pressure to hire also undermines an interview’s usefulness. in one study a group of manager was told to assume that they were behind in their recruiting quota. a second group was told that they were ahead of their quota. those “behind” evaluated the same recruits much more highly than did those “ahead.”
Candidate-Order (contrast) Error
Candidate-order (or”contrast”) error means that the order in which you see applicant s affects how you rate them. In one study, manages were asked to evaluate a candidates. who was “just average” after first evuluating several “unfavorable” candidates. the average candidate was evaluates more favorably than he might otherwise have been since, in contrast to the unfavorable candidates, the average one looked better than he actually was. in some studies, only a small part of the applicant’s rating was based on his or her actual potential. most of the rating was based on the effect of having followed very favorable or unfavorable candidates.
Influence of nonverbal behavior
Interviewers are influenced by the applicant’s nonverbal behavior. For example, applicants who demonstrate more eye contact head moving, smiling, and other similar nonverbal behavior are rated higher. These nonverbal behaviors often account for more than 80% of the applicant’s rating. In one study, 52 HR specialists reviewed videotaped job interviews in which the applicants’ verbal content was identical. However, the interviewees’ nonverbal behavior differed markedly. Those in one group had been instructed to exhibit minimal eye contact a low energy level, and low voice modulation. The interviewees in a second group demonstrated the opposite behavior. Of the 26 personnel specialists who saw the high eye contact high energy level candidate, 23 would have invited him or her for a second interview. None who saw the low eye contact, low energy level candidate would have recommended a second interview. It would seem that an otherwise inferior interviewee who is trained to “act right” may well be appraised more highly than a more competent applicant lacking nonverbal interviewing skills.
What may be happening is that, accurately or not, interviews infer the interviewee’s personality from the way he or she acts in the interview. in one recent study 99 graduating college questionnaires both before and after their job offers; the questionnaires included measures of personality, among other things. the interviewee’s personality, particularly his or her level of extroversion, had a pronounced influence on whether or not hr or she received follow-up interviews and job offers. in part, this seems to be because “interviewers draw inferences about the applicant’s personality based on the applicant’s behavior during the interview.
an applicant’s attractiveness and gender also play a role. in general, studies of attractiveness find that individuals ascribe more favorable traits and more successful life outcomes to attractive people. and a study of gender reportedly found that “even when female managers exhibited the same career advancing behaviors as male managers, they still earned less money and were offered fewer career-progressing transfer opportunities. ’’In one recent study, subjects were asked to evaluate candidates for promotability based on photographs. Men were perceived to be more suitable for hire and more likely to advance to a next executive level than were equally qualified women, and more attractive candidates, especially men, were preferred over less attractive ones.