Just watched Titan on Netflix

The gripping documentary on the submersible that imploded during a deep-sea expedition to the Titanic wreck, killing all five on board.

It’s a tragic story, but what was most striking:

- It wasn’t just an engineering failure.

- It was a failure of decision-making shaped by deep cognitive biases.

And as we watched, we couldn’t help but think - this plays out in hiring every day.

Not as dramatically. But just as decisively.

Here are 3 cognitive biases that stood out — and how they quietly show up in the interview room:

🔹 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗮𝘀

The founder believed he knew better than experts and dismissed warnings.

We see this in hiring when managers “trust their gut” over structured data, often at the cost of great candidates.

🔹 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗕𝗶𝗮𝘀

They ignored red flags and sought out only the evidence that validated their vision.

In interviews, it’s the tendency to look for proof that confirms a first impression, not challenge it.

🔹 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗰𝘆 𝗕𝗶𝗮𝘀

Because nothing bad had happened before, they assumed nothing bad would.

It’s the same rationale behind relying on outdated hiring processes just because they’ve “worked so far.”

This is why our mission at Informed Decisions feels so personal.

We help organizations build data-driven hiring systems — so bias doesn’t silently shape lives and careers.

Picture Source: Netflix