I recently had the opportunity to interview to hire a new employee for my organization in which a misunderstanding occurred. The interview was meant to find a suitable candidate to fill the assistant HR position. I arranged an interview with one female applicant who had two children and was a single parent. I made the appropriate introductions; I realized that the candidate was a Latino. She looked engaged and more alert than I had imagined. She calmly and attentively listened to me before responding.
I began with the analysis of the observable data focusing on her remarks, which according to me was self- apparent that she was a single parent with two children. I selected some details about her behavior in the manner in which she talked her glance directly at me and apparent confidence. Throughout the entire time, I proceeded to ask her of her competency and how she will handle work and family, although, inside I was a bit humiliated and somewhat resentful based on an idea that she was a mother. I went further to add some significant meanings to what I had observed based on my assumptions and perception, in relations to the cultures around me. I also swiftly moved up to supposition concerning her present state; that she was unfit and would wish the conversation to end because I did not see the qualities, I had expected to see from a potential candidate. I concluded that the female candidate, in general, was incompetent based on the fact that she was a mother. After some pauses, assimilating the data, and assessing the situation, I concluded that Latino Roman Catholic; often have many children who will affect the quality of her work.
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Working mother candidates are often not considered for most prioritized jobs because they are believed to be held by family issues, and they will end up spending most of their time talking to the family or attending to the needs of the family rather than committing to work. Most working mothers are believed to be incompetent because they often do not deliver as per the objectives and mission of the company. Most working mothers are held in between looking after their families and performing their assigned jobs. The mothers are concluded in thoughts to be strictly housewife, and the majority still have gone further to the generalization that the mothers will at sometime transfer the way they tend to work in the house to their job place. I had climbed the “Ladder of Inference,” rapidly concluding the data I had observed and my experiences and beliefs.
By the time I reached the peak of the ladder, I was already scheming against her as unfit for the HR assistant position and had already concluded that I would not pick her simply because she had children to look after. I have almost certainly leaped up the ladder of inference severally while selecting suitable candidates for particular job positions. The more I supposed that working mothers are unfit as job applicants, the more I reinforced my propensity to perceive her malicious behavior and how the same might affect the future of the organization. I might certainly have been bored stiff by her appearance and articulation, but I was eager to read her resume. I strongly thought that she was incompetent and shy. Regrettably, postulations and conclusion are predominantly not easy to assess, for example, suppose I wanted to figure out if she was incompetent, I could have focused the interview on her past achievement and ways she handled stress related to job and family.
I adopted those beliefs of the world to the data, selecting both Latino stereotype and an expectation of female subservience. Only when the interview was complete did I realize that I had mistakenly reached this conclusion. The female candidate had felt compelled to continue small talk throughout the interview and postpone the substantive job discussion to accommodate what she had perceived as the control on my part. I should have made my thinking process more visible to see potential differences within my perceptions and what we might have in common.
I should have adoprted and utilized the ladder of inference to evaluate the data, question my preconception, and ask vital questions of how she will manage her work and family and focus on her past achievements. Instead of inferring and assuming that working Latino mothers might not commit to the work, I would have used the ladder of inference to improve the overall interview experience, resulting in one far more efficient and effective informed decisions about the people to hire. I believe that if I had made my entire thinking processes clear to my colleagues through explaining to them my primary assumptions and conclusions related to working women. However, in a situation where I might be alone, I might be in a better position to take my time to critically examine all core steps in my journey up the ladder before deciding on the type of job applicant to have for the vacant position. Further, I should have used a deferential query to enable the candidate make up her thought process perceptible and utilize open and liberal questions and avoid all the questions that might have exhibited the significant aspect of bias. Currently, I completely understand the present situation related to working mothers and their competency and how to take the necessary actions to pick the right candidate.
