Every day, we make an astonishing 35,000 decisions. From small choices like what to eat for breakfast to major business moves, the mental toll adds up quickly.
But when it comes to hiring, that “one decision” to select the best candidate isn’t just a single choice – it’s hundreds of micro-decisions that can lead to overwhelming decision fatigue.
And if you’ve ever regretted a hire, you’re not alone. In fact, “85% of business leaders have suffered from decision distress – regretting, feeling guilty about, or questioning a decision they made in the past year.”
So, how do we avoid this hiring headache? The answer lies in embracing the concept that less is actually more.
Less Is Actually More
Psychologist Barry Schwartz, in his book The Paradox of Choice, emphasizes how “the culture of abundance robs us of satisfaction.” While it’s tempting to believe that more options mean a better hire, the reality is that too many choices lead to analysis paralysis. Hiring managers spend excessive energy overthinking rather than taking decisive action.
An excessive number of options can cause decision-makers to feel stuck, leading to delays, indecision, and missed opportunities. While more applications may seem like the answer to your problems, it really just creates a new issue: narrowing down a large candidate pool.
By limiting choices and streamlining your hiring process, you will reduce your decision fatigue and make a better choice. When hiring, pre-screening tools and clear criteria allow you to interview only the most qualified candidates. This helps hiring managers stay focused and satisfied with their decisions without the fear of missing out.
Stop Aiming for Perfection
“Whether it’s a $100 problem or a $10 million problem, you can avoid the trap of, ‘Have I found the perfect answer?’ through some pretty diligent planning.” – Chase Carpenter
The pursuit of a “perfect” choice leads to decision fatigue, causing unnecessary stress and delays. Business leaders have to accept that there’s rarely a perfect hire.
Instead, focus on finding the right fit candidates who align with your:
- Core Values
- Company Culture
- Vision for the Future
Once you shift your focus to finding the right fit, you’ll be able to move forward and make the right decision for your company.
Protect Your Mental Health
Decision fatigue reduces the quality of choices. In hiring, this can result in rushed, less thoughtful selections. Does this sound familiar:
- You want to make sure to hire the right person, but to do that you have to interview as many people as possible. But you’re busy and you don’t know how you can find the time to interview enough people.
- You want to make sure you hire the right person, so you pour over your notes for days or even weeks figuring out which option is just a little better. By the time you decide, they’ve already accepted another offer.
In each of these cases, the volume of options to consider means you’ll likely end up missing out on the right hire. Candidates aren’t sitting around waiting for weeks while you decide if they answered just a little better than their competition. They don’t care that you want to interview everyone that passed your phone screening before you decide. They need a new job and if your competition offers it to them first, they’ll jump at the opportunity.
You can minimize decision fatigue by reducing unnecessary choices and streamlining your interview process. Use knockout questions, scoring rubrics, and space out decisions to maintain focus and energy throughout the hiring process.
More Options Isn’t Better
A famous study by Iyengar and Lepper showed that more choices attract attention but reduce motivation to decide and satisfaction with the final choice. To conduct their study, they set up two tasting booths in a grocery store. One displayed six different jars of jam, while the other displayed 24 options. Customers were invited to taste as many flavors as they wanted. The larger display attracted more people initially, however only 3% of them decided to buy the jam they sampled. Alternatively, the smaller display had a 30% purchase rate. Additionally, these customers shared a higher level of satisfaction with their choices.
People with fewer options are more likely to make a decision and will be more satisfied with the choice they make. Although a larger applicant pool may seem appealing, the abundance of options will probably crush your motivation and lead to decision fatigue. Too many options, whether in jam or job candidates, creates a mental overload.
Cognitive science tells us that our working memory can only handle about seven options at a time. Beyond that, decision-makers become overwhelmed, confused, and less motivated to choose. This leads to decision fatigue and frustration.
To optimize your hiring outcome, narrow your selection pool by focusing on creating a smaller, high-quality group of candidates. Structured pre-screening methods and clear evaluation criteria will help maintain your focus and motivation while making sure you’re happy with your final selection.
Prevent Hiring Decision Fatigue
If you’re like a lot of people we meet, you’re still not fully bought in to this idea of “less is more.” We get it, what if the 34th person you interview is the perfect fit?!
In all seriousness, the more options you have the more likely you are to have regrets.
When under time pressure, decision-makers often speed up by limiting the amount of information they process. This leads to overlooking important details or red flags. It can also result in random, rushed, or even biased decisions.
With the risk of sounding like a broken record, we emphasize the importance of:
- Using a structured interview process that allows for realistic timeframes for each phase.
- Utilizing pre-screening tools to narrow down your candidate pool.
- Collaborating with your team to distribute the mental load and make sure decisions aren’t rushed.
More options might seem like a luxury, but in reality, they create a hidden tax on your mental energy, confidence, and satisfaction. By limiting the number of choices and embracing the concept that less is more, blue collar business leaders can make faster, smarter, and more satisfying hiring decisions. And isn’t that what building a strong, reliable team is all about?
If you’re not sure where to start with this, give our team a call. We’d love to help you get the right people in the right seats and become the employer of choice.
