Proactively remove unconscious bias from your hiring process

We do it without even thinking, but unconscious bias in recruitment happens when there is natural favouritism to one attribute of a candidate over another. Hiring or promoting someone based off a ‘gut feeling’ is probably a sign you have fallen to it. Candidates or employees that have been affected by your actions have the potential to be unfairly discriminated against – and you would not have even realised!

It is not an easy task to analyse and point out our unconscious bias. In the recruitment and hiring process, we usually make these choices because they are seen as easy and can help us make faster decisions. It is these biases that act as a major contributor to a lack of workplace diversity. Organisations that do not recognise these biases during their hiring and working environments can expect to have employee productivity, engagement and well-being negatively impacted. The following are 5 of the most common types of biases.

5 Types of Unconscious bias

Confirmation Bias

Favouring information that confirms your existing beliefs while eliminating any conflicting data. For example, you may prefer a candidate who went to a prestigious university and ask them questions that play to their strengths rather than challenging them.

Halo Effect

Noticing something impressive about a candidate and having trouble viewing them in any other way. For example, they may have worked at Facebook or Google, and you instantly assume they will be a good fit for your team.

Horn Effect

Opposite to the halo effect, you notice something negative about a candidate and struggle to view them in a positive way. An instance of this could be a candidate that comes in for an interview looking ‘shabby’ and ‘messy’ which causes you to overlook their 5 plus years of career growth and development at a competitor.

Affinity Bias

Preferring people who share similar qualities to you. Both you and the candidate might enjoy watching football, so you are automatically more relatable to them.

Conformity Bias

This is very common in group settings, where you are swayed to the beliefs or views of the majority. When the rest of the group shares a belief about a candidate, you generally agree to this view even if your original belief differs.

What are some processes to eliminate unconscious bias recruitment?

Job Advertisement and Description

Never adhere to a single channel for advertising a position. Think outside the box as to how you can get a wider pool of candidates applying. Watch for subtle words when describing your vacant position and appreciate diversity by excluding masculine or feminine coded language.

Go ‘blind’ when reviewing resumes

Focus only on the skills, work history and qualifications that a person can bring, rather than focusing on the candidates’ demographics. Add skill tests at the early stage of the recruitment process to get an overview of their strengths.

Conducting a structured Interview

Develop a structured interview that can distinguish the candidates based on their knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviours. Focus on work sample-style questions and score the candidates answers. Studies have shown that unstructured interviews are the worst predictors of actual on-the-job abilities.

Diverse Interview Panel

Build a diverse interview panel of at least 3 interviewers. Through the power of “crowd wisdom”, each interviewer can provide an alternate perspective to counterbalance another’s individual bias.

Data driven decisions

Having a snapshot of your current workforce will give a numbers breakdown on areas such as diversity and indicate whether biases may have already taken place. This information can be taken into the talent acquisition strategy moving forward. Set achievable goals to ensure that the diversity targets are not just a lip service.

Removing unconscious bias is a big ask but applying the right tools and processes to your business is a start to reducing it and ultimately improving your recruitment drive. This in turn will create a more diverse and inclusive workforce.