Bias-Free Recruitment Practices – Industry Insights and Advice
Here are some proactive steps HR teams can take to ensure their recruitment process shifts from unconscious bias to conscious inclusion throughout the candidate journey:
Inclusive Job Descriptions
Attracting the best candidates starts with placing the most effective job description online.
A crucial first step is to ensure your hiring team craft inclusive summaries free from gendered stereotypes and other biased language. By focusing on the essential skills and requirements for a role, the advert will appeal to as broad a base of applicants as possible, ultimately making the recruitment campaign more successful.
Research published by the Forté Foundation found that words associated with male stereotypes (such as confident, lead, boast, and active) in job descriptions often demotivated women from applying for roles, with a recommendation to include gender-neutral wording where possible.
Similarly, requesting a recent graduate could imply discrimination against older candidates, while asking for strong English language skills will put off non-native speakers. Instead, consider asking for a relevant degree or confident communication skills to appeal to a wide candidate pool.
Blind Screening
Every CV and cover letter should be considered equally.
Once the applications are in, consider utilising blind screening techniques to remove information like the candidate’s name, age, or gender. This will ensure unconscious bias (such as assuming a person’s ethnicity) cannot be introduced when considering each application. If you collect application information such as sexual orientation, religion, and ethnicity, ensure these are hidden from the hiring team and maintained for internal monitoring only.
Leveraging technology can provide a valuable mechanism for ensuring ED&I compliance, with detection software able to flag potential bias in job descriptions and assist with automated blind screening. Data analysis technology can also scrutinise data to identify potential bias and discrimination patterns. But be aware – AI and machine learning are complex tools that require specialist understanding among recruitment staff in terms of the most effective ways to implement them.
Structured Interview
An interview is an established way to discover whether a candidate is the best fit for your company, goals, and objectives – but ensuring the process remains bias-free requires measured execution.
Structured interviews are a practical method for ensuring candidates can rise to the challenge on an equal footing by introducing standardised questions, scoring rubrics, and evaluation criteria. Incorporating skills-first assessments and short tasks that simulate scenarios the candidate will face in the role will also allow them to showcase their competencies in a practical context. By asking a set of pre-determined questions in a consistent order, defining the competencies being assessed, and focusing on job-related factors, there is minimal opportunity for personal bias to affect the process. Providing clear scoring methodologies to interviewers will help them objectively rate candidates and make it easier for HR personnel to monitor results.
Diverse Interview Panel
A diverse employee base is a strong indicator of inclusivity and opportunity.
Forming a widely representative interview panel is one of the most valuable ways to showcase your organisation’s commitment to ED&I at an early stage in the prospective employee journey. A panel with individuals who encompass a variety of ethnicities, genders, and age groups will immediately show prospective employees that you champion a work culture of representation.
Do not overlook the importance of regular training for your HR team and staff from the wider organisation. Bias awareness training, mitigation strategies, and creative role-playing can help illustrate common instances of unintended bias in the hiring process and impact future decision-making and strategy.
Adecco’s RPO Service Ensures Maximum ED&I Impact and Compliance
At Adecco, equality, diversity, and inclusion are the cornerstones of our RPO solution. By drawing on our large team of industry experts, we are uniquely positioned to advise companies on incorporating ED&I principles into their recruitment process.