The 3 Biggest Unconscious Biases in Hiring Decisions May Surprise You

By Shana Lebowitz

In an ideal world, an interviewer would evaluate job candidates based exclusively on their professional qualifications.

In reality, so many other factors come into play — like what part of the world the candidate is from or what their favorite sports teams are. For the most part, these biases are unconscious, so we aren't always aware that they could be influencing our choices.

We spoke with Madan Pillutla, Ph.D., a professor of organizational behavior at London Business School who studies trust and fairness in interpersonal interactions, about the three biggest unconscious biases in hiring decisions.