Do you know if bias has had an impact on hiring decisions or interviews? You may not realize that you’re operating with a type of bias when debriefing candidates or even speaking with a candidate.

As a result of recent tech layoffs and the Great Resignation, candidates are looking out for more inclusive processes in the hiring process as a reflection of the culture at the prospective employer. Therefore it’s time for organizations to do internal audits to ensure bias isn’t impacting hiring decisions. With that, here are questions that you can start asking your employees, leaders, and hiring managers as an informal audit to identify bias in hiring:

1) Have you ever made a quick judgment about someone based on their first impression (positive or negative) that clouds the entire interview?

2) Have you ever formed an opinion about a candidate based on their gender, religion, race, appearance, or any other characteristic? 

 3) After debriefing a candidate, have you ever rejected a candidate based on one small amount of negative information or a common occurrence that took place during a case study/project within the interview process?

4) Have you ever compared candidates after interviewing them, maybe back-to-back or during a debrief?

5) Have you ever preferred a candidate because they appear to have similarities to you OR seem to operate similar to your team/department?

6) Have you ever rejected a candidate because you have an idea of what skills they need for the job you’re hiring for?

7) Have you ever had one interview with a candidate that overshadowed the rest of the process (positive or negative) because of one strong point? 

If you answered yes/maybe/I’m not sure to one or multiple of these questions, there is a possibility that you are operating with a bias – but you may not know it! But it’s not too late to change your processes! The first step is recognizing that something needs to be improved so you can do better and hire candidates – even the ones that you least expect. The next steps are educating employees about the 7 different kinds of biases that can influence hiring and identifying actions to prevent bias from occurring. Last but certainly not least, consider reflecting on your own interview process you might have gone through at your current organization and how it can be improved upon for your future colleagues.

Do you know if bias has had an impact on hiring decisions or interviews? You may not realize that you’re operating with a type of bias when debriefing candidates or even speaking with a candidate.

As a result of recent tech layoffs and the Great Resignation, candidates are looking out for more inclusive processes in the hiring process as a reflection of the culture at the prospective employer. Therefore it’s time for organizations to do internal audits to ensure bias isn’t impacting hiring decisions. With that, here are questions that you can start asking your employees, leaders, and hiring managers as an informal audit to identify bias in hiring:

1) Have you ever made a quick judgment about someone based on their first impression (positive or negative) that clouds the entire interview?

2) Have you ever formed an opinion about a candidate based on their gender, religion, race, appearance, or any other characteristic? 

 3) After debriefing a candidate, have you ever rejected a candidate based on one small amount of negative information or a common occurrence that took place during a case study/project within the interview process?

4) Have you ever compared candidates after interviewing them, maybe back-to-back or during a debrief?

5) Have you ever preferred a candidate because they appear to have similarities to you OR seem to operate similar to your team/department?

6) Have you ever rejected a candidate because you have an idea of what skills they need for the job you’re hiring for?

7) Have you ever had one interview with a candidate that overshadowed the rest of the process (positive or negative) because of one strong point? 

If you answered yes/maybe/I’m not sure to one or multiple of these questions, there is a possibility that you are operating with a bias – but you may not know it! But it’s not too late to change your processes! The first step is recognizing that something needs to be improved so you can do better and hire candidates – even the ones that you least expect. The next steps are educating employees about the 7 different kinds of biases that can influence hiring and identifying actions to prevent bias from occurring. Last but certainly not least, consider reflecting on your own interview process you might have gone through at your current organization and how it can be improved upon for your future colleagues.

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This post focuses on the different types of bias that can impact interviews and hiring decisions which includes questions to ask yourself. 

7 Types of Bias that Impact Interviewing & Questions You Can Ask Yourself

Wed May 11 2022

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