Hiring bias has long been a bane, particularly in the tech industry. While many companies strive to meet diversity goals and to be inclusive, a significant number still struggle. Unconscious bias can be tough to combat, partially because people aren’t aware of those biases.
The transition to remote job interviewing doesn’t inherently make hiring bias more or less likely. Much of the experience remains similar, as hiring managers still screen resumes using traditional approaches and, ultimately, meet face-to-face with top candidates; they don’t meet in person. As a result, hiring managers discover a candidate’s approximate age, gender, and more.
Now, that doesn’t mean that steps can’t be taken to eliminate hiring bias when using virtual interviews. Some simple steps can make a significant difference. If you don’t know where to begin, here are some hiring process adjustments that can reduce bias.
Use Skill Assessments
Skill assessments are an excellent tool for eliminating conscious and unconscious bias from hiring processes. By creating a standard test that aligns with each position and focuses on real-world scenarios, candidates can be compared based on their work-related capabilities.
Ideally, you want to create a skills assessment that connects directly to the role’s duties. Focus on common tasks the selected candidate will take on and skill areas that may be crucial for upcoming projects. Then, if you send out the skill assessment before scheduling interviews, you can use it to screen applicants. You’ll learn which ones are genuinely top talents when it comes to their capabilities, making it easier to reduce the impact of bias.
Embrace Structured Interviewing
Having a structured, consistent process in place when you’re interviewing for a position can eliminate hiring bias. If you have a list of questions that all candidates will need to answer, you’re ensuring that everyone is given the same opportunity to shine in critical areas.
Additionally, by using a formal scoring rubric, you increase the fairness of any assessment. Everyone is being reviewed with the same standard in mind, making the process even more consistent and reliable and less prone to bias.
Have a Review System in Place
Remote interviewing creates a unique opportunity. The interviews can be recorded with relative ease, allowing them to be reviewed after the initial meeting occurs.
Not only is this great for hiring managers, as they can reexamine candidate answers to refresh their memory about the meeting before making hiring decisions, but it also does more. Human resources, company leaders, or other personnel could review the recordings to see if bias may be impacting any decisions, ensuring that such issues, if they occur, are addressed quickly.
Ultimately, remote job interviewing won’t necessarily promote or eliminate hiring bias inherently. However, companies can make changes that have an impact, ensuring they stay on target with their diversity and inclusion goals.
If you’d like to learn more about refining your hiring process to eliminate bias, the team at The Squires Group can help. Contact us today.