It's not uncommon for employers to be have some type of bias in their hiring process. Whether it's looking for certain personality traits or hiring people who are similar to your current employees, every employer has their own opinion of who the best candidate will be for their company. Although it's important employers know what type of candidate they seek, they must make sure they remain objective in their hiring process.
The ability to be objective in the hiring process is an ongoing challenge for many employers. According to the 2012 EEOC Report, there were nearly 100,000 charges in job bias. Because of these alarming statistics, the Strategic Enforcement Plan was created to prevent a biased hiring process for employers. By doing this, employers are will be encouraged to eliminate bias in their hiring process and prevent discrimination against job seekers.
If you are looking for ways you can be more objective in your hiring process, consider the following hiring techniques, which will help you select the best candidate without making a decision too quickly:
Define your requirements. In order to have a transparent hiring process, make sure your requirements for the position you hiring for are clear and objective. Don't include anything in your requirements that would make a job seeker feel discouraged about applying for the job.
For example, instead of requiring applicants to be currently employed, require them to have a certain amount of years of experience in your field. This way, a talented candidate who has faced unemployment for several months won't feel discouraged when applying for the job.
Focus on experience rather than job titles. Did you know 47 percent of employers only hire candidates who have held the same title as the position they're hiring for? According to a study by CareerBuilder, many employers create their own skills gap within their company.
When reading through resumes and cover letters, pay attention the applicant's experience and accomplishments rather than their job titles. By doing this, you can prevent yourself from turning away experienced candidates during your hiring process.
Provide a skills assessment. In order to help you make an informed decision when hiring a candidate, consider requiring your applicants to take a skills assessment test. Whether you require a writing test or another type of assessment to discover their strengths, testing can help you decide if the candidate has the skills required to perform well on the job.
Be consistent in your interview process. During your interview process, you can be objective by asking every candidate the same set of questions. When you define the questions for your interview process, make sure you ask questions that allow the candidate to provide examples of their experience, not opinions about a given situation.
Pay attention to their performance during the interview. It's easy for you as an employer to want to hire a candidate solely based on their experience and skills. Although these are two very important aspects of the hiring process, employers must also pay attention to the candidate's character.
Experience is a great way to learn about a candidate's skills; however, it does not necessarily predict their future job performance. By paying attention to how the candidate performs during the interview, you will be able to learn about their personality in addition to their experience.
Employers need to be objective when hiring new employees to ensure they provide equal opportunities for every job seeker who applies. By applying these ideas to your hiring process, you will be able to select a candidate with accuracy and fairness.
What ways do you think employers can be objective in their hiring process?