Watch the following introductory screen flow video. A transcript of the video is below, if you would like to review it.

“80% of what we know to be true, we made up.”

~Watson and Crick

TRANSCRIPT OF THE VIDEO SCREEN FLOW.

The above is an incredibly problematic statement, if it is true… When interviewing, we have a goal to discover the truth, to formulate an opinion based on fact, not fiction, on accuracy, not fuzziness, and on precision, not distortion. However, most facts and other perceptions we have get filtered through our own interpretations. Every interaction, every thought, and every action are couched in personal interpretations. Sadly, as aware of this fact as we may be, it is still very difficult to control it.

We call these filtered interpretations, BIAS. Bias is the idea that our own innate prejudices and assumptions can cause us to make decisions not on evidence or data, but rather on inaccurate beliefs and feelings we may have about a person, group of people, or type of people. Bias can undermine our ability to make good and fair decisions. While we may never adequately remove bias, we can become more aware of its effects and do our best to mitigate it. Some things to think about include:

What are my intentions and objectives during this interview?
What do I hope to accomplish with each question that I ask?
What beliefs are inherent in the actions I take during an interview?
What are my professional priorities… my personal priorities during this interaction?
How do I define a successful interview?
Am I only looking for someone I like, or am I looking for someone who will be effective?
Where is my ego during the interview, on my sleeve, or safely being guided by my own self-determined behavior?

The answers to the above questions are never right or wrong. But, they should inform your intent and guide you to really think through who you want to hire, why you want to hire that person, and what that person will ultimately do on the job. The key is to know oneself before trying to know someone else.

SO WHAT—APPLIED TO INTERVIEWING:

So, bias is tough to recognize. So, bias is tough to eradicate. So, bias is ever present. How does it show up in an interview? How does it affect our perceptions of candidates and whom we choose for the position ultimately?

Most bias shows up during interviews in the following ways:

Halo/ Horn Effect. If I expect to like a candidate or I expect to dislike a candidate, that very expectation can bias me one way or another. Candidates I like can do no wrong, while those I dislike can do no right.
What I Know. Sometimes, I am biased toward aspects of a person I am familiar with—such as where she went to university, or what fraternity he belonged to, or being from a particular town. Familiarity breeds comfort, and, of course, bias.
And, because of that… Sometimes I will attribute a reason to a behavior with no evidence. For example, I might note a person’s shabby or dirty clothes and assume she doesn’t know how to properly present herself. When there may be a multitude of reasons. The person may have had a flat tire and changed it herself on route to the interview. Or, there might be some other rational reason we simply don’t know.
Racial stereotypes. When interviewers see names on a resume that indicate race (or lead the interviewer to draw a conclusion about race), or interviewers see a person and draw a conclusion about race, often then, race becomes a factor in the decision. For example, “Asians are smart. I am interviewing an Asian candidate. He is smarter than the non-Asians. The position requires high intelligence.”
The same is true for women. Once identified as female, unless the role is typically female-oriented, a man is more likely to get the nod for the job. Orchestras have actually solved this phenomenon. Now, when auditioning for a spot in the orchestra, prospective players audition behind a screen, do not talk, and any identifiers of race or gender are redacted. Orchestras went from being predominantly white men to very diverse work places. Unfortunately, in other businesses, we need to evaluate face-to-face interactions and not just musicality.
Ethnic Stereotypes. Sadly, we all know ethnic jokes about people of different nationalities. Those jokes lead to bias. And, often those biases become ingrained and unconsciously lead us to make bad decision when hiring.
Age. Old people cost too much and are slow. They are technically incompetent. Young people—millennials, are disrespectful, selfish, spoiled, and hard work avoidant. These are biases and have no basis when we look at individuals for a job. In fact the categorizing of the different generations is just another way for us to perpetuate bias. Differentiating between Millennials, Gen-Xers, and Baby Boomers is fine on generic levels and might be useful when looking at histiographies, but when using those generalizable characteristics to judge individuals for a job, we are leveraging bias in the same ways we do with race, gender, and religion.
The Disabled. People with disabilities are discriminated against continuously, even though with often very minor modifications to the work space can contribute just as well (or not) as those without disabilities. In fact, in the academic field of cultural studies, there is even discussion that the label of disabled is misleading because the very act of labeling some issues with humans as disabilities and others as simply being human is in of itself, biased.
And, many more: politics, religion, body type, beauty, and more. Depending on your filters and your experiences, bias will as I said at the beginning of this piece, rear its ugly head in many other ways, too.

Which brings us back to the question… what can we do about it during the interview. Awareness is the biggest thing. Ask yourself frequently:

Do I like this candidate because of the evidence of competency, or because he reminds me of me?
Do I reject this candidate because of the evidence for incompetence, or because something about her makes me feel uncomfortable?

Get evidence for all decisions. Always validate your decisions by ensuring your assessment during the interview gets at direct and observational reasons for deciding to hire, or not to hire. Never trust your gut. Or, if you must, trust, but verify.