How to overcome unconscious bias and build an inclusive recruitment process

Creating a diverse workplace is high on the agenda for many businesses, and rightly so. Not only is inclusive recruitment fairer to candidates, but it could also help you attract and retain top talent, boost employee engagement, and increase innovation.

Yet unfortunately, your deep-seated beliefs and attitudes – your “unconscious biases” – could affect your judgements and hiring decisions without you being aware of it.

This presents a real challenge when it comes to building a truly non-discriminatory recruitment process.

Read on to find out more about how unconscious bias can affect recruitment and discover three top tips for inclusive recruitment.

Your biases might affect recruitment without you knowing it

You might think of yourself as an open-minded, non-judgemental person. The truth is that we all have biases, even if we’re not aware of them.

This is because your personal experiences may have shaped how you see the world and the people in it.

While you may not consciously pre-judge the eager candidate sitting in front of you, there’s a good chance that your brain is quietly filtering through your beliefs and values to see how they size up.

Unfortunately, when it comes to recruiting, these unconscious biases could lead to poor decision-making, unintentional discrimination, and less diverse teams.

Common types of bias that could influence your hiring decisions

Understanding the different types of unconscious bias that could affect the recruitment process, might help you and your team keep them in check. This is a crucial first step towards making informed hiring decisions that promote inclusion.

So, here are some of the most common unconscious biases that may come into play when you’re recruiting.

As you can see, unconscious bias could affect your recruitment process in several ways.

3 top tips for creating an inclusive recruitment process

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to reduce the potentially negative effect of bias on your recruitment process.

These three top tips may help you build the diverse and inclusive workplace you want to achieve.

1. Raise awareness of unconscious bias

Knowing what unconscious bias looks like is essential if you want to reduce the risk of it influencing your hiring decisions.

If you’ve read the list of common types of bias above, you’re off to a good start. The next step is to ensure that any members of your team who are involved in recruitment are up to speed too.

Once you all understand how unconscious bias could affect your hiring decisions, you can put appropriate checks and balances in place to guard against this. For example…

2. Use blind CV screening

Certain personal information – such as an applicant’s age, gender, or ethnicity – could trigger unconscious bias.

Removing these details and reviewing CVs “blind”, could ensure that candidates are judged on their skills and experience.

3. Standardise interviews

Using structured interviews with consistent questions could help you and your colleagues assess candidates objectively.

What’s more, this approach gives all applicants an equal opportunity to showcase their abilities.

Drop us an email at hello@melo.co.uk or call us for a chat on 0113 4656 111.