Diversity

5 Ways to Reduce Bias When Screening Candidates — and Find More Talent

Photo of two people working at laptop and sourcing candidates

With the soaring demand to find talent, recruiters are under more pressure than ever to attract qualified candidates and fill positions quickly. But with this need for speed, there’s also a greater risk that unconscious bias will creep into the screening process. 

That can put a huge, unwanted dent in your efforts to recruit diverse talent. A University of Wisconsin–La Crosse study, for example, found that applicants who had Black-sounding names received 14% fewer interview offers than their otherwise identical white counterparts.

Meanwhile, a Harvard study found that when applicants from underrepresented groups “whitened” their resumes, by deleting references to race, 25% of Black candidates received callbacks versus 10% who left their identities intact. If the applicants were Asian, 21% got calls when they “whitened” their resumes, but only 11.5% received calls if they did not. Often, the changes were as small as switching out an Asian-sounding name, like “Lei,” to one such as “Luke.”

5 ways to reduce bias while screening candidates  1. Take names and photos out of the equation when sourcing candidates 2. Anonymize applications and resumes before you review them 3. Ensure diversity among the people reviewing resumes, and do regular checks for discrimination in the screening process 4. Consider eliminating resumes altogether 5. Perform a background check only after a candidate has accepted an offer

Everyone has unconscious bias. It’s part of being human, and it’s one way that our brains sort through information quickly. With that said, we should all be working to reduce all forms of bias, especially from something as important as the hiring process. A first step can be to acknowledge that you have bias and take action to counter it. When you do, the talent you need has a better chance of making it past initial reviews into an interview, regardless of their gender, age, or race. 

Here are five tactics to help reduce bias during the screening process. 

1. Take names and photos out of the equation when sourcing candidates

Recruiters often search through LinkedIn profiles to source qualified candidates. But when they rely on names and photos to help evaluate potential workers, their unconscious bias may lead them to overlook great candidates. 

That’s why LinkedIn recently introduced its “hide names and photos” feature. With this new feature (learn more about it here), four randomly generated letters replace a candidate’s name during the sourcing stage, and an avatar replaces their photo throughout LinkedIn Recruiter. When the names and photos are removed, you’re better able to evaluate candidates solely on their qualifications and skills, rather than on their social identity or appearance.

If you want to learn more about bias and how to counter it, you can also access a number of courses through LinkedIn Learning, including Unconscious Bias taught by Stacey Gordon or Confronting Bias taught by Vernā Myers and Arianna Huffington

2. Anonymize applications and resumes before you review them 

Once you’ve received applications and resumes, you can conduct blind screenings to help minimize unconscious bias. Blind screenings hide details such as a candidate’s name, college, address, hobbies, or graduation year, all of which can hint at a candidate’s race, gender identity, age, religion, or socioeconomic background. If you evaluate candidates solely on their relevant work experience, you’re more likely to keep bias in check. 

There are a number of tools that can anonymize applications and resumes for you, such as Pinpoint or Blendoor. But if you don’t have the resources for a sophisticated blind recruiting platform, you can also try a DIY approach. This is what Katherine McNamee did when she wanted to strip identifying information — such as a candidate’s name and college graduation date — from resumes.

As the director of HR at the American Alliance of Museums, Katherine is a department of one, with a nonprofit-size budget. So she asked candidates to strip their name, address, college, and graduation date from their resumes. She then assigned each candidate a number and referred to applicants by their numbers until she brought them in for an interview. By doing this, she helped shift the organization’s mindset to become more aware of hiring biases.   

3. Ensure diversity among the people reviewing resumes, and do regular checks for discrimination in the screening process

One of the best ways to avoid screening bias is to have a diverse group of people review resumes. Your panels should include a mix of men and women, as well as people of different races and ages. You might also want to consider regularly rotating resume screening across hiring teams, so that one person’s biases don’t limit your hiring pool in an unfair way. 

Also, consider regular checks for discrimination in your screening process. Measure how many candidates from underrepresented groups applied for a position and compare that with the percentage of applicants who received a phone screen or an interview. Companies that regularly evaluate their performance have a better chance of reaching their diversity goals. 

4. Consider eliminating resumes altogether 

Another solution would be to eliminate resumes altogether, which is something that Keepsafe, a digital privacy company, did. Instead of resumes, they asked applicants to describe a project they recently built and were excited about. This leveled the playing field for candidates, and allowed their work to speak for itself. 

In 2015, Return Path, a global email data solutions company, took a slightly different tack. They wanted to increase the number of women in technology roles in their company. So they revamped their job site to redirect applicants to an outside site where they would be given an assessment or “challenge” related to the skills for the job opening. 

The exams were then graded and a scorecard was created for each candidate. Hiring teams received a ranking of applicants by their performance, without any identifying information, and decided who to interview based upon these results. By taking these steps, Return Path was able to streamline hiring for engineering and data science jobs — and reduce the effects of unconscious bias.

5. Perform a background check only after a candidate has accepted an offer

Background checks regularly include confirmation of a candidate’s birthdate. That could lead to an ageist bias during the screening and interview process.

Ageism is among the most common forms of employment discrimination. A 2017 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found that candidates between the ages of 29 and 31 received 35 percent more callbacks than those ages 64 to 66 when they had similar qualifications. 

Yes, a background check is an important part of the vetting process. But in this tight job market, it’s important to consider all candidates — and those 65 and older are the fastest-growing segment in the labor force. To stay age-neutral in your hiring, hold off on the background check until after the candidate has accepted an offer. 

Final thoughts: Make your company a place where all people want to work 

If you truly want to avoid bias, strive to be a company that already embraces diversity — one that has teams filled with people of all genders, race, religions, and ages, and leaders who look like your (diverse) pool of applicants. As one of the students in the Harvard study said, "I wouldn’t consider whitening my resume because if they don’t accept my racial identity, I don’t see how I would fit in that job."

In other words, the best way to avoid bias is to create an environment where everyone already feels like they belong.

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