Tonight I was watching a program on SBS, ‘Foolproof equations for a perfect life,’ a look at the decision making process and the human brain. The show itself was interesting and engaging on a number of levels. The show had a couple of experiments which highlighted potential pitfalls of the interview process in bringing about objective and rational hiring decisions.
The first was a couple of Scandinavian academics from Harvard who ran an experiment showing the subject pictures of two different faces. They were then asked to select which face they preferred and to say a few words as to why they made this decision. They were then given the card of the face they selected, or so they thought. Now and then they would be slipped the card of the face they did not select. None of the subjects said anything to the contrary and went on to explain why they selected the card, even if it was not the card they selected. The deduction being that we all post rationalize our inconsistent bad decisions! So what does this mean for the interview process, be it for the interview or the interviewee? Taking this even further with a panel interview or an interview process that involves a number of stages and interviewees – do we go along with the most senior person’s decision about the interviewees to keep our jobs or to fit in?
The second experiment was one that sounds ludicrous yet was incredibly consistent. A group of subjects each separately met with and had a brief chat with a guy. Prior to the chat they were given a hot beverage to drink. After chatting with the guy in a room, they were asked by the person running the experiment if they would hire him. All three subjects had a resounding yes and spoke positively about the guy. A new group of subjects were brought in and were all given a cold beverage to drink and hold before the meeting with the same guy. Again after the meeting the same person running the experiment asked them if they would hire the guy, the responses were all negative, with a definite no from one guy. The deduction being that when interviewing, if someone has a hot beverage before meeting or during meeting with you they are more inclined to view you more favorably than those who have a cold beverage. One is therefore provoked to question the randomness of the interview process. Are we selecting the best person for the job or is it a series of random events!
I posted this discussion topic on a LinkedIn group which pleasingly started up a bit of a discussion.
One of the members commented that he had also watched the series and felt that it was not very scientific and that the sample sizes were too small and so on, which were valid points. However this then got me to thinking that when you consider that in times of stress, crisis and so on it is common practice to offer the person in need a hot cup of tea or coffee. Likewise often children are given hot milk to help them sleep. So the hot beverage does seem to be commonly used to calm people down and create a safe and re-assuring environment, so maybe there is some psychology to it – more than we think anyway.
Key Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Make A Job or Career Change
Last year I attended a career coaching workshop delivered by Jacquie Wise 