We never want to think that anyone at our company has bias. But sometimes this happens without ill intent. So what can you do to ensure it doesn’t happen? Here is more about the question, “Does your hiring team have bias?”
Why Does Unintended Bias Happen?
Many biases don’t happen on purpose. It involves a plethora of factors. These include a person’s culture, how they were raised, and in fact, can even be based off of social media.
In fact, some people have a person in mind for a job. And this ideal person they picture may be a male instead of considering all genders. A person may picture a person of a certain race, instead of having no bias at all. And the problem is that this may all be subliminal. It’s not as if every person thinks with bad intent, some may have a bias without outwardly realizing it.
In fact, according to Madison Essentials, everyone has this unconscious bias.
Unintentional bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious way. Our biases are a lifetime of experience and cultural history that have shaped us and our perception of others. It leads us to make assumptions about people based on their physical appearance, race, age, gender, or ethnicity. It’s stereotyping that cuts deep and affects people’s ability to live their lives; it restricts their freedom. People who intend to be fair apply biases unintentionally. Everyone has unintentional bias; it doesn’t make you bad. It makes you very normal.
What Can You Do?
An ideal way of ensuring that bias isn’t a problem when hiring for your talent pool is by using multiple hiring managers. This allows for multiple people to interview and make a collective decision – or leave the final decision up to the person in charge. Collaborative hiring has many benefits, and this is just one.
It is also important to measure each candidate with the same caliber of interview questions. Structured interviews are a good way to start.
Diverse Ideas Matter
Our new (and better) social landscape shows that businesses with a culture that values respect in sharing diverse ideas and opinions, outperform their peers who do not.
It not only helps fellow employees broaden their perspective, but allows everyone to see the similarities between each other.
About Synergy
Synergy Solutions is an executive and search firm focused on roles within the technology sector. If you have questions regarding this article or would like to discuss strategy on open roles at your company, please contact us and someone will get back to you within the next 24 hours.