Ever see a person who’s wearing glasses and assume they’re smarter than their peers without glasses? Or have you met someone who’s charismatic and presumed they were more competent or kinder as a result of their personality?
As humans, we all do this at one time or another, whether it’s with someone’s physical features or the qualities of their personality. This unconscious bias even has a name – the halo effect – and it occurs when one trait (such as wearing eyeglasses) influences our perception of another trait (intelligence).
When it comes to hiring, the halo effect can actually be quite dangerous because it can lead to a bad hire. As you well know, a bad hire can harm your productivity, decrease morale, and ultimately hurt your bottom line. In fact, it’s been reported that, depending on the position, a bad hire can cost a company up to five times of the bad hire’s salary.
So how can you ensure your perception doesn’t hurt your hiring efforts?
As an experienced Dade County staffing agency, we know that the first and best step toward counterbalancing the halo effect is simply to be aware of it. If another employee is conducting the interview, then ensure they are aware of these unconscious assumptions in the decision making process.
Some other tips include:
- Develop a list of questions to ask during phone interviews or in-person interviews that are the same for every candidate
- Record and evaluate each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses in a pros vs. cons style list and compare
- Check references and employment history
- Conduct personality assessments to ensure the candidates are a good fit for your company’s culture
- Conduct skills testing to ensure the candidates have the right skills to do the job
- Don’t rely solely on your gut to make a hiring decision; be sure to look at the facts too
If you don’t have the time to focus on hiring, Future Force Personnel can help. As one of Dade County’s leading staffing agencies, we know the right questions to ask and how to dig deeper so you can make an informed hiring decision. We can also conduct skills and personality assessments to ensure you find a professional with the right technical competencies and personality for the position and your culture.
To learn more about our staffing agency’s services, and how we can help you, please contact us today.