Why is it essential to approach interviews with a deeper understanding of diversity and inclusion, and how can you ensure a bias-free process?
These questions and more were addressed in a webinar hosted by Signature Recruitment, featuring guest speaker Jo Redgrave, an experienced senior Human Resources professional and Fellow of the CIPD, also part of the team at Crisp Professional Development.
With years of experience as Head of HR and HR Director across large, multi-site organisations, Jo’s expertise spans recruitment, resourcing, and selection, with a focus on diversity and inclusion.
The attendance numbers alone told us that this is a very in-demand topic so we thought we’d summarise the content, to enable you to learn more on this important area.
The reality is, we are all carrying unconscious bias that influence our thinking processes and that negatively affects the way we interview and recruit. But there’s much we can do to change that.
So, what is unconcious bias?
Unconscious bias is part of how we make sense of our perceptions of the world around us – and it’s different for all of us. We all have embedded stereotypes and prejudices about various social and identity groups and we tend to organise our thoughts around these. Inevitably this affects the way we make hiring decisions and risks rejecting excellent hires.
Our biases in practice
It doesn’t just impact on how we conduct a recruitment process. It can affect how we accept advice from others, respond to risks and deal with facts. As a recruiter, the danger lies because we are unconscious of our bias. This makes us prone to discriminate without even being aware of it.The reality is, we are all carrying unconscious bias that influence our thinking processes and that negatively affects the way we interview and recruit. But there’s much we can do to manage that.
The business and moral case - why diversity and inclusion matters in recruitment
It‘s becoming more important to candidates. They are increasingly looking for evidence of diversity when comparing potential employers. However, it’s so important to get it right as lack of awareness and unconscious bias when interviewing can cause perfectly good talent not to be selected.
What’s more, diversity and inclusion in the workplace is good for both businesses and employees. It creates more creative and productive organisations and helps attract and retain talent. Yet, as Jo explained, it takes careful nurturing and conscious effort to understand and embed. Jo also maintained that candidates can tell the difference between merely being compliant in processes and going beyond that with a clear intention to demonstrate diversity and inclusion, saying that there’s nothing more powerful for a candidate than experiencing this.
What candidates want when it comes to inclusion and diversity
Jo highlighted that recruitment takes significant time and effort, so why not invest in getting it right? Awareness of diversity and inclusion is key, especially considering what candidates want.
Candidates expect a fair, clear, and transparent process, with a focus on assessing their relevant skills. They also value being asked about job-related activities and want to feel respected throughout the process. Providing specific and timely feedback is crucial for their experience. Without a structured process, it becomes difficult to offer the valuable feedback that can shape candidates’ perceptions of us as an employer.
There's bias in our systems too
Many believe that a structured process ensures consistency and fairness. But what if bias unintentionally seeps into our systems? For example, early use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recruitment sometimes favored candidates similar to those already employed, narrowing diversity. However, even without AI, we may unconsciously limit our choices.
Gender differences also affect how candidates apply. Research shows men often apply even if they’re not a strong fit, while women, who may be better suited, hold back due to self-awareness of weaknesses. This can create an internal glass ceiling for women.
The solution is to scrutinise the application process itself. Could it unintentionally be biased? Would a development centre provide a more balanced view of candidates and encourage more women to apply? Examine your recruitment processes, both internal and external, to see if they’re unintentionally limiting your pool of potential candidates.
Inclusive Interview Strategies for Enhancing Workforce Diversity
These strategies help organisations build a more equitable and diverse workforce through fair, inclusive interview practices. By using these techniques, hiring managers can attract and select talent from diverse backgrounds, allowing for innovation and reducing unconscious bias in recruitment.
1. Structured interviews and competency based questions
We all know the strengths of competency based questioning, but are we relying on the right competencies? For example, have our questions changed to reflect the skill sets required across the past 12 months? Many of the core competencies that we rely on – communication skills, teamwork, time management – in many organisations our approach to these has changed drastically in the past 12 months. Has our recruitment process caught up, are we now asking the wrong questions?
2. The CAR context, Action and Result model
Jo mentioned that often the line manager won’t be aware of what they are looking for in terms of a response to a question. Jo’s CAR model, based on Context, Action and Result gives a fairer way to understand what the candidate can bring. For example, Context: Describe or explain the situation or task, Action: Tell us what you actually did or took responsibility for and Result: Explain the impact of your actions and efforts on the outcome.
3. Values and based interviewing for increasing diversity
Recruiting against values gives us another angle, rather than competencies. In an organisation with strong values, recruiting for a match to those is a way of broadening the candidate field and being fairer around attracting a more diverse candidate pool.
4. Choosing question styles to increase inclusion and diversity
There are many ways of asking questions but not all of them allow the flow of useful information. Leading, loaded or multiple questions may overwhelm the candidate and are almost always unproductive. Hypothetical, closed and multiple choice can be useful when used occasionally and in an appropriate context but open, probing and reflective questions are generally seen as positive and productive. “Tell me about a time when” etc. You could use the CAR questions to follow-up on these.
5. What goes alongside your questioning to increase diversity
In conclusion
Jo concluded by suggesting ways to get a different view of what your candidate could bring to your organisation. This could involve a presentation, written test, problem-solving exercise, or a skills-based task. Candidates want to see a clear link between the skills in the job profile and the interview tasks. This approach feels fairer, more transparent, and allows candidates to better demonstrate their potential and talent.
We’d certainly agree and, if you want any help in discussing how you can embed that into your recruitment processes, please do get in touch with us at Signature in London or Bristol.
