What's the best way to assess and select candidates fairly and effectively?

Hiring for transferable skills is key. Far too often, I see hiring criteria stipulating experience in that exact position. Most of the time, people with that same experience aren't looking to jump ship unless they move or dislike their management. Aligning expectations with market pay is also essential.

To get a clear idea on who you're looking for, you normally get that from your intake meeting with the hiring manager, which I believe is the most important step before speaking to the candidate. Here you want to understand from the hiring manager things like the business case for the opening, what are the must vs nice to haves, what are the sell points of the role from their perspective, team dynamics, etc,. Once you have gathered all the values, attributes, skills, behaviors, must and nice to haves from the hiring manager then you have a solid idea of your hiring criteria. From there, you normally have your recruiter intake where I ask the same 4 questions to all candidates with additional questions based on their answers.

Those Hiring Criterias should be set by the company and standardized to avoid Teams setting them based on there own experience and personas and completely lacking diversity plus adding islands within the company

I am working across government contracts, they have an approach of fair open and honest. Which means when I am actively running their campaigns, all CV's are annoymised. Which means background, name, address or anything can give any unconscious bias reactions. The profiles are done purely based on their skills and merit. Prior to applying, they offer resonable adjustments if needed, I have seen in the Neurodiverse community, having interview questions typed out instead of asked directly. Being a fellow ADHDer, we all communicate in different ways but finding a fair ground where everyone gets a fair shot.

When your goals and that of the hiring manager don't align, the hiring process becomes broken and that's why clarity is important. Gain clarity on the kind of candidate the hiring manager/company is looking for, then reflect this in your hiring process.

I'm a Recruitment consultant that sources for all my candidates via social media. My main sourcing channels are LinkedIn Recruiter, Twitter (X), Quora, Github, Reddit, Discord, Twitter Spaces, LinkedIn Lives, and referrals. As of late I've had a lot of success with my tech roles finding candidates in Recruitment audio events. They run a lot on Twitter and they do a good job of allowing the candidate to say who they are and their achievements, a quick way to meet someone! Other than that I do my best to use as many efficient sources as possible because I know talent, especially younger talent is highly decentralized these days, for instance it's difficult to find my web3 and blockchain talent on LinkedIn, but Twitter is much faster.

Sure it’s important to broaden your reach but I’d rather focus my hiring based on team strengths and weakness’ - I compare recruiting to searching for puzzle pieces. Everyone is different yet all fit together. (One of my favorite topics, feel free to reach out to discuss!)

whilst I don't think the source should play any role in the selection and assesing of candidates I think the sources should be based on the profiles searched and the company. Not every company needs to use every source and not every source works for every profile. Know your data based on your brand, the region, seniority and skills you are looking for to choose the right sources.

To make interviews more reliable and effective you can use these, as these have been tried by me during hiring process and it works. 1. Use structured format 2. Use a standardised scoring system 3. Involve multiple interviews 4. Use behavioural and situational questions And to the best part ?? Train your interviewers ??Take notes during the interviews ( this goes both ways). Even with laptop and iPad’s I am still old school who takes notes with book and pen. ??Follow up with the candidates after the interview- this way you show respect for their time ??And if they reach out for update provide them with an update or a response for their query. It would be a great relationship. And always remember it’s give respect take respect.

Structure and tracking systems are important but don’t be afraid to dive in to get to the “WHY” when needed. A great way to understand your own teams process, duplicate skills, and minimize the likely hood of bias is to have the same person sit in with multiple interviewers. Create your own tracking system to list feedback after each; then compare the findings/common trends/growth opportunities together later. Hope this makes sense!

I'd add to Jaclyn and Shilpa's great advice, that using AI tools, like Hireguide, to record interviews and take notes can help you search your transcripts for evidence of key skills so decisions are based in fact, and helps you avoid bias. Also, regularly reviewing your hiring process for potential bias and areas of improvement is important. Actively seek feedback from candidates, employees, and hiring managers regularly to make necessary adjustments.

To do this properly you need to have mapped your skills/competencies out up front. You need a question bank designed to assess those fairly (ideally situational/behavioural) and then you need a grading rubric/scorecard. Your interviewers should also be calibrated against this rubric. I think rubrics are easier as there is a clear directional summary with them. 'Technical Recruiting and Hiring' by Ozzie Osman talks about these but the lessons are applicable to all hiring.

I would recommend - Using a standardized questionnaire to assess all candidates equally. If multiple members are recruiting for the same role, then it is a must to avoid personal bias of the interviewer. - Recording or making note of the candidate responses - dividing the interview the interview process to rounds to assess domain knowledge, communication and collaboration and behavioral skills

In addition to the above, here are a few areas I've seen help ensure assessment and selection are fair: Diverse Interview Panels: Ensure interview panels have diverse backgrounds and experiences. Multiple perspectives can lead to more comprehensive evaluations and reduce the impact of individual biases. Training on diversity and inclusion: Provide training to all employees involved in the hiring process to raise awareness about unconscious bias and promote inclusive hiring practices. An annual refresher training helps keep this top of mind!

Understanding the behavioral aspects of a person, assessing the intellectual and emotional quotient, their ability to work in a team, and the ability to work independently. Avoiding stereotyping a person in regards to their age, gender, or race. Due to the ever-changing business environment, it is also imperative to be acquainted with candidates’ adaptability. Occasionally, there are times when an individual is overwhelmed during interviews, it is vital to make them feel comfortable to optimally distinguish between their strengths and weakness.

Avoidance of unconscious bias. Because of the overload of info, our brains have been primed to make quick categorisation to make sense of things. It is important for recruiters and hiring managers to be aware of biases and take steps to reduce the occurrence.

Keep your bias check and keep your team diverse. A diverse team can help to minimize the potential bias that can harm a selection process.