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Recruiting fairly and objectively: challenging unconscious bias

While we think we recruit the ‘best’ person solely on merit, the recruitment process can be a flawed means of selecting talent. That’s because our automatic assumptions and stereotypes about people can impact decision-making – often without us even being aware.

There’s now extensive research from the fields of business psychology and neuroscience to show we are all biased, even though we like to think that we always apply logic and reason in our decision-making. The reality is we all have these biases so ingrained we hardly notice them.

Unconscious biases can narrow the talent pool, lead to poor decision-making and inhibit diversity progress in organisations. Hiring people from similar backgrounds, with similar experiences means organisations become more of a ‘mirror-tocracy’ rather than a meritocracy.

Overview:

The tips in this workshop are designed to reduce the potential for unconscious bias throughout the recruitment process and strengthen opportunities to recruit and promote diverse candidate pools.

If you’re finding it hard to attract diverse candidates, this workshop will give you a range of actions to help. You’ll learn how relatively simple things – such as the words used in job descriptions and explicit promotion of flexible working – can attract a broader talent pool.

The Basics:

Audience

Learning Objectives

This workshop explores what unconscious bias is, and how it can impact the recruitment and promotion process. We explore practical steps hiring managers can take to attract candidates from diverse backgrounds and reduce unconscious bias:

‘Diversity Partners’ facilitation approach is practical, tailored and engaging.’

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