Hiring

ngordon

What are the pitfalls of not hiring an applicant who is qualified but you just don't like or think you could work with? The applicant is not in any protected group. What documentation would be needed to back up your decision? Would it make any difference if the job were in the Public Sector?

Theresa Gegen TX

First, you need to realize that every person is in a protected category. EVeryone has a race and gender at a minimum. And a young white male can sue your company for discrimination if it hires a non-white person or a female who is less qualified. It certainly is not as common, and is harder for the white male to prove, but it does happen.

That being said, I don't think your company should hire a person that it doesn't think it can work with. But the key is to get to the root of the problem -- there is a reason why the company thinks it won't work out. What did the person do in the interview that put the interviewer off. Would he or she not make eye contact? Was he or she not well groomed or did he or she make unprofessional comments? Did the interviewee have poor communication skills? These are concrete reasons for not hiring someone. But just saying, "I didn't think we'd get along" is weak. It would be a disaster if, for example, you found out the interviewer "didn't think we'd get along because the person is so religious." So you need to get the decision makers to be more concrete now. That way if a decision maker's reasoning is tainted by an unlawful bias, you can relook the decision not to hire and make a correct decision.

Good Luck!