Are Your First Impressions Helping You Hire Great Accountants, or Filtering Them Out?

Hiring accountants is supposed to be a rational, evidence‑driven exercise. You look for accuracy, analytical strength, reliability, integrity, judgment. Yet before a candidate even opens their laptop for a skills test, something else has already taken the wheel: 

Your first impression. 

A large psychology study examining how people form impressions from faces, voices, and even names shows something uncomfortable: our “gut instinct” isn’t random.  It’s predictable, widespread, and often wrong. 

As someone responsible for hiring accountants, this should matter a great deal. Accounting depends on fairness, consistency, and objectivity. But first‑impression bias quietly pushes us in the opposite direction. 

1. You Think You’re Evaluating Fit. Really, You’re Evaluating “Approachability” and “Competence.” 

Across faces, voices and names, people unconsciously reduce others to two quick judgments: 

• Is this person safe, kind, cooperative? (Approachability) 

• Do they seem capable, intelligent, reliable? (Competence) 

These snap judgments are powerful, but completely unvalidated. 

2. Attractiveness Matters Far Less Than You Think, but Warmth and Competence Dominate 

A warm smile or a calm tone does not equal ethical accounting. 

A quiet voice or a tense posture does not equal low competence. 

3. Confidence ≠ Competence (And Sometimes Confidence Signals the Opposite) 

Once we hear someone speak or answer a question, a new dimension appears: perceived confidence. When confidence appears inflated, it can reduce perceived competence. 

4. Dominance Backfires as You Learn More 

Dominance may seem like authority early on but later can signal inflexibility or threat.  Poor traits for accounting teams. 

5. People Agree on Their Impressions. But Agreement Doesn’t Equal Accuracy 

Organizations often inherit and amplify early impressions. 

6. Names Quietly Shape How You See a Candidate 

A first name alone influences judgments about sociability, competence, and even inferred physical attributes. 

So, What Should Hiring Managers Do? 

• Delay subjective impressions. 

• Use structured interviews. 

• Prioritize work samples. 

• Remove first‑impression language from debriefs. 

• Re‑examine “professionalism.” 

• Consider anonymizing the resume. 

The Bottom Line 

Your first impressions aren’t random, they’re systematic. And unless checked, they can overshadow real indicators of accounting performance. 

Source & Acknowledgements: 

Mila Mileva, School of Psychology, University of Plymouth