
    • The interviewer identifies with the candidate on a personal level, rather than evaluating the candidate on the job-related criteria. For example: The candidate attended the same university as the interviewer.
  7. Cultural Noise
    • This occurs when the candidate’s responses are not factually based, but are socially acceptable answers. Basically, the applicant tells the interviewer what they think the interviewer would like to hear or will help secure the job.