What is Contrast-Effect Bias and how to deal with it in Recruitment?

Recruitment bias is the act of entering one’s own prejudices and subjective assessment into hiring decision-making processes. Factors such as unconscious biases from prejudices, cultural beliefs, and personal likes or dislikes can nudge these biases. Therefore, recruitment may become ineffective in its fairness, which means missing good talents and lacking diverse representation within the organization. Contrast-effect bias is another type of bias that commonly influences the recruitment process. This bias arises when recruiters determine a candidate based on past candidates instead of the current one. So there it is the Contrast–Effect Bias. Let us delve deeper and see how to control it efficiently.

What is Contrast-Effect Bias?

Contrast-Effect Bias is a psychological departure that gets used to compare one item (job applicants in this case) with other similar items observed most recently (other applicants). This can lead interviewers to form impressions where they see a candidate as over or under-qualified due to the qualities of other candidates interviewed earlier.

How does it manifest in recruitment?

In recruitment, the Contrast-Effect Bias can lead interviewers to compare candidates unfairly based on who came before. For instance, interviewing a highly competent candidate may unfairly lower the perception of an average candidate’s competence. On the other hand, if an average candidate comes after another applicant, he or she might appear to be outstanding. Such a bias could cause irregularity in the hiring procedures and hence deny competent and potential workers a fair shot in a given company.

Contrast-Effect Bias in Various Stages of Hiring

STAGE	SCENARIO	CONTRAST EFFECT BIAS
Resume Screening	A candidate submits a highly impressive resume with extensive experience and qualifications. The next candidate has a solid resume but with fewer standout achievements.	The second candidate’s resume might be unfairly perceived as weaker because it is being directly compared to the more impressive resume that preceded it.
Phone Screening	The first candidate in a phone screening demonstrates exceptional communication skills and a deep understanding of the industry. The following candidate is knowledgeable but less articulate.	The recruiter may rate the second candidate lower due to their communication style, even though their knowledge and skills are adequate for the role.
Group Interviews	During a group interview, one candidate stands out with their leadership qualities and ability to dominate the discussion. Other candidates contribute valuable insights but are less assertive.	The recruiter may focus more on the dominant candidate, overlooking the contributions of other candidates who might have valuable perspectives and collaborative skills.
Cultural Fit Evaluation	An initial candidate aligns perfectly with the company’s culture and values, expressing enthusiasm and a strong cultural fit. Subsequent candidates are competent but show less obvious alignment with the company’s culture.	The recruiter might favor the first candidate and undervalue the cultural fit of later candidates, even if they could adapt well to the company’s environment.

By being aware of these biases at each stage, recruiters can implement strategies to ensure fairer and more objective evaluations, such as using standardized evaluation criteria and involving multiple assessors in the decision-making process.

Consequences of Hiring Decisions and Organizational Diversity:

• Inconsistent Hiring Decisions: Hiring decisions can become rather inconsistent because recruiters may make decisions through a relative comparison of applicants rather than an objective analysis of the available options.
• Missed Talent: Qualified candidates may be dropped because strong candidates tend to be followed by other good ones.
• Overvalued Candidates: Recruiters may overestimate promising candidates if these candidates follow poor employees, leading to poor performance outcomes despite receiving a high rating.
• Reduced Diversity: Bias can cause discrimination and segregation of workers because people’s habits tend to influence their decisions and actions in a workplace, prejudicing them against specific categories of people.
• Lowered Morale: A negative outlook toward fairness in hiring procedures makes a firm’s workers suffer from low morale as well as dissatisfaction.
• Impact on Business Performance: Interviewing and selection procedures that do not match appropriate employees to organizational needs lower the organization’s performance.
• Reputation Damage: Systematic unfairness in recruitment damages the company’s image, and thus, the right talent is not duly enticed to join the company.

Strategies to Mitigate Contrast-Effect Bias

1. Structured Interviews: Use a consistent set of questions for all candidates. Ensuring the evaluation of each candidate is based on the same criteria reduces subjective comparisons.

2. Blind Recruitment Techniques: Remove identifying information (e.g., names, gender, age) from resumes and applications. This shifts the focus of evaluation on skills and experience, minimizing biases based on personal characteristics.

3. Pre-Employment Assessments:

• Use standardized tests to evaluate candidates’ technical and interpersonal skills.
• Provides objective data to compare candidates, reducing reliance on subjective impressions.

4. Use of Technology and AI:

• Employ AI tools to screen resumes and rank candidates based on predefined criteria.
• AI can help identify the best candidates based on data, reducing human bias in initial screenings.

5. Multiple Interviewers:

•  Use panel interviews or multiple interviewers to assess each candidate.
• Reduces individual biases by incorporating diverse perspectives in the evaluation process.

6. Standardized Scoring Systems:

• Develop a scoring rubric to rate candidates on various competencies.
• Ensures consistent and objective assessment across all candidates.

7. Training for Interviewers:

• Provide Contrast-Effect Bias awareness and mitigation training for hiring managers and interviewers.
• Educates staff on the impact of biases and equips them with strategies to minimize them.

8. Sequential Evaluation:

• Evaluate candidates independently of each other rather than in direct succession.
• Prevents the influence of the performance of one candidate on the assessment of another.

9. Real-Time Feedback Moderation:

• Regularly review and adjust the evaluation process based on feedback and observed biases.
• Helps identify and correct patterns of bias in real time, improving the overall fairness of the process.

10. Diverse Hiring Teams:

• Assemble hiring teams with diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
• A diverse team is less likely to share the same biases, leading to more balanced decision-making.

Adopting Bias-Reducing Practices in Recruitment

Contrast-Effect Bias during the recruitment process not only distorts the likelihood of job applicants being selected fairly but also affects the productivity and diversification of an organization. Success in bias reduction is vital for search processes’ improvement and fairer outcomes. 

Several reasons exist for why adopting these practices benefits organizations and how they can be encouraged to integrate them into their hiring processes.

1. Enhancing Fairness and Objectivity: Organizations make use of structured interviews, standardized scoring, and pre-employment assessments, which means that no two candidates are judged the same way merely by an interviewer’s prejudice. Blind recruitment methods ensure that bias is eliminated regarding the individual employee, ensuring that everyone receives equal opportunities based on merit.

2. Improving Quality of Hires: The current use of technology and AI for preliminary assessments and skill tests yields a better candidate evaluation to develop a superior hiring decision. Multiple interviewers and diverse hiring teams lessen the likelihood of not getting the right talent due to the assessment’s comprehensiveness.

3. Fostering Diversity and Inclusion: Diversity management supports equality in the treatment of applicants, and the implementation of bias-reducing practices increases the odds of attracting diverse talented employees; this increases the levels of creativity and innovation within the firm.

4. Enhancing Company Reputation: Employers who are perceived to listen equally to job seekers prioritize everyone’s interests and attract top talent across the market. An organization that highly values diversity and fairness is often seen as more credible by customers and partners, thereby enhancing the organization’s image.

5. Legal and Ethical Compliance: Bias elimination assists in communication with minorities or displaced people and also minimizes the likelihood of legal action against the employee/employer.