Have you ever made an assumption only to find out later that you were wrong? Perhaps you made a simple assumption that one food had less calories than another. Perhaps you purchased a book assuming it must be good because it was written by a famous author. Or, perhaps you made an erroneous assumption about an individual based on how they were dressed. We have all made assumptions because we simply didn’t have the time to verify our initial judgments.

Making assumptions can be very embarrassing for an individual and can be quite costly for a company. For instance, in one situation that I recall, a simple assumption cost a company almost $100,000 and a great deal of embarrassment. In this case, a seasoned business professional made arrangements for a well-known US author and keynote speaker to conduct a two day workshop for several company managers. Monday morning came along and all the managers were in the meeting room ready to go. However, the famous keynote speaker was a no-show.

As you might expect, the business professional scrambled to find out what happened. The answer is that the individual made an assumption that there were no Canadian custom requirements needed for this speaker and thusly no arrangements for a work permit were made. Unfortunately, the speaker was turned away at the airport customs office and was not allowed to enter Canada. While a good lesson about making assumptions was learned, the incident created significant embarrassment for everyone involved and, at the same time, the speaker’s fee still had to be paid.

Today, in the recruiting world, the issue of making assumptions can create quite a danger. For instance, what if we assume everything on a resume is correct or if we assume most people exaggerate and/or provide false information on their resume? Either assumption leads us down a different dangerous path.

Also, many times we assume our candidates are interviewing only with us and we are surprised when an individual turns us down for another opportunity. We assume that because we ask a candidate to attend an interview that the individual would be well-prepared. We expect our candidates to arrive on time and be well-dressed. We expect our candidates to research the company and the opportunity and be prepared to tell us why they might be the best candidate. We expect the candidates to provide examples of their skills and expertise that match what we are looking for. We also often expect our candidates to accept the salary and compensation package that is being offered and we are offended when these candidates return to the table to negotiate a better deal.

As our recruiting world becomes more global and diverse, there are increasingly more hidden dangers with respect to making assumptions, especially when it comes to people’s names. For instance, while it is difficult to assess the gender of Canadian names such as Shannon or Lynn, it is even more difficult to assess gender with a name reflecting another culture. Not only that, we can’t assume by their name whether or not a candidate is automatically an immigrant or a member of a specific culture, tradition or religion. We also can’t assume that someone with a certain name must surely speak another language. Finally, we also can’t assume that, as an interviewer, we have the right to shorten someone’s name, give them a nickname and/or anglicize their name for our own convenience.

It is also interesting to reflect on how we make erroneous assumptions about educational qualifications and experience. For years we have assumed that a university degree is more valuable than a college diploma. For years we have assumed that trades personnel are not as valuable as university graduates. And we continue to assume that experience in one field is not transferable to another field. All of these assumptions are dangerous to a recruiter and may lead to candidate discrimination. 

Making assumptions is a natural human tendency but, when conducting a recruitment, we need to be more diligent and search out the facts. After all, we really can’t “judge a book by its cover.”

Paul Croteau, FCMA, B.Comm is managing partner at Legacy Bowes Group. He can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it