Advice to job seekers: drop the Merlot

[Ban Hammer 12,836]

DETROIT (Reuters) – Job applicants who drink alcohol are perceived as less intelligent and less hireable by American bosses, a bias dubbed the "imbibing idiot bias" in a study published on Monday.

In a series of six related experiments, researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania found that an association with alcohol caused observers to "expect cognitive impairment" in a job seeker.

"Merely holding an alcoholic beverage may reduce the perceived intelligence of the person," Scott Rick and Maurice Schweitzer wrote.

Their study was presented to the Academy of Management, an annual meeting of business and management researchers.

In one of their experiments, the researchers asked 610 middle managers at U.S. companies to evaluate a video recording of a dramatized interview over dinner between a pair of actors playing a manager and a prospective hire.

The script for the questions and answers was the same in all cases. In some of the mock interviews, the manager ordered "Coke" or "the house Merlot." The job seeker also ordered either the soft drink or the wine.

Regardless of what the manager ordered, job seekers were seen as less worthy of being hired and less "intelligent, scholarly and intellectual" when they ordered the Merlot.

Job seekers who ordered wine after the manager ordered a Coke were "especially punished" with low ratings for perceived intelligence, the study said.

Rick, a professor of marketing at the University of Michigan, said he had just completed a round of interviews for academic jobs when he and Schweitzer began brainstorming about ways to test how drinking affects the way Americans are seen.

Some of his own recent interviews, Rick said, included social settings where he and those evaluating him had a drink.

"I chose alcohol often and there were a lot of interviews with jobs that I didn't get," said Rick. "Now I wonder about that choice."

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[^_^ 5,021]

I thought it's common knowledge, if you're interviewing over a meal you never order alcohol.

[Ban Hammer 12,836]

I thought it's common knowledge, if you're interviewing over a meal you never order alcohol.

apparently not that common.

[^_^ 5,021]

Well, if the number of articles I still see on job boards telling people to proofread their resumes for spelling and grammar is any indication, perhaps there is no such as common knowledge anymore.

Edited August 13, 2010 by Legacy member

[Ban Hammer 12,836]

Well, if the number of articles I still see on job boards telling people to proofread their resumes for spelling and grammar is any indication, perhaps there is no such as common knowledge anymore.

i gave up on the common knowledge theory when i saw some advice about not picking your nose during an interview.

[^_^ 5,021]

i gave up on the common knowledge theory when i saw some advice about not picking your nose during an interview.

And don't give the interviewer a wedgie either, no man.

[Peikko 1,575]

Common sense has left the building.

[chri'stina 190]

And don't give the interviewer a wedgie either, no man.

oh? Now I realize why I didn't get the job I interviewed for once.

[Gemmie 142]

This applies in America, but in the UK alcohol-related rules are very different.

[^_^ 5,021]

This applies in America, but in the UK alcohol-related rules are very different.

How about wedgies, how do y'all feel about wedgies?

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

I thought it's common knowledge, if you're interviewing over a meal you never order alcohol.

I guess shots are out of the question.

[Jenn! 918]

I thought it's common knowledge, if you're interviewing over a meal you never order alcohol.

This is what I've learned as well, but I've been told it can vary. I know people who have not hired people who won't drink at an interview meal because they are perceived to be less social. Depends on the field, I guess.

[^_^ 5,021]

This is what I've learned as well, but I've been told it can vary. I know people who have not hired people who won't drink at an interview meal because they are perceived to be less social. Depends on the field, I guess.

That makes sense.

[Darnell 8,478]

"I chose alcohol often and there were a lot of interviews with jobs that I didn't get," said Rick. "Now I wonder about that choice." so he petitioned to get a study funded, and do the study, instead? Brilliant !

[Harsh_77 716]

lol..... I like the wedgie idea.