{"id":2571,"date":"2015-05-07T10:20:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-07T15:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/?p=2571"},"modified":"2015-05-07T10:20:37","modified_gmt":"2015-05-07T15:20:37","slug":"objectivity-trumps-bias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2015\/05\/objectivity-trumps-bias\/","title":{"rendered":"Objectivity Trumps Bias"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are all biased, it is simply how we are wired no matter what people believe.\u00a0 Our brains have the innate ability to categorize \u2013 a distinct survival mechanism for sure.\u00a0 This ability becomes problematic in the hiring process as hiring managers can often be influenced by their own biases when making hiring decisions.\u00a0 To be blunt, hiring managers are prewired to clone themselves in their hires.<\/p>\n

So what of this?\u00a0 Does it matter?\u00a0 If your hiring manager is strong, especially a sales manager, wouldn\u2019t it be best to clone them?<\/p>\n

No.\u00a0 End of post\u2026ok, I won\u2019t be so short.\u00a0 The key to successful hiring, especially as it pertains to sales hiring, is to maintain objectivity for as long as possible in your process.\u00a0 This is part of the process we teach to companies as they move to improve and strengthen their sales hiring results.\u00a0 The key to objectivity is that it trumps bias.\u00a0 It provides a rational, unemotional view of a candidate before our natural biases and intuition can start forming our decision.<\/p>\n

Some thoughts on how to improve the objectivity in your process:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Your first contact with the candidate should be a phone interview.\u00a0 The phone is a natural barrier that removes visual biases.\u00a0 When done correctly, you would be shocked at how much you can learn about a candidate during a 30 min. phone call.<\/li>\n
  2. Secondly, use an online assessment to \u201cx-ray\u201d the candidates communication style, motivations, aptitudes, skills, etc.\u00a0 This is self-serving, but it may be the most critical step in the process.\u00a0 The computer is unbiased to a fault.\u00a0 The information provides a look into the candidate\u2019s abilities in a way that is next to impossible to deceive.\u00a0 The right tools can provide more information about an external candidate than you probably know about your current team!<\/li>\n
  3. Lastly, use a team approach to the first interview – more people, more viewpoints, less bias.\u00a0 I am a strong proponent of team interviews, especially in the sales world.\u00a0 Each person on the hiring side of the table will have a slightly different take on the candidate and their responses, fit, approach, etc.\u00a0 This is valuable as the team can debrief after each initial interview.\u00a0 The secondary benefit is that it puts pressure on the candidate.\u00a0 The candidates that handle this pressure and excel are noteworthy and memorable.\u00a0 They are the ones to give strong consideration to for moving forward in your process.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If you incorporate those 3 concepts into your hiring process, I guarantee you will improve your objectivity immensely.\u00a0 The increased objectivity will lead to stronger hires with far fewer misalignments on your growing team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We are all biased, it is simply how we are wired no matter what people believe.\u00a0 Our brains have the innate ability to categorize \u2013 a distinct survival mechanism for sure.\u00a0 This ability becomes problematic in the hiring process as hiring managers can often be influenced by their own biases when making hiring decisions.\u00a0 To be blunt, hiring managers are prewired to clone themselves in their hires. So what of this?\u00a0 Does it matter?\u00a0 If your hiring manager is strong, especially a sales manager, wouldn\u2019t it be best to clone them? No.\u00a0 End of post\u2026ok, I won\u2019t be so short.\u00a0 The key to successful hiring, especially as it pertains to… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,16],"tags":[1316,1554,1592,125,194,38,97],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-Ft","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2571"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2573,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571\/revisions\/2573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}