Companies that build and promote inclusive culture reap the benefits of a diverse workforce.
Building a diverse team starts with removing bias from recruitment. Here are 7 tips on how to do it:
1. Create an inclusive company culture
Removing unconscious bias shouldn’t just be limited to recruitment.
To reap the benefits of a diverse workforce, like enhanced creativity and innovation, increased productivity, and profit growth, you should create (and promote) an inclusive company culture.
How do you do it? Here are 3 ways:
- adopt and promote inclusive behaviors
- develop work relationships that make employees feel supported and respected
- work with your HR team to hold internal training or diversity workshops on unconscious bias or other related topics
2. Write bias-free job descriptions
Removing bias from recruitment starts with job descriptions.
People respond differently based on the words and phrases you use in your JDs. You might unconsciously use words that assume the role is more appropriate for a specific gender. Or you might exclude applicants based on their race, age, what school they went to, disability, etc.
Having bias in job descriptions is usually unintentional. But it happens often. You can use software to guide you or free resources like this Inclusive Language List for Job Ads.
Ongig scores job descriptions in real-time, flags biased words, and suggests more inclusive terms to replace them.
3. Expand recruitment channels
Not everyone uses LinkedIn, especially in skilled labor or trade jobs.
If you’re interested in hiring for these positions, consider other platforms like social media.
Or contact candidates via text messaging software. Texting has a higher engagement rate than emails and calls for many industries. And, 75% of millennials prefer text over a phone call.
Text recruiting platforms allow you to schedule messages like asking about work experiences or sharing updates during the recruiting process.
4. Use blind resume screening software
Information like a candidate’s name, picture, race, age, gender, and photo can unconsciously influence hiring decisions.
You can remove bias from recruitment with software like Pinpoint. Pinpoint allows you to anonymize résumés to lower the chances of bias during screening based on personal information. This way, hiring teams evaluate candidates exclusively on their experience and skills.
5. Use pre-employment assessments
Using pre-employment checks that measure skills and abilities, not a person’s background, helps remove bias from hiring. Through a series of tests, applicants are given a taste of the work environment, company culture, and the realities of the day-to-day duties.
One example is the Situational Judgement Test. It allows you to screen candidates for job fit while giving them a preview of critical work situations like angry customers requiring their support (for call center agents and retail staff). Harver has a library of interactive assessments and job simulations like this.
Vervoe software also lets you view applicants’ overall performance through customizable tests and specific requirements.
6. Conduct structured interviews with a diverse team
Structured interviews ask all candidates identical questions and score their responses based on a predetermined set of criteria. This allows applicants to be compared based on their answers.
Structured interviews reduce bias by allowing you to focus on qualities directly related to the role instead of first impressions (or the candidate’s background).
Questions during structured interviews measures candidates’ knowledge and skills relevant to the job. Tools like Hirevue help you create structured interview questions to generate fair hiring results.
Even with set interview questions, it’s always good practice to build a panel of employees from different backgrounds (ethnicity, gender, age, levels of experience) to help reduce bias. Doing this enables you to evaluate candidates (and their responses) from a broader perspective.
7. Join diversity job fairs and online networking events
Another way to remove bias from recruitment is to join career fairs and job networking events. Many of the top diversity job boards host hiring events for diverse talent.
During these events, you can connect with a larger number of candidates from different backgrounds and conduct interviews with them at the same time.
Why I wrote this:
Ongig’s mission is to create effective and inclusive job descriptions. Our software helps with removing bias from recruitment, one JD at a time, so you attract a larger pool of diverse talent.
Shout-Outs:
- Top 5 Text Recruiting Platforms (by Cat DiStasio)
- Why millennials text rather than talk (by Openmarket.com)
