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Just Get Over It

Dec 18, 2009 / Recruiting / Trackback

stopPer­sonal bias can really get in the way of can­di­date selec­tion. Rec­og­niz­ing that as Utopian, Zen and Feng Shui as we are, we all have per­sonal biases. Iden­ti­fy­ing them allows us to acknowl­edge them. Once we acknowl­edge them we can con­sciously table them and not allow them to affect our decisions.

For instance, there once was a woman named Reina.….. It’s your lucky day for I will spare you the very gory details.

It’s not a com­mon name in the US and it had been a few years years since I had been sub­jected to it. About 7 years ago as a call cen­ter man­ager I received a cal­en­dar appoint­ment to inter­view a “Reyna”. The hair stood up on the back of my neck. Imme­di­ately, all I could think of was there was no way I was going to deal with that even though I knew with 100% cer­tainty that it was not the same person.

I got up and took a walk.  I needed air. And as I walked I talked with other per­son­al­i­ties that reside in my mind and as we con­versed and sorted it all out we came to the con­clu­sion it was impor­tant to give this per­son a chance.

It’s not the same Reina so what are you wor­ried about? She doesn’t even spell it the same way. You can’t judge a per­son by her name, don’t be ridicu­lous. What if you dis­miss her because of some­thing in your past that noth­ing to do with her, miss out on a great hire and do her an injus­tice? Just get over it.

I took some deep breaths, con­vinced myself to do the right thing and accepted the inter­view. Reyna turned out to have very high per­for­mance reviews over the next 5 years and in most respects really was a model employee.

This is a true story! I’m glad I rec­og­nized it wouldn’t be fair to judge some­one on some­thing that wouldn’t be per­for­mance related. Had I allowed my per­sonal bias over a name to influ­ence my deci­sion it would have been a very big mistake.

What per­sonal bias have you had to deal with? Was it dif­fi­cult to rec­og­nize it existed? How did you over­come it?


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  • jenileedeal
    Thanks for the insightful article! To add another layer, HR not only has to deal with personal biases, but also the perceived biases of management and clients (for service-oriented businesses). It seems to me that in all cases the solution is the same. That is, HR must put any biases or perceived biases aside, regardless of circumstances.
  • @jenileedeal Thanks for your visit and comment. What you said is so true... it takes broad shoulders.
  • Shennee - When our mind plays tricks on us we have to be trickier! I see a faithful reader award in your future :-)

    pasmuz - You hit the proverbial nail on the head "this is not my personal life; this is the workplace & it's about the work." Also, you did the right thing at that blackball place... I would have done just the same. I have 0 tolerance for certain things.

    Margo Rose - Ugh.... you mean there is a 3rd way to spell it? Deep breath........
  • Karla, it's so funny that you write about this topic. I used to feel the same way about people named "Nancy." The reason is pointless to discuss, but the bottom line is that certain names can evoke psychological reactions based on memory. There are some incredible Nancys in the world, just as there are Reynahs. I hired a Renah when I owned my own business. She turned out to be the best employee I ever had. Thanks for writing this post. As always, you know how to bring a message home.

    Your twitterpal,

    @HRMargo Margo Rose http://hrmargo.com
  • Karla, I just did a draft for my blog on this similar subject. (I had a dream about vampires last night that inspired it.) Personal bias is something every HR person struggles with. We are still human after all. My guess is that the biggest struggle for HR is people naturally like people who like them, & dislike those who dislike us. I always move through this by reminding myself: this is not my personal life; this is the workplace & it's about the work.
    The worst case of personal bias that I ever experienced was not mine, but someone else's. I worked for someone that had a reputation for blackballing internal candidates. The reasons were never spoken. It didn't matter if they had the KSA's. Solution: moved my employment elsewhere.
  • shennee
    Nice Karla-
    I am sure that was an interesting hiring experience for you. You can't judge a book by it's cover, and names are included.
    Keep up the great writing. You inspire me!
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