Dive Brief:

• According to a study conducted by professors from three U.S. universities, the order in which candidates appear in an interview can have a significant impact on hiring decisions.

• The research, by  Human Resources Online, found that recruiters pay the most attention to the fourth candidate they interview.

• Researchers also discovered that the first candidate of an interview has around five minutes to impress an interviewer. That time slowly increases to eight minutes when it comes to the fourth candidate. Frm then on, the time decreases with each additional interviewee.

Dive Insight:

The researchers think this happens due to the increase in the amount of information recruiters have to process, causing the interviewer to take mental shortcuts after the fourth candidate.

In their work, the researchers added that interviewers’ approach to decision-making may change across applicants. For example, some interviewers may take longer to evaluate applicants at the beginning of their interview schedule and take less time to evaluate applicants near the end of their schedule.

So what should employers do to reduce or even eliminate that time bias exhibited by recruiters (both in-house and outsourced)? The report advised that employers use the simple strategy of limiting the number of interviews an interviewer conducts in immediate succession.

“Scheduling breaks between interviews may reduce the extent to which interviewers rely on cognitive schema for reducing the demands of applicant evaluation,” the report said.