Name: Saba khan,

Reg #: MMS193051

Course: Industrial psychology

Instructor: Dr. khurrum shehzad

Assignment # 03

Date: 08.04.2020

Assignment Topic: Error and biases in employee selection

CAPITAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

ISLAMABAD
TOPIC: Error and biases in employee selection

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The employee selection process usually entails notification or advertising, reviewing, screening,
interviewing, testing then selecting the best available candidate. One of the sad outcomes of my
consulting work is that I’ve seen, again and again, how companies make the same mistakes in
selecting employees. There are a few common errors made by a majority of companies. Here
are the top selection errors that you need to avoid.

Asking irrelevant questions:

There is nothing worse than asking irrelevant questions during an interview. Not only does it
waste your valuable time as the recruiter and/or immediate manager, but it is also one of the most
frustrating things a candidate can experience. Even though you are the one who is giving the
candidate the opportunity to work for your organization, you won’t be able to attract the best
employees if your selection process affects your reputation and brand as an employer.
Prepare for the interview beforehand and make sure you know what you’re looking for in terms
of knowledge, experience, skills, and characteristics.

Asking the wrong questions:

This common interview mistake is just as bad as asking irrelevant questions. Asking the wrong
questions wastes the recruiter, manager, and candidate’s time. Putting this much time and effort
into hiring the best is completely valid, but only if you’re using your time wisely! Get to know
the candidate before they come into the interview and make sure you examine their weaknesses
and not their strengths!

Lack of self-awareness:
As the interviewer, need to know yourself. Know who you are, what you’re good at, and what
could use a little bit of work. If you want to be a good recruiter, getting to know yourself is the
best start.

Comparing Candidates:
Candidates are just naturally better at interviewing, while it takes others more time and effort to
really display their natural strengths, talents, and personality. And most of the time, an hour long
interview is just not enough time for these individuals to really show you what they’re all
about.Don’t rely on appearances, and don’t compare candidates. What you are seeing during an
interview is likely just the tip of the iceberg of what your candidates have to offer.  So, once
again, prepare and get to know your candidates!
Making hasty decisions:
There are tendencies, in over 63% of selection interviews, to make the hiring decisions in the
first four minutes of the interview. Don’t do this. It takes 90 minutes of a patterned or structured
interview to get to real behavior. Many professional recruiters suggest that you not form any
judgments in the first 30 minutes. If you do, you are in danger of missing out on potentially good
candidates who do not interview well, or worse, hiring a poor fit because of the candidate’s
ability to interview well.
Not allowing enough time:

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Because “time is money”, employers will often cut interviews short before all questions are
asked and/or the candidate is allowed ample time to answer.  This does the organization a
disservice.  By allowing 45 minutes to one hour for an interview, the likelihood of gathering
meaningful information increases.
Talking too much:
The purpose of the interview is to gather as much relevant information about the candidate as
possible.  When interviewers spend too much time describing the job, and/or talking about
themselves or the organization, valuable time is lost. 
Give in to work and market pressures:
The vast majority of managers hire too quickly and fire too slowly. In a tight labor market, it is
not uncommon for a hiring manager to meet the candidate only once then make an offer. And
when candidate supply is plentiful, managers tend to miss the opportunity to sift through lots of
candidates to find the very best fit due to "lack of time". Interesting that these same managers
can find the time to deal with performance issues resulting from poor selection.
Hire people because you know them:
It´s a common mistake to hire people just because you know them well. Your friend´s son or
your cousin is not necessarily a good fit for your business. Of course, you shouldn´t have a
policy of not having people you know entering the selection process but they should follow the
regular process and not have a head start just because they have a good contact in the business.
So if your friend wants you to consider his son, go for it but make sure a real selection process is
followed.
Not asking for examples:
Candidates can tell whatever they want but a common hiring mistake is to settle with vague or
very general responses just to be polite. You are on a mission to investigate whether this
candidate is a good fit for the job so you will have to dig deeper. Therefore, always ask for
specific examples of certain situations where the candidate demonstrated what they are claiming
to have done. Use behavioral questioning in your interviews to make sure you always get
examples of what candidates tell you.
Focus too much on gut feeling:
Chances are that you will have managers of different experience levels conducting interviews in
your process. It is possible that managers that have already participated in many selection
processes, start trusting more on their gut than on the official interview process. Although
experience and gut are important, they should never be the only deciding factor because other
guidelines of your selection process are important as well.
Halo Effect:
The halo effect is a type of cognitive bias in which our overall impression of a person influences
how we feel and think about his or her character. Halo effect is largely based on first
impressions. Interviewer does this mistake mostly during selection process.
Horn Effect:

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This is the opposite of Halo effect where again first impressions create an unconscious bias. If,
for instance, a person is seen to be too loud, or too shy, it could also be assumed that they will
not be smart or clever, or good at their job. Any perception of an unfavorable characteristic
creates an unconscious bias that overshadows their other traits, beliefs, and actions. Interviewer
does this mistake mostly during selection process.
Leniency Effect:
The leniency bias occurs when applicants might be rated too high because of your own personal
context. Interviewer does this mistake mostly during selection process.
Confirmation Bias:
This is the tendency to search for information during the selection process that confirms your
pre-existing beliefs. Interviewer does this mistake mostly during selection process.
Personal Similarity Bias:
We tend to favor people who are most similar to us. This is an implicit bias that we all carry
within us. We attribute good personality traits to people whom we can relate to. So, if an
interviewee is similar to yourself, or act in a certain way that reminds you of a person you like,
or is like yourself, you are more likely to be inclined towards hiring them. We tend to favor
people who are most similar to us. This is an implicit bias that we all carry within us. We
attribute good personality traits to people whom we can relate to. So, if an interviewee is similar
to yourself, or act in a certain way that reminds you of a person you like, or is like yourself, you
are more likely to be inclined towards hiring them. Regardless of who is better suited for the job.
This kind of bias, also sometimes termed affinity bias, often comes into play in organizations
where the general ethos is to find people who are a good "culture fit". Interviewer does this
mistake mostly during selection process.
Gender bias:
Gender bias is relatively easy to understand. It typically stems from our beliefs about gender
roles and stereotypes, which are often culturally reinforced. When selecting, you may
unconsciously lean towards a candidate who matches the gender you associate with the role. You
may also have a preference for candidates of the same gender. We often find it easier to relate to
people of the same gender due to shared interests and life experiences. Interviewer does this
mistake mostly during selection process.
Affinity bias:
Affinity bias is unfortunately very common in recruitment, often resulting in unconscious racism
and ageism.  We often feel a natural affinity towards candidates we feel we have something in
common with. For example, recruiters and hiring managers are often far more likely to select an
applicant who comes from the same town as them or share similar hobbies. Interviewer does this
mistake mostly during selection process.
Beauty bias:
Even though it’s inherently unfair, we can’t help ourselves from noticing the appearance of other
people and instantly associating it with their personality. Although it makes no sense, we tend to
think that more physically attractive people will be more successful. Interviewer does this
mistake mostly during selection process.

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Contrast effect:
This occurs when we take two or more similar things and compare them with one another, rather
than judging each on their own merits. This is particularly relevant when it comes to CV
selection. The contrast effect can cause you to set unrealistically high standards. You look at CV
after CV, frustrated that none of them live up to the standard of the one “perfect” on you found.
The role of a recruiter is to find people who can adapt to a given role. Not to find those with
flawless CVs. Interviewer does this mistake mostly during selection process