Is Stereotyping a Useful Tool in the Hiring Process?

From:                        Zoey (Dung) Nguyen

To:                        Professor Detroit

Date:                        February 5th, 2018

Topic:  Is stereotyping a useful tool in the hiring process?   

Stereotyping is Disadvantageous in Hiring Process

Stereotyping is a common practice in daily basis and in the workplace environment. Most people assume that those snap judgments based on visible characteristics could help them as a guidance to interact with people more effectively. Especially in the workplace environment, a hiring manager tend to let their stereotype influence their perception of an interviewee and their talents, strengths, weakness. This practice is not only hurtful but also can potentially harm the company’s human resources in the future.

Stereotype is a widespread belief or thoughts of a specific type of characteristic of an individual or group to represent the entire group of those individuals or behaviors as a whole. This can relate to any group including cultures, demographics, or sexual orientation. In many cases, stereotyping is hurtful and considered as unethical behavior. It brings out negative emotions that discourage them to succeed and lose confidence.

Stereotyping could lead to neglect talents. Stereotyping is a personal assumption that are not accurate. In the process of hiring an individual, their background and experience should be considered as it helps to determine whether the individual is a good fit to the culture of the company; or if the individual will contribute a useful source. However, this information should be shared from the individual, not assumed based on how they look, dress or what group they belong to. A common stereotype is “Asian cannot drive”. If a hiring manager of Uber uses this perception to not hire an Asian as their driver, it is a wrongdoing. In fact, according to Washington City Paper, in 2014, the rate of facilities cause by Asian is only 4 out of 100,000 incidents. While for white, Hispanic and African is approximately 12 each, three times more than the Asian population (Adams). Therefore, based on this number, the stereotype is inaccurate and the hiring manager could have lost a skilled, responsible driver.

Furthermore, stereotyping could lead to hire a disqualified person because the perception of the group they belong to are good at a specific job. Male tend to be biased with the leadership role. As the trait requires analytical and logical thinking which are considered more masculine attribute. In a study focusing on academic hiring and promotion, both male and female professor prefer hiring a male applicant with an identical academic record. However, according to the study, the applicant who hold cognitive characteristics, such as being analytical and competitive, and other qualifications can be qualified for the leadership role regardless of their gender.