Tips to Help You Avoid Unconscious Bias in Hiring

Biases are judgments we make about people or things not based on objective facts. We all have biases, and they can impact our decision-making in both positive and negative ways. When it comes to hiring, unconscious bias can lead us to favor candidates who are similar to us in some way, even if they are not necessarily the most qualified for the job.

To avoid injecting bias into your hiring process, you may need to take note of the valuable tips below.

1. Remove Illegal Questions from Your Hiring Process

Be sure you are familiar with the legal guidelines governing hiring in your area. This includes both state and federal guidelines. It is important to know which attributes employers are legally prohibited from using as a basis for employment. This will help you to avoid any unintentional discrimination. The protected categories are race, color, religion, pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity, among others.

These questions are illegal because they are personal and can be used to discriminate against a job applicant. Instead, ask questions that are relevant to the job and focus on the applicant's qualifications.

2. Analyze Your Hiring Priorities and Adjust Accordingly

The hiring process should be graded on a scale in order to identify the most qualified candidate. Each person on the hiring team should grade candidates on their resumes, work samples, and interviews. The average of these grades will identify the finalist.

Don't give too much weight to interview performance when hiring. Interviews are often the primary deciding factor among top applicants, but they are not very reliable at predicting future job success. To avoid bias, weigh work-related tasks more highly than interviews.

When hiring, it's important to consider an applicant's cultural fit for your organization. This means assessing how well the individual's values align with your company's core values. Hiring for cultural fit is only OK if you're basing the decision on values, not on how comfortable you feel around the person.

3. Determine Structural Biases in Your Hiring Process

Studies show that employers often unintentionally discriminate against certain groups of people when hiring new employees. This can be due to things like the employers' personal biases or the way the hiring process is structured. This can disadvantage groups of people who are already underrepresented in the workplace.

When it comes to hiring, unconscious bias can present itself in a number of ways. For example, you may find yourself drawn to candidates who share your background or who come from a similar social circle. Or you may have a bias against candidates with certain physical characteristics or who communicate in a different way than you do.

Unconscious bias can also impact the questions you ask during an interview or the weight you give to certain qualifications. For example, you may inadvertently prefer candidates who have attended Ivy League schools or worked at big-name companies.

Conclusion

Everyone can take a few steps to help avoid unconscious bias in hiring. First, be aware of your biases and how they may impact your decisions. Secondly, be open to candidates who are different from you and who may have different perspectives. Finally, use objective criteria to evaluate candidates rather than relying on your own biases. Doing these things can help ensure that your hiring decisions are based on merit and skill sets, not personal bias.

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