Employers often more interested in hiring potential playmates than the very best candidates

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-11/asa-eom112712.php

Public release date: 29-Nov-2012
Contact: Daniel Fowler
American Sociological Association

WASHINGTON, DC, November 27, 2012 — Employers are often more focused on hiring someone they would like to hang out with than they are on finding the person who can best do the job, suggests a study in the December issue of the American Sociological Review.

"Of course, employers are looking for people who have the baseline of skills to effectively do the job," said study author Lauren A. Rivera, an assistant professor of management and organizations and sociology at Northwestern University. "But, beyond that, employers really want people who they will bond with, who they will feel good around, who will be their friend and maybe even their romantic partner. As a result, employers don't necessarily hire the most skilled candidates."

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The study also found that the cultural similarities valued at elite professional service firms have important socioeconomic dimensions. "Evaluators are predominately white, Ivy League-educated, upper-middle or upper class men and women who tend to have more stereotypically masculine leisure pursuits and favor extracurricular activities associated with people of their background," Rivera said. "Given that less affluent students are more likely to believe that achievement in the classroom rather than on the field or in the concert hall matters most for future success and focus their energies accordingly, the types of cultural similarities valued in elite firms' hiring processes has the potential to create inequalities in access to elite jobs based on parental socioeconomic status."

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