Choosing common sense over nonsense in hiring

Oprah Winfrey’s speech last month at the USA Democratic National Convention to endorse Kamala Harris was magnificence personified.    Her words were profound  of choosing common sense over nonsense and urgent not just for the American elections but for every human and situation.   

You can watch  Oprah’s full 15 minute address here   These 3 lines of her speech just cannot leave my heart, soul and mind:

Let’s choose optimism over cynicism

Let’s choose inclusion over retribution

Let’s choose common sense over nonsense

 

After many years of advocacy against the stupidity of stereotypes and ageism in recruitment and business across countless media articles I cannot think of a better mantra than ‘let’s choose common sense over nonsense’  

Just imagine if “Let’s choose common sense over nonsense” was a sign at the entrance to all businesses and governments.

 Imagine if it popped up on the computer screens of every hiring manager and recruiter?  Imagine if it was a key leadership training clarion call? 

What is common sense & nonsense?

But of course common sense and nonsense can be and is interpreted and experienced differently.  What one considers total nonsense another considers common sense and vice versa. 

It’s a bit like spicy food, some find a curry dish mild and benign, whilst another unbearably burning hot.

But in the land of the hiring ecosystem and business communications around biases and ism’s I think we can put some consistent parameters of what nonsense and common sense is.

The Britannica Dictionary defines common sense as:  ‘the ability to think and behave in a reasonable way and to make good decisions’

And nonsense as:  ‘words or ideas that are foolish or untrue’

Manifestations of nonsense bias & stereotypes

As you all know I’m a champion against ageism and loathe any blanket assumption.  And as an ex recruiter I know full well the biases and bullshite rejection pushback candidates receive (covertly & overtly).   

But stereotype biases are far greater than the standard DEI list focus of  sexism, racism, ageism, ableism, heterosexism/homophobia etc.

In the hiring ecosystem it runs also to lazy biases towards professions, occupations geography, education origins etc.  

There has been plenty of research of which I have reported on about trust and ethics rankings of industry and professions.  I listed a range of those report findings from Edelman here.

But the stereotypes that all people in a given profession are the same and have homogenous characteristics is also nonsense.   

A few years ago I identified how ‘Intra-public sector prejudice’ impacts professionals across the many levels of government and public office.  Have a read of my article in The Mandarin here on how to address.

I’m sure you have all heard/thought a few of the following blanket occupation stereotypes:

• Salespeople – Pushy, manipulative, outgoing, money-driven.
• Engineers – Nerdy, socially awkward, analytical, problem-solvers.
• Doctors – Arrogant, overworked, emotionally distant, wealthy\
• Scientists – Eccentric, absent-minded, obsessed with their work, socially awkward.
• Lawyers – Greedy, dishonest, argumentative, lacking interpersonal skills.
• Accountants – Boring, meticulous, conservative, risk-averse.
• IT /Software Developers – introverted, workaholic, awkward

SBS Interview 

I was recently interviewed by SBS News online for an article on people’s (positive & negative) experiences of relocating across Australia’s regions.    

This gave me the opportunity to share my personal  experience of geographical bias.   Read the full SBS article here.

Geographical discrimination and stereotypes is an insidious and little discussed issue that impacts how regional, rural and capital city people are received and perceived.

An article by global employment platform Oyster explains the definition as:

‘Geographical discrimination is a type of discrimination based on someone’s location or country of origin. Geographical discrimination can take many forms and oftentimes involves a candidate or employee being excluded, denied opportunities, or treated unfairly because of region or location-based factors.’

Just think of standard nonsense stereotypes and extraordinary rival between capital cities.  Add to regional and rural and the heat is red hot.  But like any stereotype and bias, sometimes it’s true, other times the polar opposite.  Hence it’s nonsense to make a judgement before critical thinking.

I’m sure you have all heard/thought a few of the following stereotypes of people from these locations:

• Sydney – Fast-paced, wealth and career driven, status-conscious, materialistic, superficial
• Melbourne – Pretentious, snobby, stuck up coffee-obsessed, sports-mad.
• Perth – Disconnected from others, isolated, remote mindset, beach lovers
• Hobart – Laid-back, nature-loving, old-fashioned, isolated.
• Canberra – Bureaucratic, boring, lacking creativity, well-educated.
• Gold Coast – Flashy, touristy, beach-loving, superficial.

Embedding common sense in hiring & business:

For the love of great champagne, coffee we need to bring more common sense into recruitment and business generally.  We must all call out the nonsense and encourage people towards common sense by:

1. Questioning our own biases and how we have been misjudged by a stereotype
2. Having an open heart and mind
3. Having a teachable spirit
4. Focussing on facts from reputable sources
5. Analysing evidence and experiences outside our echo chambers
6. Apply critical thinking
7. Assess people as individuals – do unto others as you would wish eh!

I often say (yes with a big laugh 😀 ) that all humans are dills.   Being dills has nothing to do with age, race, sexuality, gender, location, profession etc.  It’s about the individual. And every person is unique and deserves individual appraisals.