I’ve been reading some interesting research which indicates that job candidates may be hired depending on the order in which they are interviewed, in the same way X Factor contestants who sing later in the show are less likely to be voted off.

This got me thinking about the maths behind the selection process, and how likely or otherwise it might be to corretly select a candidate who is a good fit for a role. I had to take a couple of headache pills to get to the end of the calculation but I found that even when using a very generous process success rate, the chances of making the right selection are just over 2 to 1 – against! Check the link for the maths and see for yourself. 
 

So if the formal interview seems to correlate so poorly (if at all) with future effectiveness, well maybe we’d be better off taking our chances with Simon Cowell et al after all? At the very least this leaves me wondering if we should be considering alternative ways of connecting the right people with the right job role…what do you think?