I came across an article about the possibility of one day using brain scans in place of actual job interviews – or maybe even as a complement to the formal interview hiring process:
Brain scan replaces job interview in 5 years?
According to this particular article, the scans could help employers make better choices in executive-level recruiting for companies, like banks for instance. Scary technology or brilliant idea? If only we had done brain scans beforehand…maybe we could have prevented the massive financial debacle which was brought to us through warped thought processes of what one can only conclude must have been an epidemic of living brain donors – and apparently some living heart donors too. Scans would have caught this. (And just imagine the possibilities for folks running for office.)
But then again…since companies have to set the criteria in the first place for what they consider the ideal employee, wouldn’t they simply use scans and other science-based tools to replicate what they think is working for them and weed out folks who may in fact add value through their otherness? So much for saving us from the current or any future financial crisis.
Hiring is a Human Process
For me, the hiring process is first and foremost a human process. But in an attempt to demystify the admittedly difficult process by turning it into a “‘science”, more and more companies are relying on things like predictive assessment tools and behavioral interviews to help them find the right match for their companies – and hopefully avoid making mistakes.
My take on this? Tests can of course be useful when it comes to skills assessment, but the more you try to take the human factor out of the hiring process, the more you create an organization based on averages. Nothing great was every created by taking the so-called safe approach and sticking to the norm. If you can’t trust yourselves to hire people without a battery of tests (and FYI really wacky people still get past tests), maybe the real place to focus your efforts is on your own hiring policies and the need for some top-notch interview training. (Including keeping people informed along the way.)
Maybe Dr. Frankenstein would have liked this idea
While I don’t know how likely companies are to actually ever add brain scans or similar technology to their hiring process, to me even the vague promise of subjecting people to such measures to ascertain their corporate compatibility is a false promise – not to mention the potential health effects on interviewees going through multiple scans in an extended period of job search. Do we really need a newfangled “this is THE answer” predictive science to hire people? I know companies are always looking for a simple answer or the next best solution (and admittedly this idea is only being raised as a possibility), but at one time astrology was considered a modern predictive science. Hmmm…why not use that too? It’s probably as reliable.
Which brings to mind one of my favorite Shakespearean quotes from Julius Caesar: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves…” Maybe rather than looking to science or pseudo-science, we should look to ourselves and find our solutions there. In the end, I think the result will be a stronger, more diverse and therefore better organization on all levels.
What’s your take? Are you thinking of this as a potential boon to hiring or a complete bust?
And in ten years? During the scan, they’ll actually have your brain perform all the work functions the job requires and won’t have to hire anyone!
But you’re absolutely right—if companies keep incestuously hiring exactly the same kind of people, it will make them weaker over time, not stronger. Just look at the British monarchy.
Although not as extreme as brain scanning, here’s a hiring policy that really irks me: Some companies use online personality tests to screen candidates.
Recently a relative of mine (we’ll call her Sally) was sought out by a hiring manager to fill a particular job. Sally had worked for the manager previously at another place of employment, so he knew her qualifications and personality well. However, the corporate hiring process required Sally to take an online personality test, which resulted in a “grade” that, by corporate policy, did not allow Sally to even interview for the job — no matter what the manager said.
This sort of automated judgment resulted in three losses:
1. Sally didn’t get a job she would have liked.
2. The manager didn’t get the employee he wanted.
3. The corporation lost out in the low-risk investment of hiring a known job candidate.
OMG Ronnie. SO glad you wrote this – kind of an ALERT and wake up call. Maybe companies think people will do anything for a job these days. Maybe they’ll want our first born soon! I recently read that more companies are putting cameras in the rest rooms of their offices to monitor employee activities!
As for Susan’s comment – what is so frustrating about the uses of so many of these screening “tools” is many employers don’t even know what they are and how to use them. They throw them together in some stew and try to “quantify” a “new hire” (AKA a new person working for the company).
Ditto on all the points about the insane idea of brain scans (I’ll take the astro profile anyday!) but what are these companies going to do – hire neuroscientists to do neural mapping next?
Sadly, all of this madness keeps taking us further away from the human connection – the foundation of all business “success.”
Nice post Ronnie! This sounds so Orwellian, though, and much worse than companies that demand to look at applicants’ credit histories for positions that don’t involve oversight of finances.
Behavior is situational-specific. How you handle something when the event occurs may well be different from how you say you’d handle it when you answer a question on a personality test or from what some brain scan might indicate. No one can accurately pre-judge another’s behavior until they witness an event in which the behavior is on display. That’s why I like Susan’s point about the ineffectiveness of personality tests.
Bottom line: Both a hiring manager and new hire need to trust their gut instincts at the time of the job offer, Even then, they need to realize that the hire is at least a partial risk until both sides reach a comfort level.
Wow. I couldn’t agree with you more. Companies seem desperate to take the human element out of recruiting. And the more ways they create to do this, the less effective they seem to be. I just don’t get how they think an MRI scan is going to take the place of a job interview.
I can see lots of ways this could get twisted and bastardized. Can science safely determine the “emotional” markers that distinguish a psychopath from a very, creative “out of the box” thinker? I’ve worked with many artists in the course of my career…and I can tell you, sometimes there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference (ha ha…I am joking…really…no need to come hunt me down or anything guys).
Next thing we know, our diversity training has evolved as we learn how to be inclusive of psychopaths. Crazies have feelings, too.
Enjoyed this one!
Thankfully, the comments on the article you referred to also disagreed with instituting brain scans to screen applicants.
One person said, “…this technology is slightly better than palm-reading and no better than handwriting analysis.” Couldn’t agree more!
G-d, I hope it happens! It would save time trying to please the interveiwer. But I suppose it would allow a person to be biased about the results.
Hah! I hadn’t thought of it that way, Marsha Shirley. But yes…despite the initial relief, there could be a few sticky points. Then again…imagine one day maybe just a simple DNA blood test would be enough. That would help them eliminate so many people who might be a problem. Ahem.
Ronnie Ann, about how long before the “problem” finds its niche? No one talks about these things!
Hi again Marsha. Well…I was just kidding.
The “problem” they are trying to weed out is the very thing that might add depth and creativity to the work environment. I sure hope companies come to their senses and stop relying so much on these oversold gimmicks and focus instead on adding more human values.
~ Ronnie Ann
This is an awesome form of technology. If set up to check for it, the brain scan can see if one has a conscience. Imagine if Bernie Madoff or the people involved with the Enron scandal had been tested to see if they were capable of feeling love, gratefulness etc (psychopaths brains don’t process these things). There are many great videos out there that show you what this means. Adrian Raine, Dr. James Fallon both have videos on Youtube that explain this. BBC Horizon–Born Good or Evil, and I, Psychopath are both videos on Youtube that talk about it.
Psychopathy is not what you think. Most of us think of knife wielding child-killers, but this is only the extreme and rare end of the spectrum. The vast majority of them are everyday people that destroy our daily lives and sometimes, if allowed into key positions, entire companies. The Psychopath Test is one of the more recent books that deals with this.
You’d be lucky to work at a company that screened for this and if you belong to a company that wants employees that are capable of caring, you may want to consider this.