Up Against A Man In The Interview Process? You Have Exactly Zero Chance Of Getting The Job

It’s a tough market out there if you’re job hunting, and according to a new study, that statement is even more true if you’re female.

According to research recently published in the Harvard Business Review, if a woman is up against a male candidate during the hiring process she has exactly zero chance of scoring the position.

The researchers from the University Of Colorado’s Leeds School Of Business asked 200 undergraduates to review the applications of equally-qualified candidates for a role.

When the candidates were eventually whittled down to four finalists, consisting of one woman and three men, the undergrads all chose to hire a man for the job, causing researchers to conclude that a woman’s chance of being hired was “statistically zero.”

The undergraduates were only more likely to consider hiring a woman when one more female was added to the mix.

Pretty horrifying, right?

Of the results, the researchers write “When two of the three finalists were women, participants tended to recommend hiring a woman.”

In other words, managers tend to steer away from hiring female candidates if the other job-seekers are predominately male.

“It highlights how different she is from the norm,” they explain. “And deviating from the norm can be risky for decision makers, as people tend to ostracize people who are different from the group.”

So what can you do to give yourself a competitive edge against your male counterparts? The researchers say the responsibility lies with the hiring managers, and not you.

“Managers need to know that working to get one woman or minority considered for a position might be futile, but if [they] can change the status quo of the finalist pool by including two women, then the women have a fighting chance,” they write.

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