It’s critical to recognize, acknowledge, and combat our biases to support diversity and inclusion in all its forms today. Furthermore, it’s important to cultivate an environment that supports diversity and inclusiveness, that helps organizations to get the best talent and be the best in the industry.
As part of a hiring team, you have a unique opportunity and responsibility to ensure that diversity and inclusion are infused throughout the interview processes. It is the lens through which we invite new talent into our teams and products. It is critical to remember that inclusive hiring is a collaborative endeavor between Talent Acquisition, hiring managers, and interview teams. Talent Acquisition’s responsibility is to produce and nurture a diverse, qualified set of candidates for every open role. It is the hiring team’s responsibility to evaluate and make a hiring decision impacting those candidates thoroughly.
Let’s learn how to facilitate an inclusive interview process that mitigates bias and promotes equity throughout.
Bias in Interviewing
Hiring managers and interviewers can express biases in our beliefs, perceptions, and our behaviors. Our responsibility in running an inclusive interview process is recognizing bias in its forms and mitigating it throughout the process.
Here are five common forms of bias that can occur when we engage with potential talent during the interview and selection process.
- Affinity Bias
- Halo Effect
- Horns Effect
- Attribution Bias
- Confirmation Bias
Awareness of the different types of bias is required to understand the potential impact of those biases on your responses to candidates. Therefore, awareness is the first step in eliminating bias from our hiring process.
As we engage with the potential talent, we need to review and help our team to recognize the biases and identify ways to address them when they are observed.
Affinity bias
This is where you identify with a candidate based on a similar or likable trait, so you act warmer towards them during the interview and speak better of them [1]afterward. There was no objective basis for this warmth, just a feeling, which is subjective and can hurt other candidates.
We express an affinity bias when we favor people with whom we feel a connection. For example, the candidate might remind us of our university or played the same sport.
How to manage bias?
- Actively take note of the similarities you share with the candidate so that you can differentiate between attributes that may cloud your judgment[2] and the concrete skills, experiences, and unique qualities that would contribute as culture add versus culture fit.
- Checking in with yourself that you are interviewing and selecting people who are more different from you will ultimately create the impact of the diversity and inclusion we hope to achieve.
Halo Effect
A cognitive bias is a positive single trait or characteristic that influences our judgment for other unrelated factors[3].
We express a halo effect bias when we perceive one positive thing about someone and allow it to color all other opinions. For example, the candidate worked at a prestigious company or has a sought-after certification.
How to manage bias?
- The halo effect can be dangerously blinding when it comes to the interviewing and selection process.
- Consider the candidate without that one gleaming attribute (the best school, the highly-rated company they are currently employed in, or a club or activity you admire). Then see how their experiences, skills, and behavioral styles compare to other candidates who may not have the same privilege.
Horns Effect
Places a great deal of emphasis on even just one negatively interpreted characteristic, comment, or action.
We express a horns effect bias when we perceive one negative thing about someone and color all other opinions. For example, the candidate who has worked at a company has gained a negative reputation or has a gap in employment or education.
How to manage bias?
- Horn’s effect is the opposite of the halo effect.
- One aspect of a candidate’s experience or demeanor may trigger a feeling of negativity. However, be cautious as the trigger to your feeling may have little to do with their ability to be and add to the Culture.
- Ask more questions to gain clarity.
Attribution Bias
Determines a candidate’s unfit for the job because of something unusual on their resume or unexpected behavior during the interview.
We express an attribution bias when attributing behavior to someone’s intrinsic nature while undervaluing external factors. For example, the candidate has someone walking in and out of frame on a video interview (a child or roommate), and we assume that they are not serious about the interview.
How to manage this bias?
- Check yourself when overemphasizing personal characteristics and ignoring situational factors when judging others’ behavior. Studies show that when something negative, complex, or bad happens to an individual, 65% of people blame the individual or their characteristics rather than the situation.
- Mitigate attribution bias by ensuring you are listening and open.
Confirmation Bias
We express a confirmation bias when we search for, interpret, focus on and remember information that aligns with our preconceived opinions. For example, if the candidate has a Master’s degree, we may assume that that individual is more qualified.
How to manage this bias?
- Confirmation bias is when you subconsciously look for evidence to back up your own beliefs.
- Ask standardized questions that provide each candidate with a fair chance to stand out. Standardizing questions also helps in not asking too many off-the-cuff questions that could lead to other biases.
Conclusion
We all have biases that can negatively affect our decisions and behavior. Therefore, it’s critical to recognize, acknowledge, and combat our biases to support diversity and inclusion in all its forms today.
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[1] Hiring Bias: Hidden Biases That Affect the Hiring Process. https://www.crowdstaffing.com/blog/hidden-bias-that-affect-the-hiring-process
[2] 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to Avoid them in the …. https://turningpointresolutions.com/12-unconscious-bias-examples-and-how-to-avoid-them-in-the-workplace/
[3] The Halo Effect is a Cognitive Bias Where a Trait. https://www.scribd.com/doc/79048535/The-Halo-Effect-is-a-Cognitive-Bias-Where-a-Trait