Job candidates with likable personalities are significantly more likely to receive offers than those with better qualifications, according to new research that challenges conventional hiring wisdom.
Analysis of more than 10,000 interview assessments revealed candidates who received job offers were 12 times more likely to be described as having a “great personality” than rejected applicants, research firm Textio reported Tuesday.
“For years we’ve seen how vague, personality-based feedback limits people’s growth once they’re hired. Now we know the same thing happens before they even get the job,” said Kieran Snyder, Chief Scientist Emeritus and Co-Founder at Textio.
The findings spotlight troubling patterns in how hiring managers document and evaluate candidates, with potential implications for workplace diversity and performance.
Gender disparities in evaluations
The study uncovered clear gender biases in how interviewers describe candidates. Women were 25 times more likely to be characterized as “bubbly” and 11 times more likely to be described as “pleasant” compared to men. Male candidates were 7.5 times more likely to be labeled “level-headed” and 7 times more likely to be described as “confident.”
These language differences could influence hiring decisions in ways that perpetuate workplace inequalities, researchers suggested.
Documentation inconsistencies
Interviewers wrote 39% more feedback when rejecting candidates compared to those receiving offers. They also documented 17% more feedback about women than men, though women were paradoxically more likely to have no feedback documented at all.
Most rejected candidates — 84% — received no feedback on their interview performance, the study found.
Structured interviews improve outcomes
Snyder emphasized that skills-based assessments remain the strongest predictor of hiring success, with research showing candidates hired through structured evaluations perform better and stay with organizations longer.
“Too many hiring teams rely on memory, gut instinct, or informal messages to capture what happened in an interview,” Snyder said. “Structured, skills-based interview assessments are a non-negotiable for any effective hiring process.”
The report also found that 81% of candidates believed they could predict whether they would receive an offer, with men and workers over 40 expressing more confidence in their predictions than women and younger workers.
Textio’s research analyzed 10,377 interview assessments covering more than 3,900 candidates across multiple industries.
