Comments on: The Halo Effect: The Tall People Are Coming for You and Your Gut Feeling http://www.ere.net/2004/01/28/the-halo-effect-the-tall-people-are-coming-for-you-and-your-gut-feeling/ Recruiting intelligence. Recruiting community. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:51:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Beth Minter http://www.ere.net/2004/01/28/the-halo-effect-the-tall-people-are-coming-for-you-and-your-gut-feeling/#comment-3919 Beth Minter Mon, 02 Feb 2004 04:59:00 +0000 http://www.ere.net/2004/01/28/the-halo-effect-the-tall-people-are-coming-for-you-and-your-gut-feeling/#comment-3919 thanks for the feedback deborah! Ill send it to the manager who inspired the article! MBM<BR><BR>You can read the original article at: <BR>http://www.erexchange.com/a/d.asp?cid=0E41324354ED4A52AC271B40B99A36CA <BR><BR>Post your own Article Review<BR>http://www.erexchange.com/p/g.asp?d=M&cid=0E41324354ED4A52AC271B40B99A36CA <BR> thanks for the feedback deborah! Ill send it to the manager who inspired the article!

MBM

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]]> By: Deborah Hoffmann http://www.ere.net/2004/01/28/the-halo-effect-the-tall-people-are-coming-for-you-and-your-gut-feeling/#comment-3918 Deborah Hoffmann Fri, 30 Jan 2004 06:49:00 +0000 http://www.ere.net/2004/01/28/the-halo-effect-the-tall-people-are-coming-for-you-and-your-gut-feeling/#comment-3918 Love your style of writing! Good informative article. I have a very small company and have committed this sin more times than I can count! It always led to the most stressful periods of my life because I then had to 'undo' what I did and my mistake (and lack of skill) was going to cause someone else serious stress and pain. Thanks for the tips.<BR><BR>You can read the original article at: <BR>http://www.erexchange.com/a/d.asp?cid=0E41324354ED4A52AC271B40B99A36CA <BR><BR>Post your own Article Review<BR>http://www.erexchange.com/p/g.asp?d=M&cid=0E41324354ED4A52AC271B40B99A36CA <BR> Love your style of writing! Good informative article. I have a very small company and have committed this sin more times than I can count! It always led to the most stressful periods of my life because I then had to ‘undo’ what I did and my mistake (and lack of skill) was going to cause someone else serious stress and pain. Thanks for the tips.

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]]> By: Dr. Wendell Williams http://www.ere.net/2004/01/28/the-halo-effect-the-tall-people-are-coming-for-you-and-your-gut-feeling/#comment-3917 Dr. Wendell Williams Wed, 28 Jan 2004 02:01:00 +0000 http://www.ere.net/2004/01/28/the-halo-effect-the-tall-people-are-coming-for-you-and-your-gut-feeling/#comment-3917 Nice work, Beth. Halo is one of the genetic biases that haunt all human beings. Our brain teaches us how to shortcut desision-making without processing all that 'pesky' data. Halo is especially alive and well among the 'I-know-em-when-I-see-em' crowd. However, I would not want readers to assume that knowing professional questioning techniques is the be-all-and-end-all of interviewing. It does make interviewers sound much more professional than asking, 'If you were not a bird, what kind of turtle would you be and why?' But, we have to remember that interviews are just another form of test question --it makes no difference if you ask, 'Tell me about your most difficult problem. What was it? What did you do? What was the result?' than if you wrote the same words on a sheet of paper. It's a test! About a year after people learn BE, the good ones start asking. 'I gather complete BE's, but I don't know how to evaluate them'. This is the first sign of enlightenment (contrary to seeing a long tunnel with a bright light at the end, as some folks claim). The solution, Young Padua, is interviewers must first know what to look for (this comes from legitimate job analyses). Then, they have to know whether the answer meets job requirements (this comes from line managers). Unfortunatlly, this is where most BE interviewers crash and burn --they master questioning techniques, but not job domain or the target answers! (I guess one of of three is better than zero) I even worked for one large company that taught a very good BE program --their own HR people had the same problem! Hah! BTW: Simulations help reduce the evaluation problem somewhat. They control the situation, give the interviewer an opportunity to watch the behavior in real time and have a standardized evaluation form. The tighter control makes it more accurate (but less flexible). Incidentally, 'tell me how you would do XYZ' is NOT a simulation. A simulation requires demonstrating skills in real time. Keep up the good work! Our profession needs all the help it can get. <BR><BR>You can read the original article at: <BR>http://www.erexchange.com/a/d.asp?cid=0E41324354ED4A52AC271B40B99A36CA <BR><BR>Post your own Article Review<BR>http://www.erexchange.com/p/g.asp?d=M&cid=0E41324354ED4A52AC271B40B99A36CA <BR> Nice work, Beth. Halo is one of the genetic biases that haunt all human beings. Our brain teaches us how to shortcut desision-making without processing all that ‘pesky’ data. Halo is especially alive and well among the ‘I-know-em-when-I-see-em’ crowd.

However, I would not want readers to assume that knowing professional questioning techniques is the be-all-and-end-all of interviewing. It does make interviewers sound much more professional than asking, ‘If you were not a bird, what kind of turtle would you be and why?’

But, we have to remember that interviews are just another form of test question –it makes no difference if you ask, ‘Tell me about your most difficult problem. What was it? What did you do? What was the result?’ than if you wrote the same words on a sheet of paper. It’s a test!

About a year after people learn BE, the good ones start asking. ‘I gather complete BE’s, but I don’t know how to evaluate them’. This is the first sign of enlightenment (contrary to seeing a long tunnel with a bright light at the end, as some folks claim).

The solution, Young Padua, is interviewers must first know what to look for (this comes from legitimate job analyses). Then, they have to know whether the answer meets job requirements (this comes from line managers). Unfortunatlly, this is where most BE interviewers crash and burn –they master questioning techniques, but not job domain or the target answers! (I guess one of of three is better than zero)

I even worked for one large company that taught a very good BE program –their own HR people had the same problem! Hah!

BTW: Simulations help reduce the evaluation problem somewhat. They control the situation, give the interviewer an opportunity to watch the behavior in real time and have a standardized evaluation form. The tighter control makes it more accurate (but less flexible). Incidentally, ‘tell me how you would do XYZ’ is NOT a simulation. A simulation requires demonstrating skills in real time.

Keep up the good work! Our profession needs all the help it can get.

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]]> By: Steven Levy http://www.ere.net/2004/01/28/the-halo-effect-the-tall-people-are-coming-for-you-and-your-gut-feeling/#comment-3916 Steven Levy Wed, 28 Jan 2004 01:58:00 +0000 http://www.ere.net/2004/01/28/the-halo-effect-the-tall-people-are-coming-for-you-and-your-gut-feeling/#comment-3916 Keep hammering home the point...but the reason is more insidious than halo effects. As noted in other posts on this topic, read anything by Paul Meehl, especially his 1954 book on the Clinical/Statistical Problem. The biggest problems with purely cognitive interviewing (or as Martin Snyder writes, 'selection monomania') revolve around knowledge and belief systems: Thinking that one knows more about a topic than they do (ever challenge a technology recruiter who was never a scientist or an engineer about their ability to 'know' a great scientist or engineer when they see one?) and their belief that intuition works (sometimes I think we're working with a deeply seated oedipal-like complex here - rather than being in love with Mom, being in love with her intuitive ESP-like abilities). Here's a newsflash - behavioral interviewing alone is 'dangerous' in the hands of a novice (there's a reason 8 year olds aren't issued drivers licenses.) So what should one do? Recognize the problem - let your Mom go (not literally). Recruiters are human but their impact is very financial (try and compute, as Stephen Dowdell has, the cost of bad hires...or the cost of a bad date). Learn more about the real science behind selection and assessment rather than waving it off with your gut (no one is impugning your gut). Then figure out ways to augment behavioral approaches with cognitive techniques that are good for hiring the best. Just as it may take some time for commercial planes hosting hundreds of people to fly without pilots (yes, the technology is proven but humans still love the warm fuzzies of knowing that when they hear 'This is your Captain speaking' it really is their Captain flying the plane), it may take some time for recruiters to try new things. But convergent validity, as Martha might say, is a good thing. And you'll never be indicted for it.<BR><BR>You can read the original article at: <BR>http://www.erexchange.com/a/d.asp?cid=0E41324354ED4A52AC271B40B99A36CA <BR><BR>Post your own Article Review<BR>http://www.erexchange.com/p/g.asp?d=M&cid=0E41324354ED4A52AC271B40B99A36CA <BR> Keep hammering home the point…but the reason is more insidious than halo effects. As noted in other posts on this topic, read anything by Paul Meehl, especially his 1954 book on the Clinical/Statistical Problem.

The biggest problems with purely cognitive interviewing (or as Martin Snyder writes, ’selection monomania’) revolve around knowledge and belief systems: Thinking that one knows more about a topic than they do (ever challenge a technology recruiter who was never a scientist or an engineer about their ability to ‘know’ a great scientist or engineer when they see one?) and their belief that intuition works (sometimes I think we’re working with a deeply seated oedipal-like complex here - rather than being in love with Mom, being in love with her intuitive ESP-like abilities).

Here’s a newsflash - behavioral interviewing alone is ‘dangerous’ in the hands of a novice (there’s a reason 8 year olds aren’t issued drivers licenses.) So what should one do?

Recognize the problem - let your Mom go (not literally). Recruiters are human but their impact is very financial (try and compute, as Stephen Dowdell has, the cost of bad hires…or the cost of a bad date). Learn more about the real science behind selection and assessment rather than waving it off with your gut (no one is impugning your gut). Then figure out ways to augment behavioral approaches with cognitive techniques that are good for hiring the best.

Just as it may take some time for commercial planes hosting hundreds of people to fly without pilots (yes, the technology is proven but humans still love the warm fuzzies of knowing that when they hear ‘This is your Captain speaking’ it really is their Captain flying the plane), it may take some time for recruiters to try new things.

But convergent validity, as Martha might say, is a good thing. And you’ll never be indicted for it.

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