Press Room

Fort Lauderdale, FL – April 24, 2002 – As the market continues to strengthen and the need for employees increases, Spherion Professional Recruiting Group notes that employers must use sound judgment when making important workforce decisions, especially when interviewing potential job candidates. Employers should guard against making inferences or conclusions about a candidate that are not supported with a relevant descriptive behavior.

“An impartial interviewing process is a vital aspect of any successful business model,” said Eric Archer, president of Spherion Professional Recruiting Group. “It is critical that employers avoid judging applicants based on personal biases and other unfair rating standards. Companies that practice such patterns will realize the damaging effects this can have on the health and stability of the work environment.”

Some of the common errors/biases employers must avoid during the interviewing process include:

• Halo effect – the employer assesses a candidate as proficient in many areas due to their strength in only one area. For example, the successful financial business executive may not always be proficient as a chief financial officer. 

   

• Stereotyping – the employer evaluates a candidate because of the people, group or company with whom he or she is associated. Many people have close friends whom they would consider difficult to employ or work with.

   

• Similar-to-me – the employer judges a candidate because he or she demonstrates a similar style, interest or personality to himself or herself.

   

• Central tendency – the employer views all candidates as “middle of the road” and fails to “drill out” the high-potential and below-average candidates.

   

Spherion Professional Recruiting Group recommends that companies follow a carefully devised strategy when seeking to hire new employees. As employers consider each skill competency, they should utilize performance standards and success criteria developed with the aid of subject matter experts to help them make precise evaluations. Thus, applicants are judged by comparing their behavior against evaluation criteria, rather than against one another.

The employer should then align the evaluation criteria with a traditional Likert scale of 1-5 or 1-3 with 5 or 3 equaling the highest performance level. Next, managers should review their internal notes and match the candidate response up to the Likert scale, noting the performance rank of the behaviors (e.g., 1, 2, 3, etc.).

The last step in the process is to assign a numerical rating for each skill or competency. The employer may then weigh the resulting hypothesis against a third party to test the validity of his/her perceptions.

“Unsupported inferences and conclusions, as well as individual biases, may prevent an employer from making wise business decisions when interviewing job candidates,” Archer said. “Spherion Professional Recruiting Group believes that abiding by a model similar to this will enable employers to guarantee a fair and accurate interviewing process.”

About Spherion

Spherion Corporation provides Recruitment, Outsourcing and Technology services. Spherion recruitment experts offer organizations a diverse portfolio of customized solutions. Engagements include flexible staffing, direct hire, interim executives and on-site management and outsourcing. Spherion currently serves 85% of all Fortune 100 companies in an array of industries. Founded in 1946, Spherion has operations in North America , Europe and Asia/Pacific. Visit the Company's Web site at www.spherion.com.