4 Ways to Reduce Bias in Your Hiring Process
Let’s face it — your behavioral health team isn’t as diverse as you’d like. This of course, wasn’t intentional, but you know it all leads back to unconscious bias in your hiring process.
You have an open position on your staff right now, but before working to fill it, you want to level the playing field, so it’s fair for all candidates. Here’s some advice to help you reduce bias in your hiring process, so you can truly find the best person for the job.
Strategies to Reduce Bias in Your Hiring Process
Review Resumes Blindly
A candidate’s name is the first thing managers see when reviewing their resume. You might not realize this, but simply knowing their gender or being able to guess their ethnic background can cause bias — either for or against — toward them. This obviously isn’t fair, so removing names from resumes before reviewing them can make a huge difference.
If you’re willing to make the investment, there’s plenty of software programs that can do this for you. You can also accomplish this by having an employee who isn’t involved in the hiring process anonymize resumes before passing them on to managers.
Expand Your Talent Pipelines
No doubt, you have several tried-and-true sources for finding new hires. This is great, but it’s possible sticking to the same types of talent pools is costing you diversity. You don’t need to stop using your current channels, but adding new ones to the mix will help you connect with different types of candidates.
For example, you might reach out to a college you haven’t worked with before or build a relationship with a new professional association. This can make it easier to reach the same caliber of candidate while attracting different types of applicants.
Put Candidates to the Test
Find the best person for the job by putting candidates to the test. Including a skills assessment as part of the job application makes it easy to see which candidates stand out from the crowd. Plus, only those seriously interested in the position will take the time to complete it, making it easier to sort through applications.
You can set skills tests up to provide results anonymously, so managers aren’t privy to any information that could cause bias. This allows the focus to fall exclusively on each person’s skills, so managers can truly make the best choice for the job.
Standardize Interview Questions
Some managers prefer unstructured job interviews, allowing experience to be revealed as the conversation flows. However, for interviews to truly be fair, each candidate needs to be asked the same questions.
Requiring managers to come up with a standard set of questions to ask all candidates gives everyone an equal chance to stand out. This makes it easier to find the best fit because they’re weighing people against the same factors.
Reducing bias in your hiring practices requires a strong commitment to change, but it’s very necessary. To learn more about how we can help you find top behavioral health talent, contact us today at (513) 651-9500 or by email at info@psychpros.com.