During the hiring process, we often naturally gravitate to candidates with similar backgrounds, experiences, and characteristics as ourselves. This unconscious bias can harm our ability to attract a diverse candidate pool, leading to a workplace that is homogeneous, inequitable, and lower-performing.
To ensure your hiring process is inclusive, effective, and bias-free, consider the following strategies:
Create a job description that encourages potential candidates to ‘opt in’ instead of ‘opt out.’
- Limit the required qualifications to the true “must haves.” A lengthy and specific list of requirements can discourage candidates from applying, even if they meet the vast majority of them and/or have significant transferable experience and skills.
- For more advice on crafting an inclusive job description, check out this blog: “5 Tips for Writing Inclusive Job Descriptions.”
Determine the interview and review process ahead of time – and stick to it.
- Before interviews begin, consider creating a worksheet that identifies the main criteria you will use to assess all candidates. This will help ensure a bias-free review and places less emphasis on each candidate’s likeability.
- All candidates should experience the same interview process, in terms of the number of rounds, who they speak with, and any assessments/projects you assign.
