How to eliminate bias from your recruitment process

Though HR professionals, recruiters and hiring managers seek to be as fair as possible throughout the recruitment process, we all carry unconscious biases. These are biases that, due to our upbringing, the people and situations we are exposed to and many other societal factors, we have without even knowing. Unconscious bias in recruitment can make it harder for minority groups to gain employment, and so positive action must be undertaken in order to level the playing field and make recruitment truly fair for all.

There are many strategies companies can employ to eliminate bias from their recruitment process. Here are some practical steps you could take:

Check your job descriptions carefully: Textio, an augmented writing service, analysed job postings and uncovered more than 25,000 phrases that indicate gender bias. Words like ‘ninja’ and ‘rockstar’ alongside adjectives like ‘competitive’ can prevent women from applying, whereas language like ‘partnerships’ and ‘passion for learning’ attract more women. You can run your ads through software programs that highlight stereotypically gendered words, allowing you to balance out your language.

Try blind CV reviews: Remove the candidates’ names, ages, locations, schooling and other potentially discriminatory factors from CVs before you review them. This will enable you and any other person reviewing the CVs to be more objective, which is important even if you think you don’t hold unconscious bias.

Diversify your interview panel: You should aim for a fair mix of men and women, with cultural and ethnic diversity and a broad age range. Though panel interviews can be daunting, it’s important to ensure multiple groups are represented.  

Stick to standardised interviews: Having a basic script to follow, with set questions that you ask each candidate, might not be the most exciting way to interview – but it’ll result in the least bias. It’ll also help prevent bias towards likeability: familiarity is comforting but likeability is not an indicator of how well someone would perform in-role. Structured interviews with a diverse panel help to reduce the likelihood of hiring someone based purely on likeability. 

Don’t ask for salary history: The gender pay gap is still prevalent even today, and though progress is being made across the board on closing the gap, asking for salary history can perpetuate this issue. In light of this, many US states have now made it unlawful to ask about salary history.

Set specific diversity goals: Your company should have a clear plan when it comes to diversity, informed by a diverse group of individuals from different ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations and ages. Hiring the wrong person just to tick a box is never a good idea, but working towards more diverse representation among your candidates is always important. Be transparent about your goals and include your diversity and inclusion criteria in your job description. 

Employ an agency: If you suspect unconscious bias is or has been an issue in your recruitment process, it may be best to employ an outside recruitment agency to field applications and provide you with a diverse range of talent. A good recruiter can also help you to ensure that fairness is maintained throughout the hiring process.

Optimum Recruitment have 20 years’ experience in placing a diverse range of incredible talent on behalf of our clients. If you’d like support in eliminating bias from your hiring process, please do contact us.