In his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, author Bob Cialdini explains how the contrast principle can unfairly distort our perceptions of quality and value. By comparing a really good thing to something that is just okay, we tend to judge the latter as far worse than it is. It works the other way, too: when presented with a host of bad options, the best of the bunch – the lesser of all the evils – looks disproportionately attractive.
Cialdini gives us myriad examples: Realtors who show you a couple of dingy properties to make the target property look better, and retail salespeople who suggest a really expensive coat to get you to settle for the cheaper belt. The principle also turned a series of bad management decisions into the Watergate incident, if you can believe that.
It doesn’t stop there, however. The contrast principle is a natural and inextricable part of the traditional face-to-face interview.
Comparing the gregarious extravert with the soft-talking introvert
Janie is bright, exuberant, and chatty. The interview starts strongly. She strides proudly into your office, hand outstretched, smiling warmly. Her clothes are fashionable. Her resume is colourful and well-designed. You like her right away, as does everyone, because she’s a ray of sunshine. She probably plays the harp and makes her own muesli.
The interview goes well. Janie knows what to say, and because she is extraverted, she knows how to deftly circumvent tricky technical questions. There’s a slight concern in the back of your mind that she is not sufficiently experienced, but you figure that her outgoing, can-do attitude will more than make up for that (and you might be right).
Alice is your next appointment. She’s a lot quieter than Janie. She speaks a lot less, too. Her smile is genuine, and she is perfectly well spoken, but Alice is clearly nervous. Her manner is cautious, full of apprehension.
You notice that her resume is excellent. Ticks all the right boxes. She’s a veteran in the field. But there’s something amiss: She’s just not like Janie. As a result, you’re probably not going to call her back for a second interview.
This is one of the most common ways the contrast principle plays out: If the second candidate does not match the energy of the first, if her presence does not illicit the same rise in dopamine, then we are likely to favour the first candidate. Objectivity quickly goes out the window.
Here are some other examples of how the contrast principle affects hiring
- We are more likely to hire people who look, sound, or think like us. So, resultantly, we might rank a candidate higher than they deserve in comparison to others.
- We spend so long looking for a candidate to fill a role that we lower our standards over time, and give later candidates more leeway than we do earlier ones.
- Multiple candidate rejections may lead hiring managers to relent and accept a less-than-perfect candidate. This is an example of the contrast principle and the reciprocity rule working together (that is, multiple rejections make the hiring manager more likely to concede and accept a lesser decision, in order to appear more cooperative to those doing the talent hunting).
How to remove the contrast principle from your hiring process
There are many suggestions out there for mitigating or removing the contrast principle, but the truth is this: If humans do your face-to-face interviews, you cannot prevent the potential for contrast bias. Even conducting what’s called a ‘blind resume review’ will not help. Yes, you can assess resumes stripped of identifying characteristics, like race or gender, but you cannot account for the fact that the details themselves are easily doctored and falsified. Don’t forget that 78% of people lie.
The bottom line is this: You need a blind, non-human smart interviewer to do your first-round interviewing for you. It’s the only way to be free of biases, compromise hires, and the intractable likeability factor. We can help with that.
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Humanising hiring: the largest study of AI candidate experience ever
This is the state of hiring in 2025. Too often, candidates are ghosted, ignored, and reduced to a CV. Recruiters are forced to make decisions in data poverty, with scraps of information like grades, job titles, or where someone has worked before. Privilege gets rewarded; potential gets overlooked.
For the first time, we now have evidence that AI, when designed responsibly, brings humanity back to hiring.
The largest research study of its kind
Sapia.ai has released the Humanising Hiring report. The largest analysis ever conducted into candidate experience with AI interviews. The study draws on more than 1 million interviews and 11 million words of candidate feedback across 30+ countries.
Unlike surveys or anecdotal reviews, this research is grounded in what candidates themselves chose to share at one of the most stressful moments of their lives: applying for a job.
The findings are bold and unprecedented
- 9.05/10 average candidate satisfaction across all groups and industries
- 81.8% of candidates left written feedback — engagement at this scale has never been seen before in hiring research
- 8 in 10 candidates would recommend an employer just because of the interview
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30% more women apply when told AI will assess them, resulting in a 36% closure of the gender gap
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98% hiring equity for people with disabilities through a blind, untimed, mobile-first interview design
Candidate voices
Here’s what candidates themselves revealed:
“None of the other companies I’ve applied to do this sort of thing. It’s so unique and wonderful to give this sort of insight to people… whether we get the job or not, we can take away something very valuable out of the process.”
“That felt so personal, as if the person genuinely took the time to read my answers and send me a summary of myself… that was pretty amazing.”
Expert validation
“This study stands out as one of the most comprehensive examinations of candidate experience to date. Analysing over a million interviews and 11 million words of candidate feedback, the findings make clear that responsibly designed AI has the potential to fundamentally improve hiring — not just by increasing speed, but by advancing fairness, enhancing the human aspect, and leading to stronger job matches.”
— Kathi Enderes, SVP Research & Global Industry Analyst, The Josh Bersin Company
Proof that AI can be human
The research challenges the idea that AI dehumanises the hiring process. In fact, it proves the opposite: when thoughtfully designed, AI can restore dignity to candidates by giving them a real interview from the very first interaction, giving them space to share their story, and giving them timely feedback.
With Sapia.ai’s Chat Interview:
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Every candidate gets the same structured, role-relevant questions.
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Interviews are untimed, so candidates can answer at their own pace.
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Bias is monitored continuously under our FAIR™ framework.
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Every candidate receives personalised feedback.
This isn’t automation for the sake of speed. It’s intelligence that puts people first, and it works. Leading global brands, including Qantas, Joe & the Juice, BT Group, Holland & Barrett, and Woolworths, have all transformed their hiring outcomes while enhancing the candidate experience.
Why it matters now
Applicant volumes are exploding. Boards are demanding ROI on people decisions. And candidates expect fairness and agency. Sticking with the status quo — ghosting, inconsistent interviews, CV screening — comes at a real cost in brand equity, lost talent, and wasted time.
It’s time to move from data poverty to data richness, from broken processes to brilliant hiring.
Download the report
This is the first time candidate feedback on AI interviews has been analysed at such scale. The insights are clear: hiring can be brilliant.
👉 Download the Humanising Hiring report now to see the full findings.
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What’s More Ethical: Measuring Skills or Guessing Them?
Barb Hyman, CEO & Founder, Sapia.ai
Why skills data matters for HR and CHROs
Every CHRO I speak to wants clarity on skills:
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What skills do we have today?
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What skills do we need tomorrow?
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How do we close the gap?
The skills-based organisation has become HR’s holy grail. But not all skills data is created equal. The way you capture it has ethical consequences.
Two very different approaches to skills analysis
1. Skills inference from digital traces
Some vendors mine employees’ “digital exhaust” by scanning emails, CRM activity, project tickets and Slack messages to guess what skills someone has.
It is broad and fast, but fairness is a real concern.
2. Skills measurement through structured conversations
The alternative is to measure skills directly. Structured, science-backed conversations reveal behaviours, competencies and potential. This data is transparent, explainable and given with consent.
It takes longer to build, but it is grounded in reality.
The risks of skills inference HR leaders must confront
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Surveillance and trust: Do your people know their digital trails are being mined? What happens when they find out?
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Bias: Who writes more Slack updates, introverts or extroverts? Who logs more Jira tickets, engineers or managers? Behaviour is not the same as skills.
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Explainability: If an algorithm says, “You are good at negotiation” because you sent lots of emails, how can you validate that?
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Agency: If a system builds a skills profile without consent, do employees have control over their own career data?
A more human approach: skills measurement
Skills define careers. They shape mobility, pay and opportunity. That makes how you measure them an ethical choice as well as a technical one.
At Sapia.ai, we have shown that structured, untimed, conversational AI interviews restore dignity in hiring and skills measurement. Over 8 million interviews across 50+ languages prove that candidates prefer transparent and fair processes that let them share who they are, in their own words.
Skills measurement is about trust, fairness and people’s futures.
Questions every HR and CHRO should ask
When evaluating skills solutions, ask:
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Is this system measuring real skills, or only inferring them from proxies?
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Would I be comfortable if employees knew exactly how their skills profile was created?
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Does this process give people agency over their data, or take it away?
The real test of ethics in the skills-based organisation
The choice is between skills data that is guessed from digital traces and skills data that is earned through evidence, reflection and dialogue.
If you want trust in your people decisions, choose measurement over inference.
To see how candidates really feel about ethical skills measurement, check out our latest research report: Humanising Hiring, the largest scale analysis of candidate experience of AI interviews – ever.
FAQs
What is the most ethical way to measure skills?
The most ethical method is to use structured, science-backed conversations that assess behaviours, competencies and potential with consent and transparency.
Why is skills inference problematic?
Skills inference relies on digital traces such as emails or Slack activity, which can introduce bias, raise privacy concerns and reduce employee trust.
How does ethical AI help with skills measurement?
Ethical AI, such as structured conversational interviews, ensures fairness by using consistent data, removing demographic bias and giving every candidate or employee a voice.
What should HR leaders look for in a skills platform?
Look for transparency, explainability, inclusivity and evidence that the platform measures skills directly rather than guessing from digital behaviour.
How does Sapia.ai support ethical skills measurement?
Sapia.ai uses structured, untimed chat interviews in over 50 languages. Every candidate receives
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Mirrored diversity: why retail teams should look like their customers
Walk into any store this festive season and you’ll see it instantly. The lights, the displays, the products are all crafted to draw people in. Retailers spend millions on campaigns to bring customers through the door.
But the real moment of truth isn’t the emotional TV ad, or the shimmering window display. It’s the human standing behind the counter. That person is the brand.
The missing link in retail hiring
Most retailers know this, yet their hiring processes tell a different story. Candidates are often screened by rigid CV reviews or psychometric tests that force them into boxes. Neurodiverse candidates, career changers, and people from different cultural or educational backgrounds are often the ones who fall through the cracks.
And yet, these are the very people who may best understand your customers. If your store colleagues don’t reflect the diversity of the communities you serve, you create distance where there should be connection. You lose loyalty. You lose growth.
We call this gap the diversity mirror.
What mirrored diversity looks like
When retailers achieve mirrored diversity, their teams look like their customers:
- A grocery store team that reflects the cultural mix of its neighbourhood.
- A fashion store with colleagues who understand both style and accessibility.
- A beauty retailer whose teams reflect every skin tone, gender, and background that walks through the door.
Customers buy where they feel seen – making this a commercial imperative.
How to recruit seasonal employees with mirrored diversity
The challenge for HR leaders is that most hiring systems are biased by design. CVs privilege pedigree over potential. Multiple-choice tests reduce people to stereotypes. And rushed festive hiring campaigns only compound the problem.
That’s where Sapia.ai changes the equation: Every candidate is interviewed automatically, fairly, and in their own words.
- Bias is measured and monitored using Sapia.ai’s FAIR™ framework.
- Outcomes are validated at scale: 7+ million candidates, 52 countries, average candidate satisfaction 9.2/10.
- Diversity can be measured: with the Diversity Dashboard, you can track DEI capture rates, candidate engagement, and diversity hiring outcomes across every stage of the funnel.
With the right HR hiring tools, mirrored diversity becomes a data point you can track, prove, and deliver on. It’s no longer just a slogan.
Retail recruiting strategies in action: the David Jones example
David Jones, Australia’s premium department store, put this into practice:
- 40,000 festive applicants screened automatically
- 80% of final hires recommended by Sapia.ai
- Recruiters freed up 4,000 hours in screening time
- Candidate experience rated 9.1/10
The result? Store teams that belong with the brand and reflect the customers they serve.
Read the David Jones Case Study here 👇
Recruiting ideas for retail leaders this festive season
As you prepare for festive hiring in the UK and Europe, ask yourself:
- How much will you spend on marketing this Christmas?
- And how much will you invest in ensuring the colleagues who deliver that brand promise reflect the people you want in your stores?
Because when your colleagues mirror your customers, you achieve growth, and by design, you’ll achieve inclusion.
See how Sapia.ai can help you achieve mirrored diversity this festive season. Book a demo with our team here.
FAQs on retail recruitment and mirrored diversity
What is mirrored diversity in retail?
Mirrored diversity means that store teams reflect the diversity of their customer base, helping create stronger connections and loyalty.
Why is diversity important in seasonal retail hiring?
Seasonal employees often provide the first impression of a brand. Inclusive teams make customers feel seen, improving both experience and sales.
How can retailers improve their hiring strategies?
Adopting tools like AI structured interviews, bias monitoring, and data dashboards helps retailers hire fairly, reduce screening time, and build more diverse teams.