Perceived Pandemic Deficits: How COVID‐19 Stereotypes Influence Interview Judgments

ABSTRACT

Following the COVID‐19 pandemic, the perception that high school and college students' social skills had been negatively affected by the social‐distancing lockdown proliferated. These perceptions may impact the ability of these individuals to succeed in interview settings. In the current study, participants with hiring experience ( N  = 322) rated a recorded interview and were told the applicant's social skills either had been impacted by the COVID‐19 lockdown or that the lockdown had not impacted social skills (in reality, the interview was recorded before the pandemic). Results indicated that participants rated the applicant's interview performance (i.e., eye contact), personality, and potential hireability more poorly when told that COVID‐19 impacted social skills as compared to the stereotype mitigation condition. These results were even stronger for extraverted participants, consistent with research indicating that extraverts draw stronger inferences from applicants' eye contact. Our study demonstrates that stereotypes about lockdown during the COVID‐19 pandemic harming social development impacted perceived interview performance and that these stereotypes can be mitigated with additional information.