Would you afford a colleague more perks based on their appearance? It is difficult to consider any circumstances that may warrant such behaviours, yet situational factors that have little to do with an applicant’s suitability for a position are more commonly affecting decision makers when it comes to recruiting.
Hiring Managers are more commonly basing recruiting decisions on an unconscious bias. That’s the verdict according to a recently released CIPD report this week.
In practise recruiters are hiring those who look and behave like themselves. In short, peoples appearances are playing a far more integral role in the final decision of a new hire than the actual suitability of a candidate. Whilst this might be difficult to process, lookism is not illegal and it is fairly commonplace. The appearance of an individual is entirely subjective and therefore difficult to justify, nevertheless decision makers who are bound by these decisions are posed with associated risks when acting upon an indirect bias.
Despite the negatives, for those candidates who readily accept this is commonplace it begs the question; can this be used to your advantage? Hiring managers will use gestures to convey specific messages during a job interview. Nodding signifies approval, while leaning forward shows they’re interested. People respond better to those that they share similarities with.
Interestingly it is worth taking into account that Albert Mehrabian, a communications expert who suggests that face-to face communications show non-verbal communication has an enormous impact on the understanding of the messages sent by the interviewee in any interview;
Words alone – 7%
Voice tones – 38%
Body language – 55%
Non-verbal messages are much less likely to be under conscious control and are therefore harder to disguise. Body language is more than half the battle.
