Trends & Insights
5 min read

6 practical ways to reduce bias in your hiring process

Discrimination and bias can hinder the hiring process more often than you might think. The good news is there are steps you can take to reduce unconscious biases when recruiting to build a more diverse and inclusive workplace. Here are some strategies you can implement.

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Embedded Talent Acquisition

Hiring is essential to any organisation, and a diverse workforce can bring multiple perspectives and improve overall performance. However, unconscious biases can creep into the hiring process, leading to the exclusion of qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds. So, it's crucial to reduce bias in the hiring process.

This article will discuss six practical ways to reduce bias in your hiring process and promote workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

1. Establish a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy

The first step in reducing bias in the hiring process is to establish a diversity, equity, and inclusion policy. This should be communicated to all stakeholders, including recruiters, hiring managers, and interviewers and should clearly state the organisation's commitment to DEI and outline specific steps to achieve this goal.

Your SEI policy should also include guidelines for hiring, such as avoiding discriminatory language in job descriptions and ensuring that job requirements are necessary for the role. Not to mention it should also outline how the organisation plans to evaluate the success of DEI efforts.

2. Conduct a Job Analysis

Before beginning the hiring process, conduct a job analysis to identify the skills, knowledge, and qualifications necessary for the position. This will help you create a job description specific to the job's requirements and avoid using biased language.

Avoid using masculine or feminine pronouns and, instead, use gender-neutral language when creating a job description. Using gender-neutral language in job descriptions can encourage a more diverse pool of applicants and promote gender diversity in the workplace.

3. Create a Diverse Interview Panel

A diverse interview panel can help ensure that the hiring team evaluates candidates from multiple perspectives.

When creating an interview panel, consider including people from different departments and levels of seniority. Additionally, consider including people from diverse backgrounds, including gender, ethnicity, and age.

4. Provide Implicit Bias Training

Implicit bias is an unconscious bias that can influence our perceptions and decisions. Providing implicit bias training can help hiring teams recognise and reduce their biases.

Implicit bias training should include the following:

  • An overview of implicit bias.
  • Its impact on the hiring process.
  • Specific strategies to reduce it.

And if you want to make sure it's effective? Make it mandatory for all stakeholders involved in the hiring process.

5. Use Blind Hiring Techniques

Blind or anonymous hiring techniques involve removing personally identifiable information from job applications, such as names and addresses. This can help to reduce bias by preventing recruiters and hiring managers from making assumptions about a candidate's background.

Using blind hiring techniques can also help to promote diversity in the workplace by focusing on a candidate's qualifications and skills rather than their personal characteristics.

6. Evaluate the Success of DEI Efforts

It's essential to evaluate DEI efforts regularly to ensure they're successful. This can be done by collecting data on the diversity of applicants and new hires and by conducting employee surveys to gauge their perceptions of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.

This data can be used to identify improvement areas and track progress over time. Additionally, it can be used to communicate the organisation's commitment to DEI to stakeholders, including current and potential employees.

Organisations can create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace by taking practical steps to reduce bias in the hiring process. This requires a commitment to DEI from all stakeholders, including recruiters, hiring managers, and interviewers. By prioritising diversity, equity, and inclusion, organisations can build a more robust, inclusive culture that values and empowers all employees.

Want to ramp up your hiring process? Get your hands on our Guide To Inclusive Hiring to:

  • Develop a better understanding of why every company needs a more inclusive hiring strategy
  • Have clear and actionable steps to creating more diverse and inclusive job ads
  • Develop techniques to search and source more diverse candidates
  • Make your interview and selection process more inclusive

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