Successful organizations strive to build equitable workplaces by identifying and reducing bias in their practices.
Yet, according to a survey conducted by PXT Select, nine out of ten businesses surveyed identified hiring and selection as the number-one organizational process affected by unconscious bias, especially as it relates to interviewing and resume screening.
Despite best efforts, how is it that unconscious bias continues to seep into the hiring process?
The complex labor situation over the past few years (open roles, understaffing, turnover) has certainly played a role. With an emphasis on speed, it has resulted in reactive, speed-driven hiring practices. This approach makes it easy to rely on experience and beliefs to arrive at instinctive decisions that often overlook vital information.
Relying on instinct can lead to making automatic associations (unconscious biases) based on characteristics like race, age, gender or beliefs, that have nothing to do with the hiring factors that matter most. A great candidate could be overlooked, or you pick someone who turns out to be a poor fit.
The best way to avoid this is to create structured, data-driven hiring processes that help hiring managers select the best candidate using clearly defined hiring criteria, tapping into reliable data sources like candidate assessments and using structured interviews.
PXT Select is one example of a data driven assessment that provides numerical projections on job fit. It provides unbiased insights based on a candidate’s thinking style, behavioral traits, and interests; factors proven to be the strongest determinant for potential for long-term success in a role.
Hiring Successfully for Dummies provides further insights on how to improve your hiring practices through data driven insights on candidate fit.