Making Skills Assessments Fair And Unbiased

Three unpopular ways companies can remove bias from their hiring process. 👯 More interviewers Those posts that go viral about hiring someone after a single coffee chat? Or mocking hiring managers that need a panel ? That's all bias - decisions based on gut instincts instead of with objective criteria. Instead, involve multiple interviewers with different perspectives - a peers and key stakeholders may have different interactions with the new team member, and their input can help you make a better decision. 🔎 This is backed up research from Harvard that shows that structured interviews with multiple interviewers are 2x more predictive of success in the role than unstructured ones. 🪧 Assess skills I know skills assessments aren't popular, and many people claim that they won't engage in a process that includes them. But lots of people can talk the talk and make up examples in interviews. It's harder to fake hard skills. If you're hiring a financial analyst, ask them to build a model using dummy data. If you're hiring a social media manager, ask them to create a plan for a campaign for a fake product. Work samples are great as well! And then dig in with questions to fully understand what they did, why they made the choices they made, etc. to ensure they didn't just submit something where someone else did the work. 🔎 And the research backs it up: the Aberdeen Group did a study that showed that those who completed skills assessments had a 36% higher rate of retention in their roles than those who didn't. 💰 Don't negotiate Negotiation increases inequity. When companies are big on negotiation, hiring managers will suggest things like "let's go in at X so when they negotiate we can bump up to Y." Then the candidates who don't ask for more end up underpaid. It promotes playing games and the people who are afraid to push are the ones who will be negatively impacted. Instead, companies should be transparent about their salary ranges and how compensation is determined, and then apply those practices consistently across all hires. Adjusting offers should be reserved for the rare cases where a candidate brings new information to the table around their qualifications or ability to have an impact, or the company realizes they're misaligned to the market. Now, I do know that many companies don't operate this way so it never hurts to ask, but just know that if a company comes up a lot with their offer after you negotiate, that's a signal that they were happy to try to lowball you. 🔎 And again, research backs this up: countless studies from McKinsey to Leanin to Harvard show that there are differences in who negotiates and in how negotiation is perceived, and this hurts people from marginalized groups. Like I said, these aren't necessarily popular ideas - they are more work for companies AND candidates. But they are research-backed ways to make hiring more equitable. And that's something we should all support.

Structured interviews and diverse panels are key to reducing bias and ensuring fair hiring practices, but this isn’t always the case! Mark Simpson, CEO of Pillar, shares results from their studies that showcase differences in interviews based on gender (e.g., women are often asked more questions and asked to prove their worth more than men). ♦️ Question Disparity: Women are asked 20% more questions with 25% less time to answer. Structured interviews help reduce this gap. ♦️ Proving Worth: Women face more questions about strengths and failures than men. Structured processes can decrease this bias by 42%. ♦️ Compensation Discomfort: Women feel less comfortable discussing compensation. Transparency can help address this. ♦️ Small Talk Bias: Men engage in more sports-related small talk, potentially leading to biases. ♦️ Female Interviewers: Women report better experiences and receive more soft skill questions when interviewed by women. ♦️ Interview Length: Female interviewers tend to conduct interviews 10-15% longer. My advice….diversify your panel! Use tools like BrightHire to ensure unbiased, consistent interview practices for candidates. #Hiring #Recruitment #TalentAquisition #Culture #Values #DiversityandInclusion #Jobseeker #Interviewing #Candidates #ExecutiveSearch

In the pursuit of diversity and inclusion, one hurdle that often times impacts efforts is Affinity Bias. Could this silent enemy be impacting your hiring and talent development practices? Affinity bias, the tendency to gravitate towards individuals who share similar attributes to our own, often subconsciously influences our decision-making. In hiring, it's crucial to mitigate such biases to ensure equal opportunities. But How can we eliminate affinity bias? ~ Incorporate structured interviews and performance processes, where each candidate is asked the same set of questions. ~ Use skills-based assessments to objectively evaluate capabilities, minimize factors that are personality based.  ~Train your hiring team and people leaders to recognize and counteract their biases. ~ Make space for Transparency so that leaders can candidly  be supported through key processes.  Above all, foster a culture that values inclusivity. Remember, diversity isn't just about filling quotas. It's about enriching teams with varied perspectives to fuel innovation and growth. Are you taking steps to counteract affinity bias in your hiring and talent development process? #AffinityBias #DiversityandInclusion #HiringPractices