One of the worst mistakes you can make when hiring is to employ somebody who’s just like you. Subconsciously, it’s an easy mistake for every employer – you’re keen to hire, you interview a candidate with the same drive and determination as yourself, the same humour, the same attitude – and suddenly you’ve hired your double without even realising it. This is a common trait amongst employers, and it’s actually quite natural to do so.
According to this Qureos article, in the UK, a notable number of hiring managers consider the chemistry they feel with a candidate during the interview process. Research indicates that this intangible aspect plays a significant role in hiring decisions. For instance, 32% of employers admit that a bad hire often results from taking a chance on someone they liked during the interview, even if they were not the most qualified. So why do we do it? One of the main reasons is an unconscious bias towards those who are similar to you, be it personality, educational background, gender or ethnicity. Most employers tend to seek similarities in the candidate they are hiring and when they do find a small commonality – it tends to be exaggerated and can ultimately put these candidates into the wrong positions or lead to an increase in employee turnover when things don’t work out as planned.
So why is it a bad thing? While you obviously want to hire someone who will work well with the rest of the team, you also need to ensure you achieve diversity and hire a fresh mind that is capable of thinking differently to your existing team. Throughout this blog, we explore the reasons against hiring someone that is just like you.
Why you should hire someone different to you:
It adds strengths to your team and means you hire the best individual
Having a diverse team often contributes to a high-functioning workplace where all employees feel valued for their individual expertise and talent. Different people with different experiences and backgrounds strengthens the output from your team. By being distracted by what you have in common with someone, you can end up not hiring the best person for the job.
It creates a balance of personalities that means you prioritise the right areas
A combination of different personality types can create a stronger, more balanced workplace. A company that’s filled with too many of the same personality type may focus on certain tasks but overlook other tasks that are equally as important. Working with different people who have a mix of personalities helps to compensate for individual strengths and weaknesses. It’s also key to remember the two archetypes of personality – creative and analytical, and how necessary it is to have both of these in the workplace. Creative minds allow employees to find new ways of doing and finding business and marketing, and analytical minds are the critical thinkers necessary for any business – ideally, you want both of these in one team.
Working with different people who have a mix of personalities helps to compensate for individual strengths and weaknesses.
It creates a diversified workforce with diverse decision-making
When different personalities and characters are together, there is statistically a much higher likelihood that they will bring a different perspective to solve any problems and ultimately, working with different types of people means there are more ways to solve any issues. You have access to a wider range of talent, and not just talent belonging to a particular gender, ethnicity, or background, it ensures a lack of restriction and ultimately helps your organisation to become more successful and profitable.
How to avoid unconscious bias impacting your hiring:
Conduct personality questionnaires
A lot of companies now use personality questionnaires to help diversify their organisation. Asking your employees to take a personality quiz can help you distinguish their personality type as well as provide more of an objective insight into their strengths and weaknesses. Using this information, you can understand more about why your team members behave the way they do and help managers to work well with different personalities.
Create an accepting culture and strong set of values
Improving personality diversity might result in a major refurb of your company culture, especially if you’ve been hiring similar people for a long time. It’s important to remember that there is no such thing as a “stereotypical team member”. Instead, your organisation must build a culture where diversity of personality, perspective, background and experience is respected. Having strong company values means you can hire people who will deliver what you need without mirroring each other’s personality.
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