Five Hiring Practices That Need to Go The Way of the Dinosaurs

I was scrolling social media this weekend, and this article from The Mirror popped up in my feed. The TLDR version is this: a manager at an Accounting Software company takes all prospective hires to the kitchen area of their office and insists that they take a drink back in a cup. At the end of the job interview, any candidate that does not offer to bring the cup back and clean it is blacklisted by the company.

Casting aside for a moment that this practice is absolutely insane, etiquette tests like this also raise an issue of bias. While not offering to clean the dishes might be rude by the standards of this manager, many other people might have been raised to believe that dishes are a host's responsibility, even if the guest is interviewing to work with the organization. This practice is an extreme version of a trend I've seen at several organizations: which is to administer some sort of vague Personality Assessment to evaluate culture fit.

This got me thinking about how much hiring has changed since I first started in the workforce, and especially since the pandemic. While largely I think practices have changed for the better, there are a number of antiquated hiring practices that haven't gone away yet. Here are five that really need to go extinct (in no particular order):

Personality Assessments for Culture Fit

Since I started on this topic, here is my major issue with personality assessments. While I generally agree the personality and culture fit is important, using an arbitrary set of criteria to evaluate this doesn't tell the whole story. A growing body of evidence is suggesting that these assessments are heavily influenced by cultural bias. People of different cultures often score differently on these assessments. Additionally, qualified candidates who are not neurotypical may struggle with these assessments as well. This can lead to discriminatory hiring practices.

Instead of using fixed criteria to assess culture fit, why not use the slightly less scientific approach of "your best judgment?" Difficult as it might be to evaluate somebody's personality in a 1-hour interview, it is just as accurate of an approach as the coffee cup test.

Not Sharing Salary Ranges

Salary transparency was the big topic of 2022. Partially driven by regulatory changes in several states, partially by the activism of the brilliant Hannah Williams at Salary Transparent Street, and partially by salary data becoming publicly available on websites like Glassdoor: many more companies are publicly sharing salary ranges on their job postings. Kforce, for example, now shares the salary ranges on every single job posting we put out.

With that said, there are still some hold-outs who refuse to share salary ranges. Proponents of withholding salary ranges claim it gives the hiring organization more negotiating power. Here's the issue: that's entire reason pay transparency is a good thing. When candidates don't know what companies are willing to pay for their labor, they lose negotiating power, which helps perpetuate wage gaps and discrimination. Disclosing salary ranges upfront prevents both companies and candidates from wasting their time and ensures both parties agree upfront on the salary requirements.

Lengthy Online Application Process

If your web applications request the exact same information that is included on a candidate's resume, it is not a productive use of their time. Especially since half the time, they don't even hear back on their applications. Complex application processes discourage candidates from applying when other prospective employers simply ask them to upload their resumes and fill in the blanks.

4+ Rounds to Interview for the Same Position

In the current job market, a lengthy interview process is a sure way to guarantee your role won't get filled. By the time the candidate gets to the end of it they have three competing offers! If you do need multiple people to meet the candidate, either schedule a panel interview or schedule them back-to-back on the same day.

Requiring Cover Letters

When I was early in my career, I used to write extremely detailed cover letters for every position I applied to. I didn't follow templates, I would write customized letters for each company that referenced their programs and how I would be a great fit. I would fill out the lengthy online application, attach my resume and cover letter, and hit the send button. Half the time I didn't hear back at all, and when I did land an interview my cover letter was never brought up once.

During my two years in Recruiting, I have had multiple hiring firms require cover letters from job candidates. With that said, I have never once had a hiring manager ever ask me (or the candidate) a question about the cover letter when provided. And when the candidate is given the option, I have never once heard a manager say that a cover letter (or lack thereof) influenced their hiring decision one way or another. Here's the kicker, a recent survey found that 55% of managers don't even read the cover letters!

Are there any other hiring managers that you think need to go? Please comment below!