First identified by American psychologist Edward Thorndike, the Halo Effect is an important psychological phenomenon that needs a good understanding if HR staff and Recruiters in China are not going to fall victim to it.

It describes a cognitive bias whereby a strong desirable trait in another person unduly influences our interpretation and perception of their other traits. It equally applies to strong undesirable traits and it is often seen in terms of ‘first impressions’.

For example, candidates who are handsome or pretty are thought by inexperienced interviewers to be smarter and more professional than they really are, simply because of their good looks. Tall people are thought to be more aggressive and commanding.

In the area of candidate assessment the dangers are obvious. If the candidate’s Resume shows a strong educational background, such as a PhD, the tendency is to infer that this person must be intellectual and clever, certainly more so than a previous candidate who only has a bachelors degree.

The inference of course would be wrong, and even if it turns out to be true in any particular case, the general tendency to make the mistake continues.

Smart interviewers are aware of the Halo Effect, even to the extent of choosing not to look at attractive candidates, for fear of being manipulated. In most cases this is not necessary but it is a good exercise to look down at your notes and completely ignore how the candidate looks. It’s amazing how the words they use to describe their work leap up from the page.

Funnily enough, a corollary to the halo effect is the devil effect, or horns effect, where individuals judged to have a single undesirable trait are subsequently judged to have many poor traits.

This has a really strong influence because it means a single weak point or negative trait can influence the interviewers perception of the totality of the person.

In terms of interviewing, if there is any hint of dishonesty with a candidate, the interviewer will tend to interpret all other neutral behaviors as indicators, and confirmations, of dishonesty. This is unfair to the candidate, and simply wrong.

The Halo Effect deceives us about candidates, but only if we let it.