For all the effort and resources being used to evolve the hiring process from art to science, here are some disappointing results from two studies:

Hiring managers often know whether they might hire someone soon after the opening handshake and small talk, a new survey suggests. Executives polled said it takes them just 10 minutes to form an opinion of job seekers, despite meeting with staff-level applicants for 55 minutes and management-level candidates for 86 minutes, on average.

That’s what Robert Half Finance & Accounting says.

Eighty-eight percent of executives said they consider a post-interview thank-you note influential when evaluating candidates, a slight increase from when executives were asked this same question five years ago (86 percent in 2002).

Executives also were asked, “How do you prefer to receive thank-you messages from candidates following interviews?”
Their responses:
Handwritten note: 52%
E-mail: 44%
Prefer to receive both: 3%
Don't know: 1%

Those findings come from an Accountemps survey.

10 minute decisions by one-minute managers? Handwritten notes? Relying on your gut? Beware. You can make either a good or bad decision in the blink of an eye. First impressions, a cordial attitude, and thank-you notes have a ceremonial place in determining cultural fit during the interview process. But they surely shouldn’t replace or override scientific hiring decisions made on the basis of validated pre-assessments, candidate skills, experience, and interests.