We have all walked out of interviews thinking this. The conversation felt easy, he had the right energy, and we connected on something - a shared interest, a confident smile, maybe even a joke about the weather.
Sometimes, that instinct works and we have a great fit but sometimes it is the opposite. We realise something was not quite right. The candidate we were so sure about is struggling. Expectations are not being met. And we are left wondering - what did we miss?
It turns out, our brain may have played a shortcut on us. It is called the Affect Heuristic. This is a concept from psychology which explains how we tend to make quick judgments based on how we feel about someone, not necessarily what they say or do. A confident tone, a friendly manner, or even something as simple as liking the same sport - these can subconsciously influence us to rate someone higher, even when their answers are weak.This is not just a theory. Paul Slovic and his team studied this in 2002. They found that in moments where we lack full information, or are short on time, our brain falls back on emotions to drive decisions. It is fast, automatic, and very human. In interviews, this can distort our judgment. We might overrate someone just because they are charming, underrate someone because they seem quiet or reserved or miss out on strong candidates because they did not “click” with us in the first few minutes. We may think we are being logical. But often, our mind has already made the decision in the first minute, and we spend the rest of the time justifying it. We tell ourselves we are being objective. But often, the decision is made in the first 60 seconds - and the rest of the time is spent justifying it.
To reduce this risk, many companies add multiple interview rounds. But more interviews mean more time, higher costs, and often, more people in the room who may not have enough stake in the final outcome. The problem of bias still remains.In today’s fast-moving world, where resumes are polished and interview prep is common, can we rely on our gut feeling? sainterview with its completely artificial intelligence enabled platform largely mitigates these risks.No smiles. No small talk. No biases. The result? Better decisions. Fairer hiring. And a real focus on merit. We all want to hire the best person. But for that, we need to protect our decisions from our own emotions. Maybe it is time to let technology like sainterview help us see clearly.However, one important reminder: while sainterview can assess skills, capabilities, and potential with great accuracy, the final step - the emotional connect between employer and employee - is still a human one. And no technology should ever replace that – the candidate and the interviewer should like each other for long term success.
