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The hiring model has remained largely unchanged for decades. Generally, candidates submit a CV, get called into either a group interview or a 1-2-1 chat with a recruiter or hiring manager and get asked questions, for which they’ve probably rehearsed answers and considered exactly how they want to portray themselves.
Many stick to this model because, simply, it works. One way or another, the job post gets filled, hopefully with a professional who is hard-working and dedicated, and that’s the end of the story until that person either leaves for another position, or the position is made redundant. In which case, it either starts again, or it doesn’t.
But is that process working? Whilst it does indeed fulfill the basic requirements of a job search, is it improving the company? Is the recruitment process truly ensuring that every candidate has an equal opportunity to bag the job?
PODCAST | D&I in the hiring process
Some may argue that if the candidate has the right skills, then it doesn’t matter if they come from a BAME background, but this isn’t correct. For one thing, unconscious bias is a very real and prevalent issue in the workplace; this is the name for having many subconscious inclinations toward an individual with whom you identify. So, if you like rock music and a candidate comes to the interview in a Foo Fighters T-shirt, you may subconsciously favour them. And apart from denouncing the need for equality in the process, which obviously unconscious bias eliminates, the statistics show how beneficial it is to have a workforce from a number of varied backgrounds and demographics.
