Hiring Hurdles: Recognising Bias to Overcome the Challenge of Unemployment

#Unemployment #EDI #Diversity

In today's competitive job market, finding the right people for your team is crucial. But the hiring process is often plagued by unconscious and even conscious biases that can prevent qualified candidates from getting a fair shot. Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) have become top priorities for many companies who want to build a workforce that truly reflects the diversity of the world around them.

Unconscious Bias: That Sneaky Stuff in Our Brains

Unconscious bias refers to the subtle, implicit attitudes or stereotypes we all hold about certain groups of people. These biases can influence our decisions and behaviors without us even realising it. They can show up in hiring in all kinds of ways:

Affinity Bias: We naturally (or rather biologically) tend to gravitate towards people who are similar to us - same background, same interests, same vibe. This can lead us to overlook talented candidates who don't fit that ‘mold’.

Confirmation Bias: We have a tendency to seek out information that confirms our initial impressions of someone, even if that impression is off-base. This means we may miss out on learning about a candidate's true strengths.

Gender Bias: Studies show that women are less likely to be selected for traditionally male-dominated roles or domains such as labor-intense work or roles in production, manufacturing, roles based in the field, at site, etc., even when their qualifications are just as strong as their male counterparts. The other way is found to be equally true such as in the administrative professions, office based roles, etc.

Racial Bias: Candidates with names that sound like they belong to certain ethnic groups may face discrimination, with their resumes getting overlooked or fewer callbacks.

Age Bias: Older candidates can be seen as less adaptable or tech-savvy, even if that perception doesn't match reality.

Conscious Bias: When We Know Better, But...(still go with ‘preferences’).

Unconscious bias is one thing, but conscious bias - where we're aware of our prejudices but let them influence us anyway - is a whole other beast. This can manifest in even more blatant ways during hiring:

Favoritism: The hiring manager has a personal connection to a candidate, so they get the job regardless of whether they're the best fit.

Stereotyping: The hiring team makes assumptions about a candidate's abilities or work ethic based on their gender, race, age, or other characteristics.

Discrimination: The company has explicit policies or practices that exclude certain groups from consideration, like refusing to hire anyone over 60.

Let's take a look at a few real situations where bias crept into the hiring process:

The Case of the Overlooked Programmer

At a top tech company, the hiring team was searching for a new senior programmer. One applicant, had an impressive portfolio and strong credentials. But the hiring manager subconsciously associated her name with a certain ethnic background and made assumptions about her language skills and cultural fit. Despite her qualifications, the application was passed over, and the job went to a candidate with a higher ‘compatibility’ factor.

The Bias Against Experienced Candidates

A major retail company was filling a managerial role at one of their stores. The hiring team, mostly younger professionals, met with an experienced candidate who had over 20 years in the industry. The candidate clearly knew the business inside-out and had a proven track record of leadership. But the team expressed concerns about her ability to adapt to their fast-paced, tech-driven environment - a bias against older workers. They ended up offering the job to a younger candidate with less experience.

Tackling Bias for a Fair, Inclusive Hiring Process

So how can businesses overcome these insidious biases and build a recruitment process that's truly equitable? A few key strategies:

Awareness and Training: Give your whole hiring team in-depth workshops and resources to recognise their own biases - both conscious and unconscious. This self-reflection is crucial.

Standardised Procedures: Develop a structured, consistent hiring process focused on objective criteria and skills-based assessments. Use standardised interview questions, skills tests, and evaluation forms to ensure everyone is assessed the same way.

Diverse Hiring Panels: Make sure your recruitment team reflects a range of backgrounds, ages, genders, etc. This diversity helps counter individual biases and brings different perspectives to the table.

Blind Screening: Strip identifying details like names, locations, schools etc. from resumes during the initial review to reduce the impact of biases.

Targeted Outreach: Actively seek out candidates from underrepresented communities, connect with diverse professional groups, and ensure qualified people from all backgrounds know about your openings.

Ongoing Monitoring: Regularly analyse your hiring data to spot any patterns of bias or lack of diversity. Then adjust your process as needed to promote greater equity and inclusion.

Use of an AI: It can be the best use of an AI e.g. ChatGPT or CoPilot type tools to analyse the candidates merely based on their credentials, experiences and potential. Thanks to the ‘artificial’ side of the technology which can overcome the bias easily (if not tempered by setting ‘humanly’ interfaces). Business can adapt to over-the-shelf type external tools readily available and / or develop in-house solutions to easily overcome the hiring bias.

The Benefits of Embracing EDI

Putting in the work to address bias and build a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce isn't just the right thing to do - it also makes good business sense. A diverse team brings a wider range of perspectives, skills, and experiences to the table. This fosters innovation, collaboration, and better problem-solving.

Most significant point: Employers - can look in to the time spent in searching for 'compatible' candidates and calculate the cost of the loss of business and direct adverse impact of the vacancy on other roles during this timeframe. As per a survey, such employers lose on an average of 60 days due to their preferential policies and mindset.

Plus, in today's world, job seekers are increasingly looking for companies that prioritise EDI. Being known as an inclusive employer can give you a serious competitive edge when it comes to attracting and retaining top talent from all backgrounds.

As the world continues to evolve, the importance of EDI in hiring will only grow. By taking proactive steps to overcome bias and create a truly equitable process, you can position your company as an employer of choice - and build a workforce that's poised for success both now and in the future.

What is your experience and opinion?

Have you been deprived of a good opportunity due to such bias??

Share your ideas on how can we overcome such bias?

Could this change the job market scenarios especially, unemployment?

Please share your comments below to let the awareness reach to the businesses and people. This could be one of the answers to tackle the ever changing economy and job markets.