Contrast bias in recruiting: how to avoid it

Contrast bias in recruiting negatively influences evaluations and can make your personnel selections neither fair nor effective.

In addition to the potential loss of talent, employer branding has a negative impact due to the failure to ensure a fair, objective and equitable recruitment process.

Even candidates, who are selected in this way and start working in an organization, may not have the necessary skills to cope with their new role and leave the project prematurely.

To get the most out of your recruiting, you need to know what contrast bias is and how you can avoid it.

What is contrast bias in recruiting?

Contrast bias is a cognitive bias whereby someone is evaluated subjectively by comparing them to another person who has been evaluated in the same process.

This bias can occur when evaluating a worker’s competencies and skills, or when selecting candidates.

In a recruitment process, contrast bias consists of interviewers or evaluators comparing candidates with each other, instead of carrying out an objective evaluation based on individual merits.

These rapid selections by comparison can result in the loss of talent by discarding valid profiles, and also reduce the success rate of the recruitment process.

This is because the discrimination between candidates is based on those who have applied to a selection process, instead of considering the company’s strategic needs.

Contrast bias can be positive (the candidate looks better compared to others) or negative (the candidate looks worse when compared to others).

So the term contrast bias refers to an unfair judgment for the candidates which, in addition, can have negative consequences for the company.

Contrast bias examples

We propose you further to deepen the contrast bias definition through the following example:

An evaluator receives a candidate who has studied at a prestigious school and who is also very charismatic and very likeable.

He then receives another candidate who has greater skills and abilities than the first candidate, but who has studied at a non-prestigious school and is not as expressive.

The evaluator chooses the first candidate because he liked him better and his school is more important. However, the second one was better prepared and fit better with the profile needed in the company.

This error of contrast bias in recruitment can occur at different points in the process: in the technical evaluations, during the interview, when references are checked, or even in the salary negotiation.

Regarding the latter case, which may be the least obvious, imagine that the recruiter has been evaluating several people who are in the same desired salary range. However, a final candidate arrives who requests a much higher salary.

His request compared to the previous ones may cause the evaluator to discard him, when it may be fully justified if objective parameters are analyzed.

Contrast bias effects

The consequences of contract bias in a company go beyond the evaluation itself and can affect the functioning of the company:

• Loss of qualified talent due to subjective biases of hiring managers, by giving up individual assessment and choosing candidates by comparing one with the other.
• Employer branding is negatively affected by not being guaranteed a fair and objective assessment.
• The selected person does not fit in the organization because the recruitment has not focused on the strategic competencies for the company, so he/she cannot assume his/her role successfully.
• Increased employee turnover rate due to the dissatisfaction of these profiles that do not fit in the project.
• Generation of conflicts and reduced productivity due to the imbalance between the company’s expectations and those of the employee, which can also affect the work environment and co-workers.

How to avoid contrast bias in recruitment?

Now you know that it is necessary to avoid contrast bias in recruitment. The good news is that you can do it, and to a great extent thanks to the tools provided by the advances in technology applied to Human Resources techniques.

We share with you some of the most effective guidelines:

1. Standardize recruitment interviews, which is where it is easiest to fall under this cognitive bias. A good solution is to use scripted structured behavioral interviews, a type of interview focused on assessing the candidate’s skills, attitude, and affinity with the organizational culture through past experiences.
2. Train recruiters and leaders in the effects of contrast bias so that they learn to identify it and take steps to avoid succumbing to it.
3. Apply the same evaluation criteria to all candidates to give everyone an equal chance of success. These criteria must be measurable to provide the necessary guarantees and transparency.
4. Avoid systemic bias in your company. Many biases can be ingrained in your teams and transmitted through the company culture. Avoid biased language in job descriptions, integrate recruiters from diverse backgrounds into your teams, and work to create an inclusive culture that supports diversity.
5. Train your recruiters in equitable recruiting techniques such as skills-based hiring which improves the quality of hires and avoids any cognitive bias.
6. Create a competency mapping for each key role in the company and stick to it, in order to establish exactly the type of talent you want to attract.
7. Use statistical methods for talent assessment and rely on technological solutions that guarantee a level playing field for all candidates.

At Smowltech, we help our clients create safe, fair and respectful remote monitoring and assessment environments with our proctoring plans.

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