What You See isn't Who You Hire

Companies sometimes ask me to provide executive coaching to high-level individuals who don’t seem to be performing up to their potential. On more than one occasion the person’s supervisor has said “we were so impressed with this candidate during the interview process, but he/she has been a real disappointment.”

Candidates naturally try to sell themselves and this can indeed influence an interviewer’s perception and it can profoundly affect hiring decisions. A 2009 meta-analysis of studies conducted between 1929 and 2008 found that self-presentation tactics have a significant impact on interviewers’ ratings of candidates. Appearance (e.g. physical attractiveness, professional attire) had the strongest influence on hiring decisions, followed by impression management (e.g. self-promotion, ingratiation), and verbal/non verbal behavior (e.g. fluent speech, smiling). The analysis also showed that the less structured the interview, the stronger the impact made by self-presentation tactics.

When your business is hiring for key positions, it’s critical to make sure that what you see is what you ultimately get. Here are some things to consider:

• Subconscious processes have been shown to have a significant impact on decision-maker evaluations. For example, social psychology experiments demonstrate that people use facial appearance as a basis for interpersonal judgments after as little as 100 microseconds of exposure. When interviewing someone, keep in mind that the applicant can trigger your pre-existing internal beliefs and attitudes about the “right type” of candidate. If this happens, you’re liable to overlook important flaws.
  

• Be alert for instances in which the applicant shifts the focus from themselves onto you. Note whether these are appropriate or whether they reflect attempts to divert the discussion away from matters they’d prefer not to elaborate upon.
  

• Use a structured interview conducted by telephone as an initial first step. Ask job-related behavioral questions, ask them in the same order with all candidates, and use a standardized scoring procedure.