Talent shortages are a major challenge for many organizations. In a global survey by McKinsey, nearly nine out of ten managers and executives said their companies were already facing skills gaps, or expected to see this problem develop within the next five years.
One of the most positive actions you can take to mitigate this risk and acquire the capabilities you need is to eliminate bias from your recruitment process.
Unconscious bias can seriously impact the effectiveness of your hiring and prevent you from identifying and building relationships with talented individuals who could help the business thrive.
Being aware of the different types of hiring bias and the risks they pose is a crucial step on the way to eliminating them from your recruitment activities.
Gender bias occurs when people make assumptions about an individual's ability to do a job based on their gender, and it’s a problem that businesses in traditionally male-dominated industries need to be particularly aware of.
Statistics suggest this is an ongoing issue in many sectors and roles, with McKinsey reporting that progress towards gender equality at work has been "marginal" since 2015.
Men continue to outnumber women in professional and technical jobs, leadership positions and labor force participation as a whole.
An interviewer either consciously or unconsciously favoring an interviewee with whom they feel a natural connection or compatibility could be an example of affinity bias.
While striking up a rapport with candidates and getting to know them as individuals is often an important part of the recruitment process, you should be wary of hiring people just because you have something in common or you 'click' with them.
This can result in unintended discrimination against job applicants who are different from you, something every business should avoid, since research has shown diverse organizations are more profitable.
Confirmation bias occurs when people seek out, interpret or collect information in a way that verifies what they already think or believe, potentially overlooking equally valid data that contradicts their existing notions.
There are various ways in which this can hinder and distort your hiring activities. For example, if you read through a selection of resumes, and then go into interviews with preconceptions about what each candidate will be like, based purely on their education, qualifications or work history, you're less likely to draw fair and objective conclusions from each interview.
Humans are social creatures who achieve extraordinary things when they work together. Consequently, many people have a natural inclination to cooperate and exist in harmony with others.
In the HR and recruitment space, this can lead to conformity bias, where opinion is dictated by the majority and those who might disagree are reluctant to speak up for fear of 'rocking the boat' or complicating the process.
Suffice it to say, people failing to express their true opinions of job candidates is less than ideal when you're working hard to hire the best workers for the business.