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In many cases, discrimination can occur unconsciously because every one of us carries a degree of unconscious bias based on our previous personal experiences, stereotypes and cultural context. In short, unconscious bias can influence your decision positively or negatively by using criteria irrelevant to the job and focus rather on how close the candidate is to our personal idea of the best candidate.

Monitor your process and pinpoint the problem areas

Before eliminating unconscious bias from the recruitment process, the first step is to be aware of the biases which may be held within your organisation. Monitoring and analysing each stage of the recruitment process on an ongoing basis will enable you to pinpoint where the problems are. For example, you may find that your applicants tend to drop out after the interview stage, which could potentially imply that there is an issue with the interview process.聽

Undertake unconscious bias training聽

Encourage your recruitment team, or colleagues who are responsible for recruitment take part in unconscious bias training. Unconscious bias training is recognised as an awareness learning activity where your hiring staff become aware of how their role that unconscious bias can play a part in their decision-making.

It is equally important to bear in mind that unconscious bias training shouldn鈥檛 be relied upon as a tool to drive culture change, but more so can increase awareness.

Once there is an awareness, this will encourage inclusive culture within your organisation that will give your respective teams the tools to mitigate bias by focusing not only on unconscious bias, but on聽conscious action聽instead.

Using a聽strength-based selection聽process to by identifying what people are good at and what they enjoy will help you to achieve workforce diversity. The Strength-based selection technique looks at what people are good at and what they enjoy to identify their future potential in a specific job.聽

The 聽is not a 鈥榦ne size fits all鈥� option, as your organisation needs to be aware of what your personal challenges are and tailor your approach in order to get the right talent.聽

In the case of wanting to diversify your workforce, a strength-based recruitment and development approach allows diversity to take care of itself because you are valuing each person for who they are regardless of their gender, ethnic background, age or any other factor that can lead to unconscious (or conscious) bias.

Essentially, using an SBA is an inclusive approach and beneficial for individuals who do not have a lot of work experience, because the traditional competency based relies on candidates using work experience to demonstrate their skills and knowledge.

聽are also more personal and will allow your organisation to gain a genuine insight into the personalities of candidates and whether they would be the right candidate for the role they have been shortlisted for.

Using the strengths-based interview approach will also allow your organisation to benefit from shortlisting or recruiting a candidate with genuine interest and motivation for the role that you are advertising because candidates have less opportunity to prepare and rehearse their answers.

On the other hand, this approach positively enhances the candidate experience as , and is more of pleasurable interview experience all round, for both the interviewer and interviewee.

also means that the interview panel should be diverse. Where possible, having a diverse interview panel helps to bring unique experiences to the discussion, and enables candidates to feel more comfortable during the interview process.

It also gives a positive impression to prospective employees聽and your existing workforce that you are committed to having an inclusive culture.聽

It is also recommended that the following are also considered and implemented as actions to improve the interview process and enhance a more positive candidate experience.

Plan your questions carefully

Focus on asking questions that will enable you to look at the potential of the candidate, rather than focus on their experience. You can read more about this approach in the聽鈥�Strength-based recruitment' 蝉别肠迟颈辞苍听补产辞惫别.

Familiarise with your organisation鈥檚 D & I commitments

Ensure that聽the panel is familiar with your organisation鈥檚 commitment to diversity and inclusion, and any BAME recruitment targets.聽

Ensure your panel is a diverse mix of people

Where possible, any interview panel should be a representative of people from different areas of the organisation, different levels of authority, and a mix of genders and ethnicities.

Once interviews are completed, the on the best candidate to fill your organisation鈥檚 vacancy is dependent upon carefully reviewing all data and making a recommendation to the聽position鈥檚 recruitment manager.

All of the following should be considered in the decision-making process:

• Avoid hastily labelling any candidate as the 鈥渕ost promising鈥� until all candidates are interviewed.
• Ensure that the interview panel have a debrief to compare notes and identify strengths and weaknesses for all candidates.
• Consider each candidate鈥檚 track record of achievements and qualifications to meet the requirements of the position as they have been ranked in the assessment matrix.
• Challenge any bias 鈥� if anyone from the panel says something about the candidate they like or dislike, which isn鈥檛 part of the shortlisting criteria, discuss how relevant this is.
• Create a log to record and track decisions which are made, and share this with all recruitment managers to reinforce a consistent approach across the organisation.