Ranking people is a weird feeling.
I’m sure we all do it to an extent, even subconsciously, but doing it systematically is challenging.
On paper, there are so many people that can probably do the job. How can you judge someone’s work ability without seeing it?
Why not take the first one that passes the technical test, the first who can back up their paperwork?
There are other elements like character, salary expectations, career level etc. but it’s tough not to feel that everyone deserves a chance.
It’s hard to know what’s available until you’ve met a few of them — everything is relative, after all.
But when it comes to the final decision, the margins are so fine that they’re barely noticeable, and probably inseparable from our biases.