s that you can attract to your role. Not only will this make your recruitment fairer, but you also stand a better chance of finding the perfect candidate for the role by widening your search.
2. Ensure fairness in the selection process
A key way to ensure a fair application process is to only make decisions based on how well someone can do the job you’re advertising, and nothing else. That means focussing on their skills and experience rather than their background during the selection stage.
Again, don’t be afraid of using technology to assist you. You could use software that scans applications for keywords and makes decisions based on relevant skills and experience. This can help you whittle down your applications to produce a more indiscriminate pool from which to source your talent.
It’s also a good idea to have different people involved in the selection process to limit personal bias. This way, if more people agree on a candidate, it’s less likely to be because of bias and more authentically because they believe the candidate will do a better job. Try to have diversity within the hiring team as well, so that they can provide different thoughts and ideas about who would make the ideal candidate.
At this stage, it might be useful to analyse how diverse your workplace currently is. Are all genders, races, cultures, and levels of ability represented? Could it be possible that anyone has been overlooked for promotion or training? If your company is already an inclusive place to work, it can be a lot easier to imagine how each of your candidates will fit in. Plus, you’ll be able to identify gaps in the skillset of your workforce and consider what they can bring to the office, which can make the selection process easier.
3. Avoid discrimination in interview
Unless you’re checking a requirement for the job — for age-restricted work or a role that involves heavy lifting, for example — fair hiring dictates that you should not probe a candidate about any of the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010. You’re there to see whether the candidate can do the job well, not to learn about their personal life, so you’ll gain much more valuable insight by focussing on their skills and experience anyway. If you do need to check their date of birth, you should try asking them to confirm that they are over the required age rather than asking them for their exact age.
It can also help to ask the applicant for situational examples during the interview, as this allows the candidate to give anecdotal evidence of their capabilities. Situational questions include:
- Tell me about a time when you handled a difficult situation.
- What’s a project you were particularly proud to be involved in, and why?
- What’s the best feedback you’ve received from a client or co-worker? What did you do to deserve it?
You can also encourage candidates to bring in a portfolio of their work or even set some tasks for them to complete. Then you can make more accurate decisions based on their capabilities, and applicants who find it difficult to talk about their achievements have another chance to prove they can do well in this role. Remember to ask all candidates the exact same questions, to ensure they’re getting an equal chance.
Just like having a diverse team dealing with the selection of candidates, diversity is important when it comes to your interviewing panel. It can showcase how inclusive your company is, make interviewees feel at ease, and provide a range of different insights for you to use to make your final decision. Plus, a diverse panel can offer different perspectives on what it’s like to work there that the applicant may find helpful, and will be able to answer more questions a candidate may have about what it’s like to work for you.
Now that you know how to ensure your recruitment and selection processes are fair, and how not to discriminate when hiring, it’s time to fill your open positions with some great talent. Whether you’re looking for interviewing pointers or want to know how to find the best candidates, our blog is full of 