How to avoid unconscious bias when hiring
How we think is often influenced by our life experiences, forming beliefs about other people that can be unreasonable. This is ‘unconscious bias’ and it can lead to thinking better of someone because we’re alike, thinking less of someone because they’re different to ourselves, and making decisions based on false beliefs or assumptions i.e., stereotyping. Sadly, we can all think in a way that involves unconscious bias at some points in our lives. What’s important is becoming aware of unconscious bias in order to avoid it affecting our behaviour and decisions in the future.
Many organisations now ensure unconscious bias training for their workforce, and that’s important, however, an important change for preventing unconscious bias is structural – ensuring that policies and procedures are in place to prevent it. For hiring, this is essential. Hiring decisions should never include factors that are unrelated to job performance, and this includes gender, race or age. So, here are some strategies to help avoid unconscious bias when hiring for your team:
Provide good quality unconscious bias training for your HR and talent acquisition teams, and hiring managers, to prevent the impact of bias on hiring decisions. Not only can this help raise awareness of personal biases, but training will also provide strategies for avoiding them.
Before beginning the recruitment process, define the skills, qualifications and experience required for the role. As part of the job description and evaluation criteria, these are objective and relevant parameters for the role.
Maximise outreach efforts and referrals in order to access a diverse pool of candidates. At Suzie Walker Executive Search, we have systems in place to search for candidates using the parameters mentioned in step 2. This method pools candidates with the right skills, qualifications and experience – nothing more and nothing less.
An increasingly popular policy for hiring is to remove identifying information from CVs and applications. This can include names, addresses, and dates, before they are sent to clients for internal evaluation. It’s something that we encourage all clients to consider because it reduces the impact of personal biases from the outset. We will always include a diverse and inclusive mix of candidates in terms of gender, race, age, and other demographic factors within the shortlist.
An essential part of the evaluation process is to ensure diversity within the interview panel in order to minimise the impact of individual biases when progressing to the evaluation of each candidate. A balanced panel will also bring a variety of perspectives to the decision-making for the benefit of the company as a whole.
When moving into the interview stages, use standardised evaluation methods. These can include structured interviews – with the same questions for all – along with skills assessments and psychometric testing. That way, all candidates within the process are evaluated according to the same criteria.
These strategies are simple but extremely effective for creating an objective and fair recruitment process that promotes diversity and inclusion within your teams.
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