I’ve often wondered why certain candidates were chosen over others despite my initial confidence in their fit for the role and company culture. Seeking insights, I turned to a colleague, who handed me a document on unconscious bias. Initially sceptical, I soon realised its profound relevance. Our ingrained perceptions subtly influence decision-making, making understanding and addressing unconscious bias crucial in our professional landscape.
Unconscious bias refers to the automatic and unintentional perceptions, attitudes, and stereotypes that individuals hold towards others based on characteristics such as culture, gender, age, ethnicity, religion, or other social categories. These biases are formed through a combination of cultural, societal, and personal experiences, and they often exist without individuals being consciously aware of them.
It’s important to note that unconscious bias doesn’t necessarily reflect a person’s explicit beliefs or values. Instead, it arises from the brain’s natural tendency to categorise and make quick assessments as a way to process information efficiently. These biases can influence decision-making in various aspects of life, including the workplace, education, healthcare, and social interactions.
Interestingly, its well documented that everyone has them – so it’s more a matter of being highly self-aware of them, and not letting them interfere detrimentally.
There are different types of unconscious biases, each manifesting in unique ways:
Affinity Bias: This bias occurs when individuals gravitate towards others who share similar characteristics, backgrounds, or experiences.
Confirmation Bias: Individuals tend to seek out or give more weight to information that aligns with their existing beliefs or stereotypes.
Halo Effect: This bias involves forming a generally positive or negative impression of a person based on one characteristic, influencing overall perception.
Attribution Bias: This bias involves attributing others’ successes to external factors and their failures to internal circumstances, depending on pre-existing beliefs.
Stereotype Threat: When individuals feel at risk of conforming to negative stereotypes about their group, it may negatively affect their performance in certain situations.
Gender Bias: Unconscious biases related to gender can impact perceptions and decisions in the workplace, contributing to gender inequality.
Understanding that everyone possesses unconscious biases is crucial, as they are a natural part of human cognition. However, addressing and mitigating these biases is essential, particularly in contexts like hiring, where decisions can have significant consequences for individuals and organisations.
The following tips can be considered to help avoid unconscious bias.
Before the Interview:
- Standardize the interview process: Create a structured interview format with pre-determined questions asked of all candidates. This ensures everyone is evaluated on the same criteria.
- Blind resumes: During the initial screening stage, consider removing identifying information like names, genders, and ages from resumes. Instead, focus on skills and experience.
- Diverse interview panels: Assemble interview panels with a mix of genders, ethnicities, ages, and backgrounds. This provides a broader perspective and reduces the impact of individual biases.
During the Interview:
- Focus on job-related criteria: Stick to questions that directly assess the candidate’s qualifications and ability to perform the job. Avoid questions about personal life or hobbies that might introduce bias.
- Behavioural interviewing: Ask candidates about specific situations they’ve encountered and how they handled them. This reveals their skills and problem-solving abilities.
- Be mindful of your own biases: We all have them! Be aware of your potential biases and actively try to mitigate them during the interview process.
After the Interview:
- Debrief with the interview panel: Gather feedback from all interviewers and discuss the candidate’s qualifications objectively based on the pre-determined criteria.
- Use a scoring rubric: Establish a scoring system based on the pre-determined criteria to evaluate candidates consistently.
- Document your decisions: Record your rationale for selecting or rejecting candidates based on their qualifications and interview performance.
Additional Tips:
- Use gender-neutral language: Avoid phrases perceived as biased towards a particular gender.
- Be attentive to nonverbal cues: Don’t let nonverbal communication, like body language or handshake strength, influence your evaluation.
- Provide diversity training for hiring managers: Educate your team on unconscious bias and strategies to mitigate it during the interview process.
By considering some of these solutions, you may create a more fair and objective interview process that focuses on finding the best person for the job, regardless of their background.
Training, awareness programs, and implementing fair and standardised processes are some strategies employed to minimise the impact of unconscious bias and promote greater inclusivity in various settings.
Gary Scott
Talent Chemist