Q & A Table of Contents
Heuristic (?) Negotiation -- Trust Your Gut
From: Anna, Moscow, Russia
Question: In our company personal interviews are the most widely used mechanisms for selection of candidates for jobs. I noticed that representative and availability heuristics (heuristics are rules of thumb - wisdom gained by experience - through trial and error, which we tend to use in making our decision) sometimes negatively influenced our capacity to select the right people for jobs. What should we do to limit the negative influence of these heuristics?
Response: Frankly I think that it is often very wise to pay attention to one's 'gut reaction' in dealings with other people, in business and personal negotiations in general -- and in interviews.
When you are interviewing someone, you and/or your colleagues will have to work with the person who is chosen. If you pick someone who gives you a bad feeling, it may mean that working with her/him will be more difficult once they're on the job.
What you need to do is recognize the heuristic elements of your thought process and analyze each of those elements for its relevance to your interests -- in the interview or other negotiations. If you have a picture of an ideal candidate in your mind, it gives you benchmarks for measuring the people you interview and presents the opportunity to make a choice based on objective and subjective criteria that will yield the best (available) person for the job.
Good luck,
Steve
| 
