Groupthink When Hiring

Show notes

Show Notes:

What’s happening in the hiring market

  • Layoffs and hiring freezes are making the job market especially tough
  • Companies are overwhelmed by hundreds of applications, often amplified by AI tools
  • Hiring funnels are getting longer, with more interviews and more stakeholders involved

When “one last step” kills the offer

  • Candidates pass every formal interview—only to be rejected after a casual team lunch
  • Teams often aren’t briefed on what they’re supposed to evaluate
  • Groupthink kicks in when one negative comment cascades into a no-hire decision

Groupthink ≠ good hiring decisions

  • Letting everyone veto a candidate almost guarantees no one gets hired
  • Focus-group-style interviews create bias, not signal
  • “Culture fit” often masks stereotypes and personal preferences

A better way to design hiring

  • Define who you’re hiring before writing the job description
  • Set clear success metrics for the role
  • Assign each interviewer specific criteria to evaluate
  • Treat hiring like product discovery: intentional, structured, and evidence-based

Chemistry checks done right

  • It’s okay to assess collaboration—but only if you define what that actually means
  • Introversion, debate style, or lunch-table behavior are not performance indicators
  • Diverse teams outperform homogenous ones—even if not everyone “vibes”

Advice for candidates If a process feels broken, it’s often not about you You can ask how you’re being evaluated to gauge process maturity Many companies simply haven’t figured hiring out yet

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