Diverse Customer: Join The Conversation: How to Remove Bias from the Interview Process

This question has already been addressed in a number of forums so our approach is slightly different.

Follow the conversation in our group on LinkedIn:

Many companies are indeed hiring for diversity and by that logic, we are given to believe that inclusion abounds but instead, our diversity audits tell a different story. Many diversity professionals feel that companies that are hiring for diversity in droves are also inhibiting their (diverse talent's) growth. 

How?

Plainly stated, through systematic bias is sending the message to diversity professionals to “stay in your place”. “You may have the skill and the will but you cannot ascend to Leadership". It is time to reject this type of economic and psychological subjugation and push for what our constitution guarantees real equity, not some checklist that needs to be ✔

Biases can be eliminated altogether or amplified horribly. It largely depends on how biases are managed. What is our reaction to those biases? 

Understanding the Bias Equation

Creator Bias -> Discriminatory Bias -> Confirmation Bias -> Unconscious Bias

Given the above equation, the amount of un-checked assumptions about underrepresented groups made on a daily basis is staggering. We all do it but the difference is to place an ❓ after it. Challenge it. Companies often forget the one superpower they so graciously yield around to the employees ...which is their attention. Blindly labeling Diverse Talent with no reflection and afterthought is one perspective - the easy one taken too often. Organizations need to open themselves with perspectives beyond labels and provide Equal Opportunity to allow everyone to grow at their own pace. Bias and Fear go hand-in-hand it all stems from getting comfortable in conforming to the Status Quo. 

The organizations that want to remove bias from their interview process must first start with being aware of the many biases that run across the many touchpoints in their recruitment process. It all boils down to how companies can respond creatively to change by the constant questioning of their own established and often fixed ideas and beliefs to approach the hiring process with absolutely no preconceived bias or limitation. Bringing deep understanding and awareness of the biases and how they limit their decisions, their actions, and their relationship with diverse talent, they can neutralize the bias trigger and turn them into positive actions.

Here are a few responses from the other D&I members in the group. Thanks to "Diversity & Inclusion" increasingly becoming mainstream and the de facto need of the organizations to limit the frequency of bias in the hiring process by employing more inclusive practices and emerging technologies that nip the exclusion bud. Some companies aren't motivated by tackling bias at all: the very idea angers them. For others, it's the magic word that finally sparks them to act.

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