Often in my argument, I would attribute a characteristic to Ted that did not appear in the recommendation. After a while, I was forced to concede not only to the group, but also to myself that Martin was the better candidate. After looking over the exercise again later and over my notes from the discussion, I realized, with great surprise, what had happened. I had recognized that Ted was alot like me, so I had taken my own characteristics and imposed them on Ted, even though they do not appear in his evaluation. I realized that I wanted to hire Ted, with my own best traits.
Most undergraduates have little concept of how hiring and firing is really done.