A first impression is, in fact… a first impression. Sometimes it’s well-founded, and sometimes it’s false.
“When I saw him, I knew right away he wasn’t a strong applicant, so I decided not to hire him. I always trust my first impression. It has never failed me.” Sorry to contradict you, Charlie, but you’re probably making a big mistake: your first impression is, in fact… a first impression. Sometimes it’s well-founded, and sometimes it’s false.
As human beings, we all have that unfortunate reflex to get a quick impression. In fact, several specialists estimate that we take about 30 seconds to form an opinion of someone. The most generous say three or four minutes at the most. I’m sure you’ll agree with me that that is not much time to judge a person’s worth, skills, aptitudes, integrity and honesty.
Of course, sometimes we hit the target. Our past experience has shown us many times that our little inside voice or intuition was too far ahead of the game when it convinced us not to trust the person before us. However, as human beings, we tend to forget the times we were wrong. In that regard, we all seem to suffer from a somewhat selective memory from time to time. Furthermore, [the idea that our first impression can’t be false] is influenced by several factors: past experience (problems encountered with an employee who had a pierced nose), prejudice (Black people are all lazy, women are difficult to manage, etc.), values (preferring country people over city people) and other factors that have nothing to do with individuals as such. It’s enough for the new person to look like your brother-in-law (whom you detest) for you to unconsciously and automatically eliminate him from your list of potential employees.
Furthermore, this phenomenon in interviews is very well-known. When you meet an applicant who seems nonchalant, is chewing gum and wearing jeans with holes in them, you tell yourself that here’s another lazy person who is going to come to work late and probably steal from you. On the other hand, if he dresses well and is someone’s son, he just about has the job already.
And what if you’re wrong, and first impressions are not always accurate? Although I haven’t been in contact with the Enron bosses, Conrad Black or Vincent Lacroix, it’s easy for me to imagine that they were always well-dressed, presented themselves in a polished manner, wore very expensive cologne and were neat, clean and articulate. They were also certainly very good at creating a good first impression. Is that a sign of honesty and integrity and a good indicator of the right people for your organization?
You surely have known some well-educated, elegantly-dressed smooth talkers with good manners who were, in fact, the worst crooks, ready to sell their mothers to make a little money.
The problem, danger even, of the first impression is that, afterwards, the individual who made it tries to validate it and will only retain the information that agrees with that impression, rejecting any information that contradicts it.
In short, it’s not necessary to reject our first impressions but rather to recognize that we humans can be trapped by our own filters. Therefore, we may miss good opportunities to get to know people, or we may end up in a fine mess thanks to our “intuition.”
So, the next time you believe you’re “sure” about somebody 30 seconds into an interview, ask yourself what the consequences will be if you’re wrong.
Pierrette Desrosiers,
Work Psychologist, professionnal speaker, author and business coach
