Unconscious bias can emerge before we even meet candidates. Here is some background and best practices for reviewing resumes with DEI in mind:
Ethnic Bias - “Whitening Resume”
A study conducted at Stanford and the University of Toronto created two sets of resumes—one “whitened” and the other not. They sent these resumes to 1600 different job postings, and found that whitened resumes were more than twice as likely to get callbacks. This pattern also held true for companies that emphasized diverse and inclusive practices.
Gender Bias - “Redefining Merit”
In one study at Yale University, interviewers evaluating candidates for police chiefs were asked if education or work experience was a better indicator of success on the job. When the male candidate had more education, they said education was more important, but when the female candidate had a strong educational background, interviewers said they favored experience. This type of bias is called, “Redefining Merit.”
How to mitigate bias during the resume review stage:
- Blind Resume Review - Software tools such as GapJumpers and Applied can hide identifying information such as name, school, and graduation year to mitigate unconscious bias.
- Blind Work Sample - A work sample is highest indicator if someone will succeed in a job or not. A cold outreach email for a sales candidate, or a code review for an engineer are easy ways to accomplish this. Many companies will have software engineering candidates do a code review prior to even looking at a resume.
- Filtering Applications by "Top Universities" - Hiring exclusively from "top tier" (and often non-diverse) schools can severely limit the candidate pool.
- Don't Over-Rely on Referrals - Referrals have a high ROI, and can sometimes be a good source for hiring, but over indexing on this source can create a homogeneous workforce and tend to perpetuate existing inequities in the workforce. This is another reason why it’s important to start thinking about diversity early—so that when referrals come in they are coming from a more heterogenous pool of applicants.
Sources & Additional Resources ****
When Resumes Are Made 'Whiter' to Please Potential Employers
Harvard Study Says Minority Job Candidates Are 'Whitening' Their Resumes When Looking for Jobs