Retention is the Result Part 2 of 5

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Rethink Interviews to Make the Best Hire

I could tell as soon as a candidate walked in the door at our school in Texas whether they would be hired or not. It wasn’t because I have telepathic abilities and could read their minds to know if they have the right experience or skills. It wasn’t because I had secret, early access to their resume or cover letter during the interview process either.

No, unfortunately, it was way more basic than that.

It was all about how they dressed.

I knew that someone could get hired at my school if they were an alumni of the school, had attended Texas A&M, and wore Vineyard Vines. You had to look the part—both on paper and in person. And other than that, it didn’t matter how much someone could or couldn’t contribute to the health of our learning environment. I remember watching candidates with interesting ideas and novel perspectives and incredible experience interview for open positions, knowing that because they didn’t look the part, they would never get the job. It was incredibly frustrating for me.

At most districts, the biases and prejudices surrounding the interview process are not so extreme or obvious—but they still exist. 

Most of us pride ourselves on being able to read others, on being good judges of character. It’s hard not to trust the feeling we get in the pit of our stomach that someone will or will not be a good “culture fit” for our team.

The problem is that our intuition is not a reliable indicator of someone’s efficacy in the classroom or their future success in our district. Our intuition usually tells us to prefer someone who is just like us, whether or not we consciously realize it or not. This is how implicit bias works. 

At my previous school district, they suffered from the halo effect—a specific type of implicit bias in which the hiring team allows one overt, potentially superficial detail about a candidate (like the right “look,” right school background, etc.) cast a positive glow over everything about them and blind them to possible red flags.