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Comment by Kluny | Hacker News Reader

I've never done hiring, but I've chosen roommates, and I feel like it's the same. You make a checklist of stuff you're looking for and red flags, do a reference check or whatever, but ultimately, the decision always comes down to some gut impulse. My gut has always been right so far, but I guess the day it burns me is the day I start trying to find some optimal solution to protect myself from letting an asshole move in.

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The problem with using gut instincts for these kinds of decisions is that it introduces bias and discrimination. For a roommate that might be positive as it will bias towards people that are similar to you, but for companies it's too easy to end up making rooms full of middle class white dudes.

Exactly. While it isn't ideal for your personal development as a human being to always hang out and live with people who confirm your unconscious biases, at least there it's somewhat understandable and isn't the end of the world. But allowing your unconscious biases to influence hiring decisions is disastrous for diversity.

Anecdotally, most if not all of the times I’ve been burned has been when I ignored my gut feeling.

I have the same anecdote :) the interview all checked out, everybody gave a thumb up, but my guts were telling me "it's not gonna work". I forced myself to ignore it, put it on the account of unfair bias or something and hired the candidates. After 6 to 8 months they were gone after a disastrous tenure.

It actually shook me a little after the 2nd time, because I thought I was doing the right thing not dismissing people just because of gut feeling.

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