For its weekly Briefing, UNLEASH asked four HR analysts whether employers who screen out candidates for not knowing unwritten rules are selecting for capability or for the social conditioning that comes with privilege. The analysts largely agree that these filters measure familiarity rather than ability. Al Adamsen cautioned that snap “fit” judgments often reflect the screener’s own bias. Cheney Hamilton argued that unwritten rules expose an organization’s failure to define what the job requires, and warned that AI screening tools trained on past hires will bake those rules in at scale. David Forry said impressions matter in interviews, but tie-breakers should rest on evidence rather than etiquette.
Nicole Roberts, 3Sixty Insights
Roberts anchors her answer in the article’s recurring example of an interviewer who sees a candidate holding an iced coffee. Her central point is about meaning-making. If a candidate is on time, prepared, engaged and qualified, the interviewer’s doubts about their professionalism come from the meaning the interviewer assigned to the coffee, not from anything the candidate did. The coffee could just as easily reflect a morning routine or a wish to stay sharp, and none of those explanations says anything about job performance.
From there she draws three conclusions:
- Assess the real capability, not the proxy. Judgment, communication and audience awareness can legitimately matter, but they should be evaluated directly, not inferred from whether someone knows rules they were never given.
- “Common sense” is learned. What feels obvious to someone steeped in corporate culture is often learned behavior, and access to that learning is unevenly distributed. Treating neutral behaviors as evidence of professionalism means selecting for social conditioning.
- Examine standards, don’t abandon them. If an expectation matters, state it clearly. If it reflects a capability, assess it on purpose. Otherwise, don’t let unwritten preferences become hidden hiring criteria.
Continue reading the full article on Unleash: Ask the Analyst – Are unwritten hiring rules selecting for capability or privilege-based social conditioning?