Struggling to land that JOB or PROMOTION?
Unconscious versus Conscious Bias Theory: Why me or even moreso - Why not me?!
So many possible jobs, so many possible promotions, so many possible rejections: Maybe there’s something to this Unconscious versus Conscious Bias Theory?
Ok, so if you find yourself asking this question in the hope that it provides additional clarity to an otherwise freaking frustrating job or promotion hunting-time - then look no further. Let's take a walk on the unconscious versus conscious bias side!
When it comes to bias - here are my observations:
As Head of HR, over the years I had varied employees come into my office and say - hey, I’m really struggling to get to that ‘next’ level and ask whether I’d consider mentoring them.
While the motivations for each person differed greatly, the resounding “it’s just not fair,” I deserve x, y, z comments - for the most part, have far more similarities than one might suspect.
And…those similarities tend to stem from hiring, recruitment and promotional practice biases.
While some mentees proved amiable to trying some things differently, others struggled to make change. Those who struggled, did predominantly so, with who they identified as and how the business might be using that to make unfair (possibly even overly harsh) judgements about what that meant for them and their ability to perform at a higher level and well…in essence collect a pay packet that reflected this.
Things getting in the way of your promotion - let’s get specific… Bias Theory
In an attempt to spell out exactly what this struggle looks like, I’ll provide a specific example (name changed for privacy reasons) that played out in the real world - in the hope that it helps shed light on this notion of bias and what it might mean for you.
More specifically, bias in the working world and how it can hinder your efforts to get ahead.
One young gentleman, Paul, dressed in what I could best describe as surf-life meets corporate-office life, struggled to land promotions over and over again.
I came to learn that a colleague had advised him that he could trust me to keep things confidential and so he’d arrived at my door with two urgent requests:
- help him understand why he wasn’t landing any of the companies Executive roles; and
- a review and honest feedback on his resume with particular attention given to what key pieces his resume needed to include as he was going to start applying for jobs elsewhere.
Saddened by this but at the same time - glad that he felt safe coming to me - I began to mentor him.
In between resume reviews and assisted edits of his Cover Letter, we began the process of delving deep into what’s most commonly called: personal branding; the process of and taking responsibility for your identity and how you present yourself.
I guided him through, what branding in the workplace meant, why it mattered, what others thought and how the lacking attention he’d paid to this notion of ‘personal brand,’ had negatively impacted his ability to go further in his career.
Now to be clear - from the outset, Paul was already identified as a high achiever, held a management role within the business and was generally well regarded as the friendly approachable guy around the office.
Personal Brand - Let’s take a closer look
Here’s the deal though…
he’d been through a number of promotion panels all the while - kicking back, quite literally slouched in chair (I was present on 2 of these promotion panels), one of them - he wore thongs and the other he came in, still munching his way through a very flaky croissant (I don’t know why I feel the name to call it flaky…I mean as a food choice, what croissant isn’t flaky - anyway - you get my point). His responses although a little vague, often answered the questions. Yet - when lined up against other go-getters, he never really stood a chance.
After years working both as an HR practitioner and a Coaching Consultant on interview and promotion panels - I’d met my fair share of ‘Pauls.’ I knew what unconscious biases played a part in their demise. I observed years of them getting dismissed by others, as the less strong candidate for the set role at the end of the day.
** I’d just like to add in here that if you’re a Hiring Manager or Recruiter - AVOID/STOP providing this one liner response: “there were just stronger applicants on the day,” as apparent feedback - it’s not useful to candidates and if you’re the job hunter, go back - ask for more constructive feedback - YOU DESERVE that!
Ok, small rant over - now back to Paul…
Let's improve your chances of slaying Bias...
Mentoring Efforts - get someone you can trust!
In our first few mentoring sessions, he’d explained to me that he didn’t believe what he wore, how he sat or what language he used was in any way related to his ability to effectively take on a senior management role.
Yes and No.
Here’s the deal - it rarely matters. There’s no causation: man with crumbs all over shirt = less likely to do well in new senior role. Said no double-blind study ever. But - yes - said, almost all anecdotal stories of job rejection ever.
Yep - past the point of having minimum capability to do the role - it really doesn’t scientifically matter (as in there’s no measurable causation effect) in what you choose to wear. It has no actualised bearing on your likely success in the role.
While this is true, in the working world, when it comes to corporate gigs - it nearly always matters! Read that again, ALWAYS MATTERS!
Because - people care. People have bias. People apply this bias, more often than not unconsciously.
People (you and I included!) judge.
At a deep (often) unconscious level - we are judgy little McJudge faces!
People have both conscious:
- I bet that smelly, dirty looking person over there is homeless; and
unconscious bias:
- I’m not sure why and can’t say for certain, but just tend to feel less at ease talking with single Executive men who don’t have kids than middle aged women, who do.
We all have conscious and unconscious bias. Hell there’s even a plethora of literary works on bias, from that pertaining to Confirmation, Attribution, Conformity right through to Affinity bias and beyond. If you’re interested: the world of Psychology has you covered!
Back to helping out with Paul's resume, the same could be said. Bias plays a key part (and I’ve written some posts on this - but in summary, on average - you’ve got 7 seconds to prove your worth!)
Interestingly, while my mentee: Paul, understood that it would come across less professional if he hand wrote up his resume on dirty old paper and submitted it for jobs - he couldn’t understand why kicking back, being himself and stuffing down a croissant would hinder his chances to land his dream promotion (or externally get that new job).
…And this my friends is where unconscious bias comes into play.
It’s actually far less the case that interviewers are sitting around dissecting all the possible reasons why someone isn’t ‘fit for role,’ and far more the case that some candidates just tend to shine through more than others. Those shiny bright things - yeah - they tend to land the dream jobs, snag those promotions that should have been yours etc.
Coupling Theory
This reality isn’t a new phenomena. Coupling Theory - a term coined by Malcolm Gladwell - shows that when people are coupled with certain contexts (time, place or situation) they behave in very specific ways.
Think about the last time you got all done up for a fancy occasion. Maybe it was a wedding, a key birthday or speech - chances are you felt more formal and professional (even some may argue, more intelligent!)
…In this same way, a candidate who:
- dresses well for an interview
- arrives early
- greets the receptionist very nicely; and
- looks prepared with a folder that likely holds their pristine resume
Is more likely to have a recruiter or hiring manager favourably consider their responses to questions.
…
If on the other hand, a candidate is:
- dressed in a disheveled way
- runs late to an interview
- doesn’t apologise; and
- is abrupt to the recruiter upon greeting them
then it’s more likely that their (exact same) interview responses will be received in a negative manner.
What matters: Surprisingly at odds with intuitive job thinking…
And, if you find yourself thinking - yeah but this kinda makes intuitive sense, then take a moment to digest this shocking reality:
Harvard Business Review (HBR) reported that job applicants - on average - tell 2.19 lies per 15 minutes of an interview! So one hour interview = about 8 key lies!
That’s a lot of lies one (recruiter, hiring manager or promotion panel) must sift through.
Here’s the deal though…and it’s almost more disturbing…as humans, we’re kinda lazy and for the most part, bias (how we feel and what we believe we’re seeing or hearing) plays a larger part in determining your interview or promotion success than those little lies!
Crazy, right?!
By the time you’ve been shortlisted for a face to face interview - chances are you can do the job.
High chances are that those little biases like how one feels about the professional nature of your appearance (thongs or croissant flakes on shirt or not!) - will make or break your opportunity to land the role!
Mitigation of Risk to the business: The part you play
The very knowledge of these biases are a large part of the reason, panel interviews are so common for senior roles. As a risk mitigation step - it’s generally understood that big decisions shouldn’t lie in the minds (or biases) of one person, but rather a diverse group of people.
Roles like those Paul had applied for were very senior and as such came with both an implicit and explicit amount of increased decision making capacity. The more decision making power a role has, the greater the risk and thus threat to the business (if they make a bad hire). So while Paul (really) was a great fit for them, the business tended to at each deciding point go with more well spoken, professional appearing, conservative folks who somehow (unconscious bias) seemed to pose less risk to the business.
If the shit hit the fan the business felt that the other candidates would likely send out a calm and professional communication, while Paul - well they’d sooner imagine him downstairs freaking out, stuffing his face with a croissant, over a coffee, talking to everyone he could about what they thought should be done.
** I should add that after a 3 month mentorship - I proudly recommended Paul for the same strategic role he’d applied for (with lots of role play practice and a clean and ironed shirt!) he landed it - Go Paul!!!
So next time you find yourself thinking yeah - of course I’m going to bother ensuring that I have a really well presented resume that reads clearly and concisely….think about applying that same level of attention to what you wear on interview (whether it’s for a promotion or new role) day, how you sit in your chair, whether you arrive early and how warmly you greet your panel, recruiter or hiring manager.
Professional references decrease risk - yes, but you gotta get there, first!
And yes while there’s the whole - yeah but my referees will say how amazing I am - this assumes you get through the first stage! So, think about what your outfit, posture and response style might be saying about you.
Because yes, as humans we are that superficial. We can’t easily and moreso won’t get on the phone to your Mum, partner, unconditionally loving pet, to find out what kinda kid you were at school, owner you are or what altruistic acts you’ve been involved in - instead - we have the now, the unconscious and conscious bias around what we think your appearance says about you and your likely fit for the role, company culture and future success of the business - based on this!
When loads of small lies are, a given and knowledge around who you really are, remain unknown - don’t let a few croissant flakes, slouched postures or loose language get in the way of you landing what you know is rightfully yours!
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