Unconscious Biases HR Recruiters Should Recognize

Employee turnover is a high expense for businesses of all types and sizes. The costs associated with it are two-fold as first, a business must pay the exit costs for employees who leave and then also pay the costs associated with recruiting and adding the replacement employee. Therefore, it should be a prerogative for all human resource departments to keep turnover low by hiring the right person the first time. But sometimes that’s easier said than done.

Too often, HR recruiters believe they are hiring the right fit and saying no to poor fits when in reality they are letting their unconscious biases steer the recruiting process. The following is a look at some of the more common unconscious hiring biases that HR recruiters have and that can negatively impact the hiring process.

Common Unconscious Biases HR Recruiters Should Recognize

    Halo & Horn Effects. The halo effect is what happens when a hiring employee lets one positive attribute or qualification outweigh all other considerations during an interview or hiring process. For instance, HR recruiters may see only a person’s enthusiasm and ignore their lack of training, availability, etc. The horn effect is the opposite of this, in which an HR recruiter sees only one negative facet about an applicant and lets that negative trait or attribute dominate their opinion of the applicant.

    Similar-to-me Effect. This effect happens when an interviewer recognizes characteristics in the applicant that they themselves have. This is a perfectly normal reaction, after all, if you believe yourself to be good at your job, then you assume that someone who reminds you of yourself will likewise be good at their job. Problems with this bias include a superficial similarity and not one that is true, furthermore, it is important to have diversity in an organization.

    Intuition. While intuition can offer some good insight, it’s also important to note that intuition is often compromised by partiality and irrationality. These are valid emotions but ones that do not belong in what should be an unbiased hiring process.

    Contrast. Contrast happens when HR recruiters compare and contrast applicants to each other instead of evaluating each to the organization’s standard. This can lead to an HR recruiter overlooking an applicant’s unique fitness for a position as they instead focus on how they compared to a previous candidate. A good way to avoid contrast and comparing is to use data-driven hiring approaches that give measurable information.

Learn More About Data-Driven Hiring Approaches

For more information about employee recruitment and how HR recruiters can apply data-based approaches to the hiring process, check out our other blog posts such as The Growing Impact of Big Data on Human Resources.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is for information purposes only and is not intended to provide professional or legal advice regarding actions to take in any situation.