Understanding Confirmation Bias When Interviewing | JobSearchTV.com
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Most firms use confirmation bias when interviewing. What should you do to combat it? (From the archives)
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Most interviews are pretty unstructured. Depending upon how you answer the question, it leads to a different direction. At the same time, most interviews are pretty poor predictors of performance. Statistics bear out that unstructured interviews are ridiculous predictors (A Google study indicated that). Yet firms still refuse to use structured interviews, which are far more effective.
What winds up happening is within a few seconds of meeting you, most organizations develop a bias or opinion of you. They spend the entire interview
attempting to confirm that bias. In order to demonstrate excellence during an interview, you have to be aware of this and use the 1st few seconds to advantage.
I will start with the phone interview. As soon as someone is calling you, you have to be “ready.” If they catch you at a bad time, or, frankly, if they’re catching you at ANY time,, in most cases I encourage people to call back. Set up a time to actually have the conversation when you’re prepared. From there, once you are on the call, recognize that the 1st few seconds are pivotal. Be a place where you can speak freely. Be in a place we can be open and above board and project your voice instead of doing that “whispering thing.” You don’t have an interview that starts off with you whispering into your phone because other people are around you.
If you need to let them do the interview at the time there actually call you by phone, just simply say, “Could you bear with me. I have to walk to a conference room for a second.”. Then, get yourself to a conference room.
If the interviews being done in-person, recognize that as soon as you walk into a reception area where you are being interviewed, as soon as you get through security in some way or another,, your interview has started. If you are getting buzzed in and your walk into someone’s office or conference room, as soon as they are seeing you, they are sizing you up. You want to be well dressed. You want to present yourself in a polished yet friendly way, and demonstrate an attitude that indicates you are losing self-confidence. That’s because, if you don’t, recognize that they are going to perceived timidity. You’re going to project fear and other negative attributes and they are going to go out of their way to crush you.
Recognizing this confirmation bias in the firms are going to spend their entire interview with you confirming the 1st impressions of you, you have to make those 1st impressions easy and great.
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The Easiest Way to Negotiate a Higher Salary for Yourself
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. He is hired to provide No BS Career Advice globally. That can involve job search, hiring staff, management, leadership, career transition and advice about resolving workplace issues. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
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