“This guy is actively involved in sports at a high level,” Vera said.
“Norwegian champion, in fact!” Said Nora. “Scandinavian champion too!”
Vera noted transversely: “This is what we are looking for.
This was a real discussion observed by Lisa sølvbergPhD candidate in sociology at the University of Bergen. And in no way was it unique. In a study of Norwegian companies in high -level industries such as funding, accounting, legislation and medicine, Sølvberg and Kellogg’s Lauren Rivera He found that the sport came again and again in candidate ratings.
Indeed, the existence of a sports background has helped to increase the chances of the applicants to interview or offer. “It was a real advantage,” says Rivera, a professor of administration and organizations.
Observing hundreds of candidate evaluations, the researchers found that Norwegian companies often gave preferential treatment to skiing, cycling and other sports that popular in the country.
The results came as a surprise, given Norway’s reputation that it was an equal society with high social mobility. In previous work, Rivera had seen a similar phenomenon in the US, where high -level participation in some sports was a key factor in evaluating applicants in recognized businesses.
“[In Norway,] We still see exactly these same tools – though different sports used as exclusion tools that end up reproducing inequalities, “Rivera says.
Varsity athlete? You are in
In her previous investigationRivera found that extracurricular activities played “a huge role” in the way US investment banks, law firms and consulting assessed possible recruitment. Companies favored candidates who played sports such as Lacros or Squadron usually associated with prosperity, especially at the level of canned. Athletes in these sports tend to come from a privileged background, with parents who can afford high participation fees and have the time to carry children to and from toys.
Rivera participated in Norway’s survey when Sølvberg visited Kellogg during her doctorate program and shared that she had revealed similar standards to certain types of Norwegian companies.
They focused on their research on lease standards in “Elite”, or very selective companies in three different sectors: first, companies in industries such as funding and accounting that achieved their elite regime through financial capital. Secondly, organizations of great cultural value, such as the famous arts and publishing organizations. And thirdly, “balanced” companies, such as medicine and law, with a high level of economic and cultural capital.
The Sølvberg interview with 50 people with various roles and levels of antiquity that played an active role in the recruitment process in their business. He also observed the recruitment process in nine companies, sitting in 61 work interviews and about 200 candidate evaluations.
This data set was unique because, in recruitment studies, “we usually do not have access to these moments closed,” Rivera says.
More points for sports
Researchers have noticed a strong emphasis on sport on the recruitment process of funding, accounting, law and medical organizations. And the evaluators were not shy to declare their preferences. “It was very horrible,” Rivera says. “People knew that this was happening, and somehow leaned into it.”
For example, some businesses are awarded more points to repetitions that included a background in sport. One investment banker said: “I have placed great emphasis on people who have been involved in competitive sports” because “he says a lot about personality in a positive way”. A human resources manager noted that a director in a previous company “loved skiing.
The sporting discussion also often came during interviews with candidates – in over 80 % of business interactions in economic and “balanced” areas. At discussion meetings after interviews, evaluators usually do not refer directly to the athletic background of a applicant, but occasionally referred to the sports as a point to the candidate’s favor, suggesting that it could “serve as a criterion of selection that could explicitly push a candidate”.
Sports dominated by men, such as skiing, football, rowing and cycling, represented 79 % of Sølvberg’s interviews with employees. In the financial sector and in the law firms, evaluators also preferred candidates who had played in an adult competitive or professional championship -activations that lean towards men and upper class.
The clear exceptions were elites in publication and the arts. Sports rarely came to these work interviews and mainly as part of a broader discussion that included other interests such as music.
Glass evaluation
Why do some employers are so interested in a background in sports, even when it had nothing to do with the responsibilities of the candidates?
Some evaluators saw sports as an indicator of valuable features, such as good time management, ambition, determination and ability to work in teams (even if the person had only played an individual sport). Other evaluators argued that a sports candidate would fit socially socially. On the contrary, the lack of sports background was sometimes regarded as a sign of the lane. One evaluator admitted: “When I looked at these biographies, I thought those who had not played sports are a bit lazy?”
However, other personal activities that could signal positive characters were not given the same weight. For example, parental responsibility or work when monitoring the University, which could also indicate good time management, were not valued. This is an example of what Rivera calls glass value: Many employees in these businesses are the athletes themselves and “determine what is a good worker through their own experience”.
Some Norwegian companies have appeared to use sports criteria to bypass laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability or health conditions. Evaluators in the field of healthcare reported that sport marked the ability to handle intense hours of work and mental requirements. They thought that the people who participated in sports were more “reliable” and that these people were less likely to benefit from Norway’s generous policy.
“They wanted people who are healthy enough to never use it,” Rivera says. In this context, athletes’ preference was “a way of excluding people based on the state of health and disability”.
In part, the emphasis of these businesses in sport was specific to Norway. In the financial sector and law firms, organized sports activities are central to stable culture and many workers spend time together on ski excursions or cycling adventures. Many of these businesses also compete in national and international sporting events, a source of pride for the company and a way of strengthening its condition.
If “you can make the equivalent of Black Diamond [slopes] Or go off the trails, you are pretty good skiers you can join the team, “Rivera says.
A more extensive view
Instead of focusing so much on sports, Rivera believes that businesses should think about what characteristics they want to count and evaluate these features immediately. For example, if they want to evaluate the candidate’s time management, they could try specifically for this ability as part of the evaluation.
Businesses who want to rely on proxies should “take advantage of those they use to make sure they do not systematically exclude a large part of the population,” Rivera says. “Athletes do not have a monopoly on time management and teamwork.”
Employers need to review how they judge the candidates so as not to use a very close definition of value, he adds. They have to ask: “Are there people we exclude for reasons that have nothing to do with how good they could be?”
