On the potential pitfalls in the interview process:
In 2009, sociologists at Harvard sent volunteers to apply for actual jobs, armed with identical résumés and similar interview training. They found that white applicants with a criminal record were offered jobs at the same rate as black applicants with no criminal record. Researchers at Bowling Green State University in Ohio followed the progress of applicants to postgraduate schools, and found that when face-to-face interviews were conducted, thinner candidates were systematically favoured over fatter ones. At Rice University in Houston, researchers found that candidates who had a facial blemish, like a scar on the cheek, were rated more negatively than those who didn’t.
