The Mandela Effect & Imperfect Interviews

I swear it was different

The Mandela Effect: a type of false memory that occurs when many different people incorrectly remember the same thing.

In the 1980s, a lot of people thought that Nelson Mandela died in prison. (He lived until 2013.)

Darth Vader never said “Luke, I am your father.” Mr. Monopoly never wore a monocle. The comedian Sinbad never starred in a movie called Shazaam. And it’s the Berenstain Bears, not the Berenstein Bears.

So when Jeff Smith and I were prepping for our last 10 Minute Talent Rant (ep 78 “Interview Feedback Is Dead”) I worried I fell into the same trap.

OG recruiters: we used to take rejection feedback back to candidates, address it, and sometimes have the hiring managers reconsider, right? That was a thing?

I swear that was real. But maybe I’ve been Mandela’d.

Doesn’t matter. Fear of litigation continues to drive meaningful feedback out of the interview process. All while forgetting a critical thing:

👉Interviews are an imperfect process.

If you’re reading this, you (or your company) made a bad hire at some point. Or worse, incorrectly passed on an A+ hire.

Humans are notoriously bad at evaluating risk. Companies are even worse.

Case in point: how many times has your company been sued by a job seeker? (For most of you, never.)

Compare that with how many hiring misses you’ve made. And the financial and productivity impact of those.

Maybe talking it out is a “safer” play. Just a thought.

Vader said “No, I am your father” by the way.

Full episode of The 10 Minute Talent Rant, ep 78 “Interview Feedback Is Dead” here.

James Hornick

Partner at Hirewell. #3 Ranked Sarcastic Commenter on LinkedIn.