Industry Research: 5 Actionable Steps to Improve DEI in Hiring

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As protests unfolded around the world last year, businesses were quick to make statements of support while earnestly trying to find solutions to longstanding problems in hiring.

A recent survey from HireVue shows that nine in ten HR leaders identified diversity and inclusion as a hiring priority moving forward, but many of the same respondents also felt unsure where to even begin. But the good news is that recruiting teams have the power to implement key changes within their scope that lead to quantifiable results across the organization.

Improvements in DEI require tools of all kinds, and by combining these five steps with the right technology, your organization will be on the path to success.

Naming the problem is the first step toward a solution, and an honest acknowledgment of where bias can and does exist can help you start to eliminate it as you hire. Remember that acknowledgment of the problem isn’t about blame - even the best-intentioned people have unconscious biases - it’s all about knowing better and doing better.
 

By creating a culture of honest discussion, you can tackle existing structural issues and make real headway. Most people focus on preventing bias against explicitly protected classes, but bias often emerges in subtle ways - the recruiter who shows an affinity for people who went to their ivy league school or grew up in their town, or the policy requiring college degrees that appears neutral but actually harms communities of color.

Finding explicit and less obvious sources of bias is a must.

In order to connect with a broad range of identities and perspectives, name the exclusionary language your teams should avoid in job postings by creating a DEI Style Guide for your recruiting team.

Exclusionary language may take the form of overt references to race, gender, or age, but may also come out in implicit, or “coded” ways, such as language that defines someone by anything other than their personhood (eg. “a minority”). Your team can also eradicate policy bias and unattainable job requirements from current openings.

According to a Hewlett Packard internal report, men apply for a job when they meet 60% of the job’s qualifications, while women will generally only apply if they meet 100%. Ask yourself, is a college degree really necessary for the position? Which skills are nice to have and what is absolutely critical to success in the role?

When highly structured, standardized, and linked to the job at hand, interviews are the single best predictor of job success. Even the best and most highly-trained interviewer can have a bad day - which is why unstructured interviews do not consistently provide quality, fair results.

Imagine a skilled hiring manager who hosts one interview on a Wednesday morning and another on a Friday afternoon. If the interviewer is more tired during the second interview, will both candidates have a consistent experience?

Organizations must also commit to implementing technical solutions that benefit people who are harmed by unconscious biases. For instance, by using video interviews, employers can create the flexibility needed for caregivers and hourly workers to take interviews at a time that works for their busy schedules.

In 2020, 60% of the nearly 5 million interviews conducted at HireVue were completed outside of “traditional” business hours. Simply put, businesses are missing out on qualified candidates if they’re not giving a virtual option.

In the last 18 months, we’ve seen the wider world of work receive the largest shake-up in more than a century, forcing organizations to adapt processes overnight to fit a ‘new normal.’ While it has long been known that resumes are not a good predictor of job success, the pandemic combined with the latest fight for talent has put pressure on to create an innovative candidate experience that allows people to share their unique stories and demonstrate their job-relevant skills.

In contrast, to resume reviews, skills-based assessments evaluate candidates on their job-relevant skills. By identifying the critical competencies that align with success in each role, assessments deliver the insights you need to find the best-matched candidate. And when administered in conjunction with a structured on-demand interview, they can also create a more engaging experience that gives candidates room to tell their stories.

A recent study found that just by offering encouragement at the beginning of the process, college admissions leaders were able to reduce the gap between Black and White candidates who completed the process by a staggering 52%.

Why?

When confidence begins to wane that they will actually progress through the hiring process, members of marginalized groups — such as racial minorities or women in tech and engineering — tend to withdraw. By leveraging conversational AI, text messaging, and email to quickly move candidates through the hiring process, hiring teams have the ability to be in 24/7 communication with candidates who might otherwise exit the process.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are a moral and business imperative that cannot be ignored. And while the results you want won’t happen overnight, implementing the right technology can have an immediate positive effect - these changes are within the scope of HR’s decision making power today, so actionable change is closer than you think.