Hiring Biases
While interviewing and hiring people for a managerial position, of course you will have strict standards of who you will hire for the position. Finding someone who actually qualifies for these tough requirements can be quite a task for anyone involved and a qualified candidate should not be discarded very easily.
When my fellow senior manager and I interviewed a candidate, I found that she was well more than qualified for the position. She had a masters degree in marketing, great references, and 20 years of experience at one of our competitors. I wanted to hire her right away however, my colleague said that he though we should keep looking and find another candidate because he did not find her qualified.
I believe that the availability heuristic applies to my co-workers opinion. The candidate for the job clearly had excellent qualifications for the position. My colleague told me he felt she would not be a “good fit” with the company. I believe that the reason he said this was because she was a Hispanic woman, though he will not actually confirm my suspicions. The availability heuristic is about keeping situations common and equal. I believe that my co-worker thinks she will not be a good fit for the company because being a Hispanic woman is not as common within our company.
There are definite legal and ethical problems involved with this decision by my co-worker. Firstly being a violation of the Equal Opportunity Act. The law forbids the act of not hiring someone based on age, sex, religion, or race. A violation of this law can result in severe penalties for the company involved. There is the possibility that the woman would not file a suit against us, however there ...