November 21, 2007
William Becker

Hiring strategies vary from company to company.  Still, most employers use some form of objective criteria to separate the desirable job applicants from the undesirable ones.  However, despite the conventional emphasis on objective criteria, there appears to be a new trend among employers who hire employees based on how well they will get along with the current workforce.

Consider the following article from the Louisville Courier-Journal, on Monday, November 19, 2007:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071119/BUSINESS/711190379/1003

The employers in this article tout the benefits of hiring workers based on personality.  Employers who utilize this approach need to be aware, however, of the potential legal pitfalls in adopting such a practice.  Emphasizing subjectivity in hiring decisions may leave an employer open to claims of discrimination.  The article notes that people tend to “get along with” people who look and act like themselves, so hiring decisions based on the ability to fit in may tend to limit the diversity of a workforce.  Moreover, it is difficult to defend a claim of discrimination by stating that the rejected applicant “just didn’t feel like our kind of employee.”

It is perfectly legal to hire or not hire someone based on personality, so long as the decision is not tied to illegal discrimination.  However, when an employer hires based on personality, it can be difficult to prove that the decision was not tied to illegal discrimination.  Therefore, employers who emphasize subjective hiring criteria need to take steps to minimize the legal risks inherent in such a strategy.