Objects in your rear may be less important than they appear: How objects in candidates’ video interview backgrounds influence interviewers’ perceptions of fit and hiring recommendations.

Abstract

Interviews are widely used by hiring managers to inform their decisions; however, the interview evaluations have been found to be influenced by various factors, including the physical and professional appearance of the candidates. With the growing popularity of video interviews, my research examines how the appearance of video backgrounds, through the presence of personal objects, can influence interviewer judgements. It also adds to the personnel selection literature by testing a theory – the Prototype Match Model – to examine how appearances, more generally influence interviewer judgements. Using an experimental design that controls for the video background and involved 92 undergraduate and graduate students, I found no evidence that the presence of personal objects in the background elicit inferences of personality traits and influence interviewer evaluations. There was, however, some evidence to suggest that a prototype match process occurs in the interview, where the closer candidates match the interviewers’ vision of the ideal employee, the more positive their interview outcomes are.